I'm the dreamer, He's the dream maker

The Guatemala border is about 15 minutes away from my apartment. But somehow, I have visited that country only once in the two years I've lived here.

Nevertheless, I sense Guatemala will eventually intersect my future in a significant way.

So glad the Lord directs my path as I chase crazy dreams.

Ministers in training at Hebron Ministerial Institute in Guatemala City.

There's An Art To It

So this describes a gift I've admired in my mom. Specifically, she has a way of making a point without making an enemy when she needs to address an issue with people or simply call them on their crap.

I don't know if it's just natural or if she had to work to get there, but she's expert-level good at taking a conversation where it needs to go without making any move that causes the other person to become offended and close his or her ears to the much-needed truth.

I want to live life more skillfully in this area.

Recognizing and talking about it now is a good step for me, and I think what will help is if I utilize the great model I've seen and go into confrontations by first imagining how mom would approach such a moment.

Am I Crazy?

A young woman who works in the school cafeteria is also finishing a degree program in psychology.

Actually, she and her family run the cafeteria, and they have always been really great to me.

After two years of observing me, the young lady asked this question the other day (in Spanish):
Mister, do you have obsessive compulsive disorder?

She also knows English, so she then switched to that language in order to expound, "I have seen the way your clothes are always neat and the way you are always wiping the table clean when you are getting ready to eat..."

Now my educational background is in mental health, so it was funny to be "diagnosed" in this way. I could not stop laughing.


*Probably I should've pointed out to my friend that such a diagnosis is appropriate only if the symptoms rise to the level of distress or impairment for the person.

My Babies

I'll come back to visit Copan someday and will no doubt see some of my kids all grown up.

Definitely not ready for it now!

Just the thought makes me feel like one of those parents that has trouble letting sons and daughters step into adulthood.

The teenagers clean up nice, eh?

Final Lesson For The Teenagers

Friday, our students completed their last exams and finished the academic year.

On the dry erase board in my room was the final lesson for the three grades I teach at the bilingual school. It was this:

Final lesson:

8th, 9th, and 10th grade -

You are the reason Mr. Joshua feels...

• Honored to be your teacher.
• Proud of how much you have learned in this classroom.
• Impressed by all the things you already knew.
• Glad that knowing you has made me a better person.
• Doubtful that I will ever feel more love for any other students in the future.
• Happy we were able to laugh, smile, and learn together in this room.
• Sad that I won't have the chance to share more of the same with you next year.

THANK YOU.

I made sure no one saw the information until the last period of the day. Up until then, the students had been unaware that I won't be back next year.

In those last moments, I saw some tears...some that were quite unexpected. I also heard some kind words that took me by surprise as well.

Sweet, sweet kids.

Found myself in nature, and I won't get lost again

I never expected to connect so deeply with a poem I taught in the Literature class.

It's a piece by Shel Silverstein that reminds me of a part of myself that I lost when I was growing up. The good news is that recent years and the experience in Honduras introduced me again to that part of who I am.

Everybody's A Comedian

When you're being treated by a doctor who is also your friend,
cheap shots will be taken.

"Surely that's not the only gown you have, doctor..."

This little town or that big ol' world?

"Mister, can I talk to you?"

Hearing those words, I figured I knew the reason one of my 9th graders had walked into the classroom after school. It was the end of the grading period, which made me assume he wanted to ask for some means of improving his average before the school prints report cards.

"Of course," I said.

That's when Luis explained solemnly, "My parents told me that I have the opportunity to go the United States and finish high school there with my family in South Carolina. What do you think?"

I spent the next half hour with Luis offering my thoughts, asking questions, and listening. "I don't have any answers for you - just thoughts and questions. The answers for your situation will come from you."

"Yes," he said.

Toward the end of the conversation, I asked Luis if he every prays about things and told him this decision seemed like a good thing to request God's guidance for. It was almost time for a meeting with my principal, so the last thing I did with Luis was take out a pen and pad to help him draw up the opportunity cost of moving to the states.

For the rest of the day, I was pretty blown away. I never expected what Luis had come to me about. Another thing that blew my mind was thinking back to when I was in 9th grade and wondering what I would've decided given a similar set of circumstances. I mean, living abroad for the past two years has been transformational and something I wouldn't trade. But that's me speaking as an adult about an adulthood experience I've had.

At age 15, would I have made the decision to go for it and move to, say, Spain to work on my Spanish and live with relatives there? Or would I have decided the whole thing was too big and too scary?

One can only wonder.

Victories

As we close the academic year, I note a few stories about the relationship between the teens and me:

• One group that was great but was not my very favorite believes it was, in fact, my fav.

• My favorite class knows how much I love that group, but I managed never to indicate to them that they're my fav. 

• Even though I also had a favorite student, he or she didn't figure it out (neither did anyone else).

Not a bad record to finish the year with. I consider those things to be victories.

Something Was Missing

Logging in to my email account, I saw that I finally had a message from the school I interviewed with in a town about three hours away.

As soon as I saw the name of the sender, I of course knew what the email would be about. It made my heart leap from a mixture of excitement and nerves.

What was I about to read upon opening the note?

The next thing that happened was my eyes noticed there was no paper clip icon signifying that the email contained an attachment. Wait - no attachment?? An offer letter email should have an attachment; how else can a candidate review the contract being extended and decide whether to sign?

YIKES!

Even more nervous now, I clicked to read the message. In it, my interviewer explained that he was sorry for the delayed communication. Then he informed me that he and his boss spoke and decided to ask me to join the team for next year!

Phew. What a relief!

I can handle rejection, but I love not needing to prove it.

After taking a few days to think things over, continue the dialogue with the interviewer, and review the contract he sent a couple days later, I accepted the position.

It's true I love where I am now, and it's also true that I'm looking forward to a new situation and new possibilities.

Life's good. Still.

"The best things happen while you're dancing."

Remember when your middle school and high school teachers used to say this:

Students, work with a partner - one of you needs to take a moment to spontaneously create an 8-count  of a dance routine to teach to the other person, who will then perform it in front of the rest of the class.

Yeah, I don't remember that either.

But my students will.

Kindness Is Timeless

Breakfast pals.

Greeted a man in town today who got a bigger smile than normal from me.

Later I realized that if I didn't happen to know he is losing his marriage and the mother of his children, I wouldn't have had that as a motivating reason to give an extra bit of kindness.

It reminded me of that quote that says, "Be kind for everyone is fighting a hard fight."

Six Word Bio

Knowing God

Feeling loved

Living dreams

These Are My People

O how I love motivational thoughts from writers for writers.

Reading a collection of quotes and insights about writing just made me sigh
like one of those young ladies gazing at the flowers on the table from her beau.