"I love love!"

Each week, I jot down little notes throughout the week of things that I want to include in my blog. This week, each one had something to do with some sort of love, and I had written down in my journal on Monday this quote from Francis Chan “I love love”.

Monday: I love thunderstorms. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we had lots of thunderstorms...and those thunderstorms brought MUCH cooler weather, which was a complete blessing! On Monday night (as I blogged before) I sat in our living room, freezing, while drinking hot chocolate! Who would have guessed that would happen in the DR? I was so tired of being hot ALL THE TIME, that it was honestly one of the most relaxing nights I have had in a while!

Tuesday: I LOVE campaigners. We had our second campaigners group this week, and had a great time! We did nails, made brownies, and just spent time talking! It was a great time of getting to know the girls a little better. Funny story-I overheard one of the girls in my class telling my roommate that she loved me as her teacher because I make her laugh and I hardly ever get mad, but then she added this: "She only got mad at us that one time...but that one time was enough to make me never want her to get mad at us again! It was scary!" I loved that comment...made me a little more confident in my "class discipline" skills:)

Wednesday: I LOVE journal time:) One of the girls in my class wrote a whole 2 page journal entry about how she is in love with this boy in seventh grade. I LOVE kid crushes:) It was so cute, she even wrote his name in code letters in case someone else saw her journal, and noted that she would tell me the real name after school!! She did, and then proceeded to spend a half hour talking to me about him and how she was so nervous to tell her mom about him, but she had do! So cute!
Wednesday was Claudil's mom’s birthday. Claudil made this WONDERFUL "I love you" book during writing time and had me check over it before she took it home to her. It was so cute I teared up reading it:) I LOVE the way little girls love their parents:)
Gill wrote a journal entry about all of the kids in our class. Now you have to understand something about Gill-she is the girl I talked about that came to campaigners, has a tough life, and usually acts like she doesn't care about anyone or anything. In her journal entry, she wrote something nice about EVERYONE in our class--she even said things like "Melanio likes to bother, but I know inside he is good." and "Josue is a friend of everyone, he has a very special heart." I was like oh my goodness, where is this coming from! Then she wrote a really nice one about me too, which made me happy:) So awesome to see kids growing!

Thursday: I LOVE silliness of 6th graders. Christian came to school on Wednesday, and the first thing he says to me is this: "LOOK Miss. Stanley, I have a MAN HAIR!" and you will never guess where this man hair was--a mole on his hand...HILARIOUS! Then, later that day, we were watching a science video and Christian asked to go to the bathroom, and I said in a couple minutes, and then he all of a sudden screams, "No, NOW!!!" and runs out of the classroom. The rest of us were like oh my goodness, what just happened! Then a couple minutes later he runs back in with his tooth in his hand, he had pulled it out during the movie! At the end of the day (Thursday was our last day of school this week, because Friday was a teacher work day) Melanio came up to me and got real close and said "Miss. Stanley, I have something to tell you...." and then proceeds to scream "TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" while jumping up and down with this huge grin on his face.
Also, Thursday was an "I love soccer practice" day:)

Such a funny week, all filled with small hints of love. God knew what I needed this week after my frustrating week last week!

"Nothing in this life will matter unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made."

"True faith means holding nothing back, it bets everything on the hope of eternity."(Francis Chan)

Psalm 63 1-4 "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because YOUR LOVE is better than LIFE, my lips glorify you! I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I lift up my hands."

God is SO GOOD. He is the “knower of my needs and the meeter of my needs” :)

LOVE from the DR!