The Mosquitoes Are Driving Me Batty

Lately, there has been some repair work going on to get the sprinkler system working properly so that the lawn right outside my classroom can stay nice and green.  That's meant a lot of standing water and a direct increase in the mosquito population.  Last Friday I literally had mosquitoes swarming in the classroom.  So, of course, I have been strongly promoting a closed door policy.  But then there's that one time when a fellow teacher stops by and stands in the open door to visit and who should swoop in for a visit but Mr. Bat. Perhaps he heard that the eating was good what with the abundance of mosquitoes and all!

Now I've had a lot of visitors to the classroom - a swarm of bees, a scorpion and a water scorpion to name a few.  But this was my first time to have a bat drop by.  It was nice of him to consider helping us with our mosquito problem but with all his swooping and carrying on it would have been hard to focus on learning.  (Really, I just didn't want everyone to hear me screaming like a girl!)  So I called some friends to help me catch Mr. Bat and send him on his way.

Bye, bye, Mr. Bat!

(No children were traumatized in the making of this story.  They were away in French class.)

Hoofin' It

Well, now this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Hoofin' it through town!"

There are loads here in Niger and then there are LOADS!  I can tell you straight up that this wouldn't be a load upon which I would like to find myself precariously perched.

Disgusting!

(Hope nobody is too grossed out...but sometimes you just have to share because otherwise no one would believe the things you see!)  :)

Barcelona Day

Picture this:

About 20-25 boys playing soccer on a basketball court.  You scan the crowd and see a bunch of them running around wearing the same jersey...Did they call each other?  You know, prearrange this somehow?

Not according to them.  They just rolled out of bed and simultaneously decided it was Barcelona Day.  

Weird!

On The Same Day in February

Confused about the weather?

Yeah, me too.

100 Days Smarter

100 Days of School

And some of us actually are getting smarter... 

like this one who found a way to contain the wild curls with which she was blessed.

One hundred days of smiles, twinkling eyes and laughter - 

thank you, Jesus, for the sweet blessing of being a teacher!

This Ain't No Kid's Club

As if to underscore the weightiness of the business of which he was about, Mr. Vocabulary (A First Grader) vehemently declared, "First Grade isn't a kid's club!  It's a man's club!" 

"So what exactly are men's clubs doing these days?" you may be wondering.

We are intently examining the importance of the wheel.

It should be noted that Men's club is to be a sober occasion and treated with the utmost severity.
So, whatever you do don't even think about smiling because...

this ain't no kid's club!

Holding On to His Promises

A hymn of praise rang through the open rafters, a song made more beautiful by the stark devastation which surrounded us. 

Six buildings and not one of them was left untouched.

A rope hung from the cross where the mob had tried but failed to pull it down.

A window shuttered closed became the recipient of a glaze of glass melting from the window above.

A beautiful building about to be dedicated was burned and broken right down to the newly tiled floor.

A man stood beside the goat he rescued from the mob, behind him the Sunday School room he taught in but was unable to save. 

Devastating.

And this was only one church among almost 70 across the country.  

Where does one even begin to wrap one's mind around what happened here?

Today, I sat with my children telling the story of Jacob running away from Laban, headed back to the land God had given to Abraham and the land he had promised to Jacob himself.  We reflected together on what Jacob must have been feeling.  Fear, no doubt, as this return meant facing a brother who had wanted to kill him.  "But why would he have been afraid when God promised him that the land would be his?" one little guy asked.  Good question. And so we talked about how we need to hold on to God's promises when we are afraid.  Then I just threw the question out there, "Is there anything that you are afraid of?"  It was quiet for quite a few seconds and I almost moved on but one little girl raised her hand and confessed, "I'm afraid they will keep on burning churches."

It's hard to say what fears reside in the hearts of those who have been affected by these events. But as I listened to my students' fears God brought Romans 8:35-39 to mind and I shared it with them,

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And so we hold on to His promises because He has been faithful through the ages.

And while we are at it we may as well fill those open rafters with a song of praise or two!