I have been blessed in my life to be able to receive a Christian education my whole life, starting in kindergarten all the way through college. I don't like to have the arguments with people about Christian school versus public school education, but I believe whole heartedly in Christian education. I am also teaching at a Christian school, and today I had another moment of strong reaffirmation of why I love teaching at a Christian school and why I believe in Christian education.
This morning we started our day with devotions, as we always do. The devotion was about asking God for forgiveness. I read the devotions and talked about some ideas and thoughts I had. Usually I ask a few questions or we discuss for a bit, then move on to prayer requests. One of my students had their hands up, so I called on her. She then asked me this question, "How does God decide who doesn't go to heaven?" I was slightly taken aback. It was a great question, but being a teacher or anyone in a position where you are asked a question such as this, you realize how careful you need to be with your answer.
I explained that God chooses the people He loves and loves him back, who accept Jesus as their Savior and who confess that they are sinners and do wrong. Once I answered, a couple more hands went up. We ended up having a 15 minute conversation about how a person goes to heaven, who God saves, and how we can be sure we are saved. I also feel as though I may not be adequate in answering their quesitons, but I sent up a quick prayer to be able to answer to the best of my abilties!
This is one of the many reasons why I love teaching at a Christian school. It was amazing to see these young kids faith just shining, and their genuine and deep questions about God and Christianity. I am so appreciative that I can take the time to discuss these things with my students, and thankful that God has blessed these students with the ability to think about these things and express them to me. God is in every aspect of life, and to be able to emulate my Christian faith in every aspect of my teaching is a huge blessing, and is why I absolutely, positively love this job.
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." John 10:14-15
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
That good old feeling
You know that feeling you get when you are recovering from laughing super hard? That totally satisfying feeling of complete happiness and contentment? I love that feeling. And that is exactly how I would describe my Thanksgiving weekend.
Now I know Thanksgiving was already a week ago, but I was crazy busy/recovering from the crazy weekend, traveling back, and jumping back into teaching. So just pretend this post was written and posted right after Thanksgiving.
Going back to Wisconsin always gets me feeling warm and fuzzy, because it will always be home for me. Not to mention, I finally get to eat some good quality cheese! Yum. Most of my family and extended family live there, so I got to soak up some great quality time with them. What I especially love and enjoy is craft time on Thanksgiving with the Ongna's. Every year, my incredibly creative aunts come up with a craft to make for the holidays. I try to soak up as much of their creative juices and expertise as I can, and try to make mine turn out. Either way, it is a blast.
I also got to spend some time with my Jensema fam-jam, at a baby shower for my cousin Kelley and dinner on Sunday. My Jensema family is very...loud. We all end up yelling over each other, poking fun, and laughing till we cry. I think we tend to scare off people who visit. My dad especially has a voice that tends to carry. Sure glad I didn't inherit that ;) Meh, its just who we are, and I wouldn't change it ever.
Friends took up the other parts of the weekend, including shopping and a day with one of my dear friends, Kim Ingelse, bunco with the Gesch family, and meeting up with lots of other friends as well. Overall, it was a phenomenal weekend, full of quality time with people I love. It was also a great time to relax and reflect on my time here in Pittsburgh and to revamp for school. Going to my home church was also a great boost as well, to know people have been praying and supporting from afar. I have so very much to be thankful for.
Now I know Thanksgiving was already a week ago, but I was crazy busy/recovering from the crazy weekend, traveling back, and jumping back into teaching. So just pretend this post was written and posted right after Thanksgiving.
Going back to Wisconsin always gets me feeling warm and fuzzy, because it will always be home for me. Not to mention, I finally get to eat some good quality cheese! Yum. Most of my family and extended family live there, so I got to soak up some great quality time with them. What I especially love and enjoy is craft time on Thanksgiving with the Ongna's. Every year, my incredibly creative aunts come up with a craft to make for the holidays. I try to soak up as much of their creative juices and expertise as I can, and try to make mine turn out. Either way, it is a blast.
I also got to spend some time with my Jensema fam-jam, at a baby shower for my cousin Kelley and dinner on Sunday. My Jensema family is very...loud. We all end up yelling over each other, poking fun, and laughing till we cry. I think we tend to scare off people who visit. My dad especially has a voice that tends to carry. Sure glad I didn't inherit that ;) Meh, its just who we are, and I wouldn't change it ever.
Friends took up the other parts of the weekend, including shopping and a day with one of my dear friends, Kim Ingelse, bunco with the Gesch family, and meeting up with lots of other friends as well. Overall, it was a phenomenal weekend, full of quality time with people I love. It was also a great time to relax and reflect on my time here in Pittsburgh and to revamp for school. Going to my home church was also a great boost as well, to know people have been praying and supporting from afar. I have so very much to be thankful for.
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| Some of my awesome Jensema cousins: Zach, Jeremy, and Eric, plus girlfriends Sarah and Amy. |
Sunday, November 20, 2011
What I'm Thankful For
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Like, seriously, it is so close I can almost taste my mom's amazing cooking! It has been a crazy and busy 3 1/2 months, and I am unbelievably excited to go home. Just ask my students. Every time we talk about how close Thanksgiving, I mention that am excited to go to Wisconsin. They always say "We know Miss Ongna! We know you are excited!" They love me, they really do.
School has been crazy lately, with report cards going out 2 weeks ago and parent teacher conferences this past week. Both went very well, which is a huge blessing. I was quite nervous about the whole process, but it ended up being pretty painless! I have also been blessed with having students with wonderful parents. One of the things I was most nervous about starting off school was having parents that were unsure or worried about their child having a first year teacher. I didn't want to disappoint anyone or feel as though their student was missing out on something. After meeting with the parents, I feel so encouraged and revitalized. They have all been so incredibly supportive and encouraging. I know that God placed me in this school for a reason, and after the conferences, I could see one of the many reasons why He did.
We have also been doing some really exciting things in class! I feel as though every day I become more and more comfortable in my teacher role and I continue to grow in my teaching as well. We have spent time in our reading textbooks that have a compilation of lots of stories all separated into different topics. We have recently started a new topic--kindness. We read the first story together, then I had the whole class discuss 4 different aspects of the story: characters, setting, vocabulary, and plot. After discussing the meaning of these words, we went to work figuring out answers for each aspect. We wrote the answers to each on post-it notes.
My kids blew me away! They enjoyed it so much and worked really hard at figuring out appropriate answers for each part. When I asked about when this story may have taken place, by looking at the pictures and the story itself, one student said, "It seems like it would have been the early 1900's, because of the style of clothing and buildings." I think I literally jumped up and down. It was an awesome teaching moment!
As you can see, life is good and I continue to have so so much to be thankful for. An awesome job, wonderful friends and family, a God who loves me, and so much more. I feel as though my cup is just overflowing. It will be wonderful to have a break though, and I am thankful especially for that! Prayers for safe travels for Julia, Ryan, and myself are appreciated. Prayers for my students are also appreciated as they travel as well, and as we continue school after Thanksgiving.
Here's to bracing for 3 days of school then traveling home. Ready or not Wisconsin, here I come!
School has been crazy lately, with report cards going out 2 weeks ago and parent teacher conferences this past week. Both went very well, which is a huge blessing. I was quite nervous about the whole process, but it ended up being pretty painless! I have also been blessed with having students with wonderful parents. One of the things I was most nervous about starting off school was having parents that were unsure or worried about their child having a first year teacher. I didn't want to disappoint anyone or feel as though their student was missing out on something. After meeting with the parents, I feel so encouraged and revitalized. They have all been so incredibly supportive and encouraging. I know that God placed me in this school for a reason, and after the conferences, I could see one of the many reasons why He did.
We have also been doing some really exciting things in class! I feel as though every day I become more and more comfortable in my teacher role and I continue to grow in my teaching as well. We have spent time in our reading textbooks that have a compilation of lots of stories all separated into different topics. We have recently started a new topic--kindness. We read the first story together, then I had the whole class discuss 4 different aspects of the story: characters, setting, vocabulary, and plot. After discussing the meaning of these words, we went to work figuring out answers for each aspect. We wrote the answers to each on post-it notes.
My kids blew me away! They enjoyed it so much and worked really hard at figuring out appropriate answers for each part. When I asked about when this story may have taken place, by looking at the pictures and the story itself, one student said, "It seems like it would have been the early 1900's, because of the style of clothing and buildings." I think I literally jumped up and down. It was an awesome teaching moment!
As you can see, life is good and I continue to have so so much to be thankful for. An awesome job, wonderful friends and family, a God who loves me, and so much more. I feel as though my cup is just overflowing. It will be wonderful to have a break though, and I am thankful especially for that! Prayers for safe travels for Julia, Ryan, and myself are appreciated. Prayers for my students are also appreciated as they travel as well, and as we continue school after Thanksgiving.
Here's to bracing for 3 days of school then traveling home. Ready or not Wisconsin, here I come!
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