Island Mist

It rained this evening. Actually, it's been raining almost every evening since I got here, but I can do anything but complain.

I love rain. I think I've grown to love it even more since I've been living here. Do I get tired of it? Yes, but who doesn't get tired of the same type of weather over and over again?

Island rain is different.

As I was sitting on my couch I heard a shower of water droplets begin to dance on the top of my apartment's tin roof. Outside I rushed. A much welcomed breeze kissed my clamy face as I felt the mist of the evening rain. Down it came, a wall of precipitation. I stood on my balcony and watched. Rain has always given me a feeling of comfort. I'm not sure why, but it always makes me happy. Harder it poured and I stretched out my arms. Water beaded up and cooled my skin as it entered every pore on my forearm. I took a deep breath and a familiar smell of freshness filled my senses.

Like home.

Musings from a Three Year Old

I live two doors down from a three year old and I can't help but wish that sometimes I could be more like her. Despite her constant energy and minimal cares, I think one of the things that I admire most about her is her inability to judge others.

"She never meets a stranger!" is what her mama and daddy always say and, after observing her interact with others, I couldn't help but agree. Of what I can tell she doesn't care who they are, where they're from, or what they've done...in her eyes everyone deserves to be loved. Physical appearance plays no part.

Her love for people creeped into my mind yesterday as I was reading the book You Are Special by Max Lucado to my students during their Bible lesson. It's about a small town filled with wooden people and they stick stars on the people they like and dots on the people they don't. One small wooden man was filled with dots and as more dots were stuck to his body, the sadder he became. As I was reading, mentally, this hit me hard. I've known people who have been teased and hurt so badly that they start to believe they are worthless and take drastic measures. Sticks and stones can break bones, but I think words and judgements cause the most damage.

Although we are all different, we come from the same creater. We are all made in His imagine. No one deserves to be "dotted" or judged unfairly because of something someone else said or the way he or she looks. After all, as Max Lucado points out in his book, the only thing in life that matters is what God thinks.

Now I leave you with this verse from Proverbs 31:30:
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a [person] who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Forgery and Forgiveness on a Friday Afternoon

During these first few weeks of school I've found  that I've been focusing a lot on discipline and keeping my students in line. Teaching them to not only respect me but each other has played a key part in my daily lessons. Yet after today I found that when it comes to students, sometimes being understanding can go miles farther than being stern.

Each day I have my kids turn in their homework folders and I go through each one, taking out papers and seeing who did or did not complete their assignments. I came across a folder of one of my students who had had a bad habit of forgetting to do parts of his assignments or not turning them in at all. As I sifted through his work I found a paper with a suspicious looking parent signature. I called him over to my desk and asked him about it. After a few lies he finally confessed that he had signed it. I met Principal outside and the three of us marched to his office.
I handed him the paper and I explained what had happend. Principal asked my student about it and he was truthful. Instead of yelling though, Principal spoke gently but directly. Although he made it clear that what he did was wrong, not once did he raise his voice. Composure was all about him. As Principal continued I saw tears begin to well in my student's eyes.

Now, I've gotten to a point where I'm immune to pouting and crocodile tears, but this was different. I could tell that the realization of what he did was wrong had hit him harder than I expected. It hurt me to watch him get in trouble and see him feel so bad. An experience I've never had before. He then turned to me (I still can't get the picture of his face out of my head), with tears streaming from his brown, almond shaped eyes he said in a shakey voice, "I'm sorry Ms. Jameson." I swallowed hard as I told him I forgave him.

As we left the office he gave me a hug and I walked him to P.E. Parents have told me that things are different when you have your own kids because you raise them and they're part of you. I think the same goes for when you have your own students. You love them and want whats best for them, eventhough they're not biologically yours. Although there are times where they deserve to be in trouble, it's always hard to see them hurting.

Thanks to that short, twenty minute office visit my heart is a little softer.

This One is For Mom and Dad

I've been working at SCS for almost a month now. Needless to say I've gotten to know my students better and better as each day and week slip by. With each student comes a story, a family, and a history. After learning more and more about my second graders, I can't help but thank my own parents.

So, Mom and Dad, this one is for you.

Thank You

Thank you for your discipline.
It has shaped me to be the responsible and conscious of right and wrong.
It also shows me that you really do care.

Thank you for your high standards and high expectations.
They have motivated me to give my full effort in everything and not just settle for my best, but better than my best.
They have also taught me to be driven and do all I can to succeed.

Thank you for having a stable, Christian marriage.
It has shown me that, with help from God, two people can stay together and love each other.

Thank you for teaching me to respect my elders, others, and myself.
Being a teacher, I wish more parents taught it to their kids.

Most importantly,
Thank you for your love and support.
You've always been there for advice and input.
You've been a shoulder to cry on and a pair to laugh with.

I love you guys.

Help!

Torquise tinted waves crash up along beaches with white-sand so soft it cushions your feet as you walk along its edges. In and out roll the tide underneath the green palms as their long leaves bend down to shade you from the island sun. Paradise? You might say that. Little would one know that what lies beneath the beautifully sugarcoated tourist exterior of Saipan is a reality that is deeper and darker than that of the omnipresent ocean.

There's really no other way to say this but that Saipan is in need of doctors, desperate need of doctors. According to an article in the Saipan Tribune, we can expect to have a total of only twelve physicians on island by the end of the year. You may be asking yourself, what's with the sudden decrease in medical staffing? It's simple, they're not getting paid. Due to problems with debt and poor billing strategies (as well as deeper government issues that I feel too uneducated about to discuss) our physicians have endured, as they call it, multiple "payless paydays." Therefore causing many to leave island. Pastor JW and his wife, AW, are expecting a child in about 2 months, unfortunately due to the lack of health professionals (and some wise words from the only OBGYN left on the island, yes, I said ONLY) their remaining option is to fly to Guam. It's hard to help anyone when there aren't proper tools or medical staff. You might also be wondering where our Mayor is during all of this. Don't worry...he's in Florida (heavy sarcasm).

Now this may be a shot in the dark, but I know that even dark places have light. As a bunch of us were getting ready for a game night at the W's, Pastor JW mentioned that probably the only way to get doctors on this island would be via missionary physicians. That of course being because they raise their own salaries. I don't know how many people this blog reaches, but I'm hoping it's more than I think. If you are a missionary with a medical background, or know of one, I humbly ask that you please prayerfully consider Saipan's situation. I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people in Africa, Asia, South America, etc...who need medical attention as much as we do, if not more. But the scary part of all of this is that if all of our doctors leave, what's going to happen to the island? I don't even know how many people know where or what Saipan is.

Please pray for the island, it needs it more than you know. Not only for this, but multiple other hidden reasons as well.

It's the Little Things

For the first time in over a month I really saw stars tonight.

Now that may sound silly, because obviously they've been burning brightly billions of light years away this whole time. Yet for some sad, unexplainable reason it's as if I had forgotten they even existed.
Nothing (that I've seen) can compare to that of a mid-west sky filled with stars. One of my favorite things to do at Dordt was find a relatively secluded aread and just sit and look at the night sky. It seemed to stretch for miles and no matter how hard I'd squint I would never be able to see all of them.

Unfortunately with the busy-ness and distraction of summer and a new job, I have neglected my galactic getaway. That is, until this evening.

Six of us packed into a car with windows rolled down. I felt the humid air float along my face as we zoomed down the road at a speedy 45 mph (the average speed limit is about 35). As my eyes passed lush greenary, sketchy looking convienent stores, and booney dogs...I looked up.

Staring back at me were stars. Beautiful, shimmering stars. The same stars I had seen in Iowa, Washington, Minnesota, Indiana, El Salvador, and the multiple other places I've been to. I couldn't help but smile.

They were (and still are) thousands upon thousands of millions of trillions of reminders that God is with me, no matter where I go.

Less Self

Today was definitely more than a case of the Mondays.
I woke this morning 5 minutes prior to my alarm. Scuffing across my laminate floors I made my way into the bathroom, flicked on the light and was somewhat startled by the thing staring back at me. Messy bed head and a clamy looking face with tired looking eyes sat framed in my mirror. One word could describe such an atrocity: Monday.

I tamed my hair into a braid, pulled on the most comfortable dress I own and once again made the jont over to my classroom. Still, morning improvement was nowhere to be found. My spread sheet of lessons wouldn't print correctly and I soon realized that I left all of my phonics lessons in my apartment. It felt like my day was over even before it started.

Soon my kids all filed in. Behavior wise they started out great, but the steady downward spiral of naughty soon began to take hold of them. It even got to a point where I had them put their heads on their desk for ten minutes in silence so that everyone could calm down and I could regain my sanity.

As funny as this may sound it's days like today that I can't help but appreciate (after I experience it of course). I need to be reminded that in teaching, it's not about me. My first priority in teaching is my students. Granted they do need structure and discipline, but they also need grace and compassion. They need a teacher who is going to give them every chance to succeed and love them even when they're being unruly.

If you think about it we're all like second graders and God is our teacher. We're egocentric, constantly asking Him things, easily distracted, have trouble listening to Him, sometimes chose not to listen to Him, and get upset when He does something we don't like because He knows what's best for us.

If God can put up with all of humanity being like that, I can certainly handle 21 6-8 year olds.

Tomorrow is a new day and I will look at them as a new class.