Old MacDonald and Apples :)

My heart is so full! Praise God for His amazing, unfailing, unrelenting love! This week has been full of really tough work for everyone at CLS. I have set up my new classroom, met with each child individually, helped them set goals and introduce them to my rules, and made lesson plans for each child individually since they are all at such different places in their education. It’s hard. And I am so tired. But, God rejuvenated my spirit today.

            Today after dinner, I walked to the orphanage. The gate was open, so I let myself in. Immediately, I had five, small, brown bodies tackling me. “Miss Brittany, Miss Brittany!!” they all yelled. I picked each one up and gave them the biggest bear hug while twirling them around. After each one had their turn they ran away to play and I walked over to the other half of the yard and was greeted by more children, more hugs, more kisses. My mood was already starting to brighten. Then, my sweet Magdala came up to me and grabbed my hand.

 “I start your school tomorrow??” she said with a giant smile on her face, her dark eyes curious yet excited.

“Not tomorrow, but after three sleeps you will be in my class,” I told her. Man. You should have seen her eyes light up.

“Three sleeps??” Another huge smile. “And we get apples??”         

Here’s a little backstory. I sat down with Katelyn, the house mom for the kiddos at the orphanage (all my students are orphanage kiddos) and asked what they would like for a reward if they behave and do their work. A popcorn party? A movie? Popsicles? No, she told me, take what you’re thinking and scale it way back. Try apples first. I thought, apples?? As a reward? No kid wants that! But I trusted her. During my one-on-one meetings with the kids, I told them that if they met their goals that they created they would receive an apple. Again, you should have seen their eyes light up. It was like I had told them they were going to Disney! “A whole apple?? For me to eat?!”  

So anyways, back to my story. Magdala asked if we would have apples on Monday and I reminded her that we only got apples when we completed our goals. She recited her goals (to learn ABC’s and 123’s and her shapes) with that massive smile on her face and then proceeded to recite the class rules to me. She told me she was practicing raising her hand because she wanted to have good behavior so she could get a whole apple all to herself J Next, Vidlon came up. “We have your school tomorrow??” Our conversation went much the same as Magdala’s and he ran away with a smile on his face. Not three minutes later Herode came up- “Me have your school tomorrow??” By now I was more than encouraged. These are the three kids who, when you ask how their day at school went, always say ‘bad’. And here they are asking to come to my class! Vidlon even asked if we could do school work after the movie tonight! I told him to wait till Monday and he was legitimately upset. God is doing amazing things and we haven’t even started school! I pray that they keep their enthusiasm for school after we begin.

After all seven of my kids came up to ask when we were starting school, I began to help Katelyn and Ashlie choose a movie for the kiddos. Unfortunately, the power went out, so we couldn’t watch one. All the kids at the orphanage were really bummed and the mood kinda killed my happiness about school starting Monday. I walked over to the steps and sat there alone for a moment. It didn’t take the kiddos long to find me. Vidlon came up to me and sat in my lap, while Magdala snuggled by my legs. We sat like that for a moment before Vidlon started singing “Jesus loves me” and Magdala and I joined in. Then we enthusiastically moved into “The B-I-B-L-E”. We sang and clapped and danced for over a half hour, running through every song we knew from The Wheels on the Bus to Feliz Navidad (hilarious to be singing in the middle of Haitian summer when it was at least 85 degrees though the sun had set hours ago), and even some we didn’t! I taught them the Hokey Pokey and they taught me a song about Jesus that I still don’t know the words to!! Ha!!

During that half hour, I was the happiest I’ve been in a long time. We were sitting in the complete dark with no power, no phones, no television, no music, singing our hearts out. Magdala put on a real show for us, getting out her air microphone and squeezing her little eyes shut while belting out the words, hand raised high in the air.  They loved singing Old MacDonald and choosing the animals he had on his farm. Let me tell you, that farm was more like a zoo!! We even got a couple of the older kids to join in when we started singing Baby by Justin Beiber and Do You Want to Build a Snowman from Frozen!

Here’s the really cool part. Earlier this afternoon, I text my best friend at home and said, “You know what I really miss? Singing.” I used to sing all the time at home- in the car on the way to school, in the privacy of my own room, while I washed dishes, during praise band practice….  I sang a lot. Here, I share a room and a bathroom and our walls are extremely thin. I haven’t sang hardly at all since being here and I missed it. I have no doubt that God heard me when I told my friend that I missed it. He knew that singing brings me joy and He allowed me a special time tonight to sing with my students. He knew my heart was tired and I was nervous about school starting, wondering if I had enough work for the kids to do and how I was ever going to pull this special education classroom together. He knew. He knows. And He sent me blessings in the form of two six year olds. My heart is so full :)

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.... You are serving the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24