Milestones Matter

Just before I graduated from the MAT program at Multnomah, the program director made a point to tell all the graduates that milestones matter. Graduation was a significant moment in my life.

Today was another huge milestone for me: I survived my first day teaching.

In some ways I feel like it doesn't really count because I only had eight minute class periods, barely enough time to take roll and hear each kid tell me an interesting fact about themselves. However, I'm sure I'll never forget my first opening ceremony at BFA. It was incredible to hear the parents and students cheer as the flags of the nations represented at the school were walked into the auditorium. Part of the morning gathering included a "roll call" of the nations as a staff member listed off the names of passport countries and parents' countries of service while students stood at the mention of their country. Students at BFA this year come from nearly sixty different countries around the world. 

During my eight minute class periods with my freshmen, I asked them to share their names and an interesting fact about themselves. A large number of them could just share their country of birth and it was different than anyone else in the room. It was barely a taste of English class, but I was so happy to finally put faces to the students I've been longing to teach. I'm equally as excited to teach my Spiritual Formation class as these students and I figure out what the title of the course means over the next couple of days and create a curriculum to meet their needs.

The Garni Girls got together for a picture at school on our first day!

One of the best things about today is that it did not stop being wonderful after I met my students. I was exhausted from those long teaching sessions, but Christine and I went to the grocery store and hauled up a load of goodies to make dinner for the rest of the house. Not only did I have the joy of meeting my students today, but I got to enjoy real Mexican food in Germany made with taco seasoning from America!

We paid a little extra for jalapenos, refried beans, and salsa from the American section of Hieber's, but Christine made the guac from scratch - and she rocked it.

I can't help but laugh at what an accomplishment our taco night was when that's perhaps one of the easiest meals to make in America. However, I was quite thankful for the opportunity to eat a food that's such a comfort at home. I'm so blessed that today was such a great milestone that I'll never forget, and even the little details of the day were perfect from my Longbottom coffee in the morning to the Trader Joe's soft baked snicker-doodles my Granny sent me this week.