Restless, Till I Rest In You

:::Sick Day:::

Skipping school as a teacher is almost more enjoyable and satisfying than skipping school as a student. I can say this now with first hand experience from both positions. As a student you must play catch up and track down missed notes, assignments, and tests. As a teacher you still have make up work to do and due to lost time there is a greater urgency the rest of the week to make sure everything gets covered, however, after taking my first sick day on Tuesday, I feel the cost/benefit of a much needed sick day is well worth it. All day Monday I could feel a cold coming on. My head was heavy and my throat was sore. Then Tuesday morning hit and I could barely get out of bed. I was exhausted, so I called my principal and told her I was sick. She graciously told me that I sounded horrible and I needed to go back to sleep. After I hung up the phone I tucked myself back in under my oversized white comforter and did not wake until 12:30pm.

It was such a blessing to stay home, get some rest and really just allow myself to take a break. I still did school work, but it was work that was not too draining like printing resources and making some few posters. I even got to talk to one of my sisters from Concordia that had just gotten back from Uganda. It was so awesome to talk to her in the middle of the day! God is good and his timing was so perfect. It was a blessing to hear about her trip and really catch up.

:::Field Trip:::

Friday marked the date of my first real filed trip as a teacher. The kindergarten and first grade classes all went to a place called Cedar Hill Farm. It is a pumpkin patch about an hour away from our school and is the same patch that my friend Kelsey and I went to a few weeks ago. The kids were so well behaved and loved the farm so much. I started the day with 17 and ended the day with 17 (two of my 19 kids were not able to come)– I feel like that was an accomplishment in and of itself. Not to mention I had no injuries, no one got lost, and while we were on the bus ride to the farm my class all started singing different songs I had taught them during the beginning of the school year. They started with the days of the week, followed by the months of the year, and then proceeded to make up new songs about addition and subtraction. I asked them why they started singing and they said they wanted to grow their brains even while they were riding the bus! They even answered different subtraction and addition problems while in line to ride the train.

A few weeks ago a few girls started pressuring me to allow them to learn and grow their brains at lunch. These kids are really developing a love for learning wherever they are at and if that is all they take from me these first nine weeks that I will be so thankful. One girl always looks at me and says, “Ms. Wolff, we can learn at lunch?”. After I nod in agreement she always responds, “Don’t forget your white board, we really need to work our brains. I love learning Ms. Wolff.”

:::Sweet Sister Time:::

My lovely big sister made the 10-hour trip down for the weekend to visit and just to chill. This is the first weekend my sister and I have ever spent together just the two of us. we went on a morning bike ride, visited the farmers market, ate at my new favorite fast-food joint Back-Yard Burger, tried out the latest local restaurant called Lady on the Levy, stopped by Morgan Freeman’s bar, ate some cheesecake while watching a few episodes of Cake Boss and then hit the hay. Then early Sunday morning we made some toast and tried some of the jam and jellies we bought from the farmers market, went and played catch at a local park, decorated my room, and then ate some Philly cheese-stakes at a town favorite known as Big Mamma’s convince store.

We can now officially call ourselves sisters. We spent a good chunk of a weekend together and didn’t argue once. I think this means we are both growing up. It was nice to be able to hang out with her and have someone to simply spend time with that didn’t want to talk about school or work the whole time. It is really necessary for teachers to have non-teacher friends. Trust me on this one.

:::Restless Till I Rest In You:::

This song has been stuck in my head a lot this week. Each day I am realizing more and more I don’t really know how to rest but I do know that the only way I will find this all-so-illusive rest that I seek is in the Lord. Some mornings I feel so nervous and restless about teaching until I stop and remind myself that I will always feel unsettled, unprepared, and inadequate if I rely on myself or on my own abilities. The only time I feel at rest is when I am resting in the arms of my Maker. But the real question is how do I rest in the shadow of the Almighty? I know I may never fully know the answer to this question but I am on a daily pursuit to understand it more and more what it looks like to rest in Him and Him alone.

I am also trying to find the balance between asking others for help and seeking feedback and input from other teachers and also turning to God for answers. I mean it is His classroom after all and he knows these kids I am teaching better than anyone else because He created them. However, I know so often I go to Him last. I seek His wisdom last and forget to petition before the Lord. I allow my anxieties and fears to control instead of submitting my requests to God. I know so often I ask other people what I should do and seek the solution from man instead of from the Lord. That being said, please pray that I would continue to seek the wisdom of the Lord and that I would really seek His face. He is our maker and Lord, but he is also my loving Heavenly Father. May I run to sit on His lap and rest in His embrace.

Psalm 91:1

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."