My First Day of School

So today was MdL's official first day of summer school. Because we were so low on space, my class of 3 kids is now in our medical clinic facilities. We started off class reading about the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5: 22-23 and the kids told me what they wanted God to continue to grow in them. Overall they wanted to grow in love and kindness towards others. Now, it was interesting because I planned some fun activities for the kids to do, like drawing themselves and making and "All About Me" poster. I was excited because I thought they'd love it because it was unlike things they've been accustomed to and hey, what kid doesn't like talking about themselves? But I soon found out, that would be a problem. Because I was asking them to think creatively or think critically today, Oline and Richard were very resistant. They were refusing to answer questions about themselves, they didn't want to draw. I was like....really?!! And my little, dear Richard. I've developed a good relationship outside of school, but school today was a different story. He was constantly not wanting to do work and jokingly told the kids (in Creole so I couldn't understand) that he was going to whack me hard in the head. This sent him straight to the Principal where he wrote me a little apology letter saying sorry that he hurt my feelings. I hugged him and told him I loved him but he had to get right back to work. The rest of the day went smoother as he had an incentive to finish work so he could do a puzzle. Later on when we were doing more structured activities, like finding the coordinates of places on a map and adding using a 100's chart, he did great! He even was a doll helping me clean up the classroom. When he'd get out of hand, I'd have him recall how he said he wanted to grow in love and kindness. His countenance and attitude began to change as he started thinking about that. He'll definitely be my hardest challenge but is already one of my favorite kids. Keep him in prayer please!

On a lighter note, my three kids were cracking me up today. As we talked about the different continents and where they would like to go, they all said they'd like to go to America. Then they asked me if I had a boyfriend. I told them no. They then said, "When a person is 25 they should be married." I said, "I'm 26." They responded, "Then get married already! But don't marry a Haitian, because they're poor." I was like, "Hey, if you're in love it doesn't matter if someone is rich or poor. I'd marry someone who is poor." Then my girl Oline says, "I want to marry an American because they're rich." I quickly responded, "Oline, not everyone in America is rich. There are people that don't have homes and have to beg for food too. Food and clothes and homes are much more expensive there!" She responded, "Miss Jessica, I just want to marry an American." Hahaha, these kids were too much. Love them.

On a not so lighter note, we had to cancel our afternoon electives because we were on house lockdown during our lunchbreak. There were some sketchy men down the street who were suspected to be scoping out to kidnap. Police came and talked to them, apparently it was nothing. Praise God!

Another light note...went to the grocery store, which had air conditioning. Thank you Jesus!