Dominican Birthday

This morning I found myself feeling quite nostalgic.  I don’t know what it is about the completion of my twenty third year of life, but I found myself reflecting on how much has changed in just a year.  Last year (on my twenty third birthday), I was in Ohio sitting in my aunt and uncles basement spending time with family and enjoying a relaxing labor day weekend.  I was feeling nervous about starting student teaching that coming week, but excited about the start of the end of my final semester of college. I really had few plans for my future.  My goals were to make it through student teaching alive and with all my hair.  I had no idea of the changes that were to come.
I had no idea I would spend a month as an aide for special needs kids.  I had no idea that would be the hardest job of my life.  I had a pretty good idea I would be back in Monte Plata for the summer but nothing definite.  I had no idea I would see three very good friends who were all single at the time or in new relationships get married within the next year. I had no idea if I would have a job or if I would spend a year in limbo substituting here and there.  I definitely had no anticipation of having a job in the Dominican Republic as a math teacher.  I had no idea how much I would absolutely love this job.
Basically I was clueless what God was doing, but I am incredibly grateful that He always has His plans worked out and that they always happen.
A couple students found out about my birthday and word spread pretty fast.  Students were wishing me a happy birthday from the start of the day until the end of the day.  My classes were trying to convince me that to celebrate my birthday they shouldn’t have homework (I said their homework would be their birthday present to me). My tenth grade geometry class broke out into the “happy birthday” song in the middle of talking about line segments.  They all wanted to know what I was going to do for my birthday, and they must have been expecting that I was going to have some elaborate celebration because my response of “going to dinner with friends” didn’t seem to be good enough.
As I said earlier, I am loving this job.  The smaller class sizes allow me to meet the needs of my students and make connections with them.  I also can be relaxed while teaching and have a lot of student involvement. I am surprised daily by their eagerness to participate and learn. I began teaching my elective class of personal finance today.  We talked about global debt and the stock market and the great depression and why investing in gold is a good idea and why you should stay out of debt.  The kids were very eager to understand the system of money. I’m excited to  see where the class goes and how the school year continues.