Look at the time! Wow! Have Paul and I really been back into full swing with my work and his schooling for three weeks already? Time has flown, and by that I mean that I'm pretty sure we have a form of jet-lag, without the jet. We can't seem to get caught up on life, much less a date night....but I don't say that to complain. We wouldn't trade it for anything. Our time is coming, but we are amazed at watching God's blessings flow. We may not really know what "tv", "relaxing",or even "sleep" means right now, but to see the way God is using us already is just pure humbling. So, I'd love to take a minute to share some wonderful happenings in the lives of the Lanzas!
FAITH
We wouldn't be where we are now without our faith. God has provided us certain opportunities for such a time as this, and we LOVE it!
Inner City MInistry
We have already kicked off the school year with the Inner City Learning Center, where we go to tutor on Wednesdays. I have to admit, there are days when I am give out from my day of teaching, and the last thing I can fathom doing is leaving to go teach some more. I'm pretty sure Paul gets the same way at times, if he's honest. However, I have to say that we were put back in check this past week, leaving me with tears in my eyes. Paul always ends the tutoring sessions on Wednesdays with a devotion with all the children. At the end, he usually wraps it all up with a prayer. Well, this past week after the devotion, Paul asked if any of the young men wanted to lead the closing prayer. (Remember, the learning center only goes through eighth grade.) Two of the young men raised their hands, so Paul called on the first hand he saw. As this young man began to pray, my heart melted. He thanked God for his life, for his family, for the week......and then he prayed thanks for the tutors that give up their time when they have other things to do and have helped him get to where he is now. This may not seem like much if you don't know his back-story. This young man, along with the other one who raised his hand, was one of the ones last year that, in a nutshell, could have been defined as "trouble." He came from a very broken home and was already on a fast-track to disaster. A year later, after spending time in the Learning Center, attending Tuesday night Bus Ministry, and engaging in fellowship with the Inner City Church on a regular basis, he is now getting up in front of his peers leading devotions, leading singing, praying, and talking about the goodness of God Almighty. How awesome is that?! God truly is good.
Speaking of Tuesday Night Bus Ministry, we will be canvassing the neighborhood this afternoon to sign children up for the program. The program is free to them, but we have to have permission for them to ride the buses when we pick them up. We will be going door-to-door in the Inner City this afternoon, and I cannot wait to see some of our sweet children. Paul and I may not have children of our own, but these sweet babies hold a special place in our hearts. We can't wait to see them! We will be starting back up with the Bus Ministry this upcoming Tuesday night. Paul and I are teaching the kindergarten class again this year, and we are so excited. In fact, we have two new friends to introduce them to this year: Keisha and Amber.
My parents gave me these puppets when we went home this past weekend. They were my sisters once-upon-a-time, but they are still in great condition. We can't wait to use them as we teach the new kinderbabies.
Prayers for Health Appreciated
On to a different topic, I could definitely use your prayers. As you probably know, I posted last time that I passed the kidney-stone (woo-hoo!), and I made an appointment to take it to my urologist to have it tested. I met with my urologist on Tuesday, and he took it to have it sent off and tested. I have not heard back on those results, yet. However, he did inform me of some information that I did not know. He said that after taking a closer look at my MRI (which I had taken at the ER when I first went in for the kidney stone), he realized that I have multiple stones in both kidneys. While, yes, there are much worse things in this life than being told this, I was slightly devastated.
He is making me do another test, a urine culture test, to see if they can find out what I may be doing (eating, drinking, etc.) that could be causing the formation of all these stones. It is some kind of specific test, and I am waiting on the materials to be sent to me. He also had me do blood work when I was at my appointment to test my calcium levels. I received a call from him yesterday stating that I need to go back in for more blood work because my calcium levels are too high. Now, I have no idea what all that means, but he wants to get this issue resolved.
While Paul and I were not planning on having kids for another couple years, my doctor told me ABSOLUTELY NOT until we get this under control. He said that if I were to get pregnant now, it would be inevitable that I would have kidney stones. He said the first thing they would put me on would be calcium tablets, and with me being a "maker" of kidney stones, there is no doubt that I would have one. He also stressed that if I had a kidney stone while pregnant, there is nothing he could do -- except give me a catheter throughout the entire pregnancy to hopefully help it pass. My response to that was ABSOLUTELY NOT!
So, please just keep me in your prayers and that the doctors can help figure out what is causing them soon. Like I said, I know there are worse things in this life, but this particular avenue is not fun either.
FLIES
Moving on to a totally different topic, flies have apparently LOVED my classroom lately. I am not sure where they are coming from or how they are getting in, but they do. One day, there was one flying around so much, it was truly aggravating all of us. I told my students that the first person that caught the fly would get candy because that thing was really interrupting the learning that day. Sure enough, one of my students caught and killed it with his hands, but some of the students still asked me why I didn't have a fly-swatter handy for situations like that. Honestly, I hadn't even thought of it before, so I told them that and that I didn't want an ugly fly-swatter just hanging in my room. The next day, I was brought a "cute fly-swatter" to hang in my room. HAHA! The next fly that comes around is going to be in trouble.
Speaking of little gifts, I was also given some yummy apple butter by one of my students. I have been told that his mom makes the best around town, and the topic came up when I met her at parent night. All I said was that it sounded SO GOOD. A couple days later, in walked that sweet boy holding out a jar of apple butter! This country girl was so excited! (Then, a week later when we went to visit my family, my dad sent me home with a jar of pear butter and relish - YES!) This made my day!
FEATHERS
While we are on the topic of my amazing students, I just wanted to share with you a neat activity that I did with them over the past couple weeks. If you have ever read the devotional book The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson, then you know the story of Ordinary. Well, in this devotional book is a shorter story called "The Parable of the Dream Giver." I adapted this parable to be appropriate for use in the public classroom. Of course, the Dream Giver is referring to God in the original book, but my students were encouraged to draw their own conclusions about who the Dream Giver was. Many of them still said God, but others were convinced that it was their heart, conscience, etc. Either way, they still got the main idea of the story - BIG DREAMS!
The parable is about a young boy named Ordinary who realizes that he is made to Somebody and destined to achieve Great Things. On my lectern at the front of my room, I actually have the saying "I am made to be a Somebody and destined to achieve Great Things." I tell my students this all the time, and they see it every day. (Side note: I had a student call my lectern a podium the other day, and he had about five of his classmates jump on him and tell him why it wasn't a podium but a lectern. Proud teacher moment, right there!)
(Just a brief overview of the story - no spoilers here.) Anyways, Ordinary is living his normal life in the Land of Familiar when he wakes up one morning to a BIG DREAM. He also finds a white feather lying on his windowsill. He tells Best Friend about his dream, and he ridicules him for his dream. Then, he tells his parents. At first, his parents are surprised, but his father eventually supports his son. You see, his father had also found a white feather on his windowsill one day when he awoke to his big dream. However, the father sadly tells Ordinary that he did not follow his dream and his feather turned to dust. Ordinary is determined to not let his feather turn to dust like his father's, and he is going to pursue his Big Dream. The rest of the story follows Ordinary through facing Giants, Border Bullies, and all other setbacks, but in the end Ordinary realizes why he was given his Big Dream.
After we read and talked about the parable as a class, I had the students write a mini-essay. They told me about their BIG DREAM in life, what obstacles they predicted they might have to face on their way to accomplishing their dream, and what would keep them going when the going gets tough. I was amazed at the responses I got. Of course, I have many that dream of being the next big superstar athlete in the NBA, NFL, WNBA, Alabama Softball, etc. Yet, I also have future doctors, lawyers, forensic scientists, veterinarians, teachers, musicians, singers, military men, astrophysicists, and more. I also have students that want to find cures for cancer and diabetes. Some even have dreams of servant-leadership and living their life to help better the lives of others, in whatever way possible. Now, I understand that these students are only twelve and thirteen, and their dreams in life may change many times as they age. The point is that they all have big dreams inside of them right now, and that is what they are working towards at this moment.
So, when I passed their essays back to them, I made sure to write a personal note to all of them. I responded to their wonderful dreams, told them that I believed in them, and handed their paper back to them with a feather. Now, in all honesty, I thought these middle-schoolers would think it was super cheesy, and I fully expected to see feathers scattered in the hallway or in my trashcan. Boy, was I surprised. They thought it was awesome. As the week has went on, I have seen the feathers in their locker doors, tucked into their books, and even carried around everywhere with them. I keep having students wave the feather at me and say they are not giving up, that their feather will never turn to dust. Somehow, I think I finally reached them. They know that I believe in them, and for some, that may be all they need to work towards their dreams!
.jpeg)
I even had one student come and tell me that while she was writing her essay for me, she found a white feather on the floor in her living room. My first response was to think she was making it up to impress the teacher or that maybe she had a pet bird in her house. However, as she told the story, I watched her get chill-bumps on her arms. It kind of gave me chills, too. For whatever reason that feather was there, whether by happen-chance or supernatural order, and if there is one thing I know now, that particular student is definitely not giving up on her dream!
...MORE!
These are just a few of the exciting happenings over the past couple weeks. Some have been humbling, some have been slightly discouraging, and others have been truly remarkable!
I also had my students turn in their Summer Book Projects yesterday, and they look AWESOME! I can't wait to share a few of them with you when I get around to actually grading them. In the meantime, I've got A LOT of papers to grade and lesson plans to do before we head out to Inner City this afternoon. Then, we have a cookout with our Bible class. We have a busy day ahead, so I guess it's time for me to get back into teacher mode for a little while.
I apologize that we were not able to see everyone when we went to south Alabama last weekend, but hopefully we will make it back down soon. It is so hard to fit everything in, and we do our best to see everyone. Sometimes, it just doesn't happen. Please know that we love you all and hope this post finds you all well. Again, we love hearing from you, so please don't be shy about sending us a comment on here, an email, a letter, a postcard, a phone call, a message in a bottle, etc.
Until next time...
