I was a proud teacher today ...

Woodeline Dilane Brun ... 12 years old. But much wiser than her years.

After working with Woodeline for over 4 months, teaching her, loving her, challenging her, mentoring her, and growing very close to her as a friend, she officially transferred into the 5th grade class today. We spent some time during Bible class to talk about the change and to pray blessings over her as she moves on to a classroom where she can study and learn alongside her peers. But I must admit, I'm really going to miss her. And the other students will too. Today at snack, and again at lunch, she came over just to talk with me and give me HUGE hugs and kisses. And at the end of the day, little Valens came up to me and asked, in his broken English, if she was ever coming back... the poor boy thought she was leaving the Liberty Academy for good - not just our classroom! He was VERY relieved when I explained the situation to him again.

So now I'm down to three. But I know the time was right for Woodeline to move on. And I don't think I've ever been so proud of a student in my life. She had asked me at the beginning of the year why she was in my classroom to begin with, and after I explained to her some of the things I wanted to help her grow in (mostly her reading skills and vocabulary base), she was at peace with it. But she was also glad to hear me tell her that when she was ready, we would let her join her classmates in 5th grade.

Today was so good for the other students too. During our after-lunch-devotions, the boys were asking who would do the translation for us. Woodeline, our faithful translator, was gone! But I had spoken to Jephte and told him that as the oldest one in the class now, he'd be moving into that role (when needed ... I hardly ever use it anymore, as all THREE of the boys are understand so much of what I say to them). And he was amazing ... not only that, Mario joined right in and translated almost as well as he did! I think this was a good change for our class. I can focus a lot more now on increasing the reading and writing skills in this group of boys, now that their listening and speaking skills are so well-developed.

There is also a possibility that I'll be adding another student this week - a young second grader from Mr. Claudy's class, who has really been struggling to keep up with the rest of his class. She can never replace Woodeline, or Scheydline, for that matter, but we would love to have another girl in our midst =)

So God is good. Change is good. It is never easy, but it is SO good ... I almost cried when Woodeline cleared out her desk today (actually, the boys helped me clean it out, as she was busy with her after-school tutoring). But the tears would not have been tears of sadness alone. I am one proud teacher today. And Woodeline is growing into an amazing young woman - a woman who is able to translate for her English-speaking peers now when they evangelize on the streets each Friday, a woman who has developed such a tender, mothering heart as she helped me work with the two youngest boys in the class, and a woman who has so much dedication to learning that it sometimes puts me to shame. I wish you could all meet her someday...