5 Things

First thing. 

Today I decided that if my soul had a specific style, it would be at the 4th grade level.  Every day I walk out of our school near the 4th grade classrooms, and I stop to admire their creativity.  It's eye catching work!   

I think this age group is really uninhibited and they have enough skills to catch a project and go somewhere with it at a very individual level.  I really like that.  Much of my day with students is spent reminding them to be themselves.  People are scared to be themselves sometimes when they are 13.  Or is that in life in general?  But every day I am bolstered by the story about the ninja iguana and the ice cream cone with a name.  One is just called 'Susan's Adventure'.  As you can imagine, the 4th grade girl population has also joined together to make a lot of projects about puppies.  They are all cute.  I like the 4th grade artists. 





Second thing. 

It's been a very peaceful day, and not just because I thought about good things Dwight D. Eisenhower once said when drinking coffee on this same couch 13 hours ago.  I just chose to get into a Bible study with new people at a new church in Hudson.  I decided that I was sick of being the classic example of a young 20 something single demographic at church.  That group can be kind of listless.  So I've stepped out to be something and choose something good again. 

This morning the statement that stood out to me from the study about being a Christian who really lives freely: 'Why should I be confused when God is the author of peace and He gives me the knowledge through His Spirit who lives in me?' 

I went hours and hours into my day and it wasn't until I was back on this same couch typing again that I could see God's real hand of peace in my life that plainly.  I was just as busy today as I was yesterday.  There were just as many people in my life.  But truly the only thing that was directly different was that I remembered that I am free in front of God and the world.  Today I lived there instead.  When someone asked me how I was doing this morning, the only word that came to my mind was 'Peaceful'.  And it felt bone deep. 

The peace of Christ ruling our hearts is a very real thing.  I am grateful.


Third thing. 

I enjoyed wine, dinner, and good conversation with my friend, the Latin teacher, and her husband tonight.  And when I left their apartment, I thought about two quotes that I love.  C.S. Lewis once said, "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to the other, 'What?  You too?  I thought I was the only one."  Leigh and I have been saying this over and over to each other (symbolically, not literally) as we've been navigating teaching this year.  Then we usually laugh.  The world is very funny and our obvious mistakes need to be put in their place.  The quote by C.S. Lewis really lays it out there in a plain way.  And at the end of the teaching day of good, bad, and in between, that is what you want. 

The other quote that was so true about dinner tonight is the one by Anne Morrow Lindbergh that says, "Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after."  I'm up at this time of night because I had such a great conversation.  All 3 of us talked and talked and talked. 

And as soon as I walked into their house, I knew it was a comfortable place.  I was supposed to bring dessert, and in the end, I didn't even show up with brownies.  I showed up with brownie mix.  Talk about a low key mentality...somehow I was very ok with my host whipping this up for me. ???  I think this really says something about their expression of hospitality.  You don't just show up confidently with brownie mix just anywhere. 

A list of the things we talked about tonight....

Feistaware, denominations, wedding registries, my family, their family, 1950s decor, 8th graders, 7th graders, 3rd graders, 1st grade math, modes of communication, Harvard, North Dakota, having a Dutch background, raising kids, where we are steady, progress as viewed by Westerners, history curriculum, how people think about Africa, what it's like to be an adjunct ethics professor (giant clue - this is not me), Latin in every day life, how people are socialized, how people learn, having in-laws, not having in-laws, unrequited love, how to hang pictures well, neighborhoods in Cambridge, Massachusetts, how we are different than our siblings, tofu (we ate this, and though dweeby, I wanted to know its history), how to tell if people are lying, pros and cons lists, weekend plans, and life plans in general.

Isn't that a great slew of topics and conversations?  Really, these are interesting people, and I loved this mid week tangent into anything the world has to offer.  If I had to build a good list for a dinner party, these people would be there, hands down.  I'd also like to invite Tom Hanks and Amelia Earhart and Sacajawea and Eleanor Roosevelt.  They seem like the indomitable spirits that would be classy as well.  But that is another conversation entirely.



Fourth thing.  

I spent time today talking with students about our soon-to-be-established 20th Century Living Museum in class.  It's a project that has evolved in my short career as a teacher, and it's finally one I'm comfortable teaching and then just going with in the last month of school.  They dress up like a historical character in, you guessed it, the 20th century, and give monologues and present posters.  Today they chose historical figures, and it was truly exciting to watch the buy in that followed after they found something they cared about.  And, because we all know each other so well by now, all I had to do was think about that student for 2 seconds and suggest someone who would be their kindred spirit in history, and something clicked.   

• The girl who has secretly reminded me of Amelia Earhart all year because she is fearless chose Amelia Earhart.         
• The boy who wanted to represent someone who sought out the obscure found Jacob Riis who did this in his own time. 
• The boy who has always had some weird fascination with celebrity scandal chose Bill Clinton. (Uh oh.) 
• A very Henry Ford-like student chose Henry Ford. 
• One girl is game for researching anyone who is outspoken (like her).  There are many women in history I can suggest to her.  She was excited.  I was too.   

  And THIS is what makes the project interesting!  These people really do emulate the original character.  The list goes on and on, but those are brief examples.




Fifth thing.

This refers to the fourth thing.  Today I was helping a student wind her way to Mia Hamm, and we saw another historical figure who looked a lot like a character in a movie.  We burst out laughing.  Then I remembered that I've always thought that Jack Black looks like Paul Revere. I tell the kids about it as a joke when we're talking about Chapter 7 in the fall, but it's real. They look alike. Does this mean that in 700 years there will be a person alive who looks like someone in our time? Who the heck knows? I think my student liked the idea of someone looking like her in 700 years.  I believe God breaks the mold when He makes people, but similarities across time are interesting too.  

Paul Revere

 

Jack Black!




Good night.