God's Sufficient Grace

First days of school

We have now completed two days of school and I am very tired but very happy. It's been a push to get everything together for the start of school and I still have so much to do! It was also a jolt to get up at 5:15 again and work long days, but all in all it's good to be back and so fun to see my students again! Again, I'm blown away by the difference between this year and the last - it's like night and day. At Open House I was completely at rest, knew exactly where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to do (which is the opposite of last year!) and was all smiles as I saw my students for the first time in months. Now I know their names! And I can greet them in the walkways and carry on conversations with them! And I'm not nearly so scared or nervous or insecure. Praise God!

The first few classes I've had have gone fine so far. Seeing the students is the most exciting part - the classes themselves have been mainly beginning of the year "business." One of the biggest delights of the past few days has been seeing my last year's beginning strings class. I love those students so much and they hold a special place in my heart, partially because they're just an incredibly sweet class but also I think because I started them on their instruments and they love playing so much. I feel like they're my little chicks that I hatched and I just want to put my wings around them and hold them close. Silly, I know, considering that they're 6th Graders now, but it brings me so much joy to have them come up to me and ask me questions about strings this year. "Miss Catherine, can we still play violin in 6th Grade?" "Miss Catherine..." It's really sweet. Today was the first day they brought their instruments and they had them out and were playing in little groups around the room long before I had finished all my "business" stuff. Oh, and one student in particular made my day when he said, "I've been practicing all summer! One hour every two days!" I think it's going to be another good year with that class. I'll have them for a longer amount of time each week and all but 4 are continuing to be in strings (last year instrumental music was required for them; this year it's an option).

God answered my prayers about my 7th Grade string class too. It is a rather long and involved story but the end result is that I will be able to teach them and I'll have a smaller but hopefully more dedicated group this year, which I'm looking forward to.

All that to say, God is continuing to answer my prayers and bless me in numerous ways each day. Hallelujah!

posted by Catherine Rogers @ 6:37 AM