Choosing Joy: and STAYING busy.

Soooo,
If you read the title of this blog then you can guess what this might be about.
Also, if you are one of the few people that keep up with my blog then you will notice its been almost a month since my lost post and I said I was going to be better at this.
So far, not soo good but it has crossed my mind to blog so that counts for something.

Staying busy can sound like a complaint and I will be honest in the past month, when talking about being busy, I have said it with a negative attitude and it has usually been followed with a complaint:

-Why don't they get it? I have no patience!!!
- I have noo free time/ I have no life
- Not another meeting
-I don't have time for this.
-I don't want to be an adult...this responsibility thing is overrated. (Yup, if you know me well enough you will probably get a laugh on this one and you probably completely understand when I say it's been my favorite one to say over the past month)
                -If you don't know me, I apologize, but I can assume this also makes sense to you because I
                 can guess at some point you might have said these same words and if you haven't stay tuned
                 because more than likely you will at some point (if not more than once) in your life.

However, not wanting to grow up and be responsible is NOT the point of this blog. Thats too easy.
The point of this blog is to come to terms with the fact that the complaining you and I do in our lives gets us next to nowhere.

I am a glass half full kind of person so looking back on the past month and realizing negativity has been coming off my tongue so quickly makes me cringe and has made me desire to get back to the person the Lord made me, the person many people know me as, the person so many of my students have told me that I am: a positive, joyful, glass half full kind of girl. It is who the Lord made me to be so therefore I pray it be what my heart desires.


**Side Note: NO, I am not saying you can't be mad, you can't be sad, you can't complain, and you can't get angry, you can't get impatient, you can't lose you're cool....thats NOT it. Please, do these things. It is because of these things that I have this blog post. Its because of the tears, the negative comments, the times when I raised my voice from impatience, its the venting and the miles and miles I have ran from a bad day that brought me to blog about my new realization.

Will this blog post fix all my problems? Will I be back to same ole me after I hit PUBLISH? Probably not but being aware is a huge step in spirtual growth.

So some of you dedicated readers/family/friends/brothers and sisters in Christ may be wondering (I hope youre wondering) how you can pray for me and my life here in Ecuador.

So I am putting away the complaining, forgetting about the checklist, and sitting down to write to you: for the one thing I hate asking for: HELP!

Help me in praying for:
-Patience
-Supernatural Energy (each day and each week)
-Wisdom (as someone in a position such as chaplain I don't feel equipped for decisions I am faced weekly and those to come)
-My relationships ( I feed off of social interaction)- so my relationships here with faculty, students (HIGH school and ELEMENTARY), people of Ecuador, and people/friends back home.
-Anxiousness
-Thursday Chapels
-Upcoming Spiritual Emphasis Week (October)
-CHOOSING JOY

My turn:
Encouragement for yall at home.
I decided to write this blog right after I finished my presentation for chapel this week so I wanna leave you with the verse I will sharing with the kids this week:
JOSHUA 1:5
" ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Thanks, 
Choose Joy, 
Saved by grace, 
Kb

Choosing Joy: and Starting a new school year.

Some of you know and some of you don't know that my role here in Ecuador at Alliance Academy looks a bit different than last year.
Last year= volunteer.
This year= Elem. PE teacher for Pre-k, Kinder, and 1st grade. and Elementary Chaplain.

Im excited to be in these positions this coming year but also nervous.

Spidey said it best right?!! (if you wanna be technical, it was Voltaire. Yes, I will admit I owe Google Search the credit on that one) 

And I wouldn't technically say POWER when referring to my new role/positions but whatever you wanna call them; they do come with GREAT RESPONSIBILITY. 

These new positions started this week. Yes, school started this week, on Monday Sept. 2nd. The monday I knew as Labor Day for 22 years of my life might I add. 

However the start of the school year was a staggered start in which our 7-12 graders came on Monday and on Tuesday they were joined by K-6 graders and on Wednesday came our Preschoolers. Don't ask me way because the only answer I can give you is "The Ecuadorian government" would that suffice? 

So the week started off on Wednesday for me with PE classes for Kindergarten and Preschool. 

As someone who loves exercise and being physically active I was very motivated to be able to be a part of enforcing this with such a young age however the only focus we had this week for our preschool classes was learning how to get in a line and then stay there. 

Yes, that is where we will start on Monday. Sooo I learned its gonna be a slow process...slower than normal with the language barrier but i'm sure most people will tell me...."its worth it in the end" 

I ran my first chapels on thursday as the new Elem. Chaplain. 

EC chapel at 8:45

Upper Elem Chapel at 10:30 

Lower Elem. Chapel at 1:00. 

Talk about NERVOUS. wow. I was so anxious I arrived at school at 7:15 that day...and good thing I did because my MAC powerpoints didnt transfer to the PC world so I had to do them all over again. 

Stressful situation number 1 of the day. 

There were many more of those to follow being my first time and all but...when they were all finished I couldn't help but look back at the day on thursday and smile because I realized I had just got to spend the day doing something I really do love...singing...dancing...laughing...hanging out with kids...and talking about JESUS. 

Encouragement of that day: 

Jose Ignacio (4th grader) "Ms. K, you did good...for your first time."

Yep folks, I am taking THAT as a compliment. 

Friday FINALLY came after a full week of not only Elem. stuff but high school events and I was so ready to do NOTHING. 

Yep, it was Friday night and ALL i wanted to do was nothing and its EXACTLY what I did. 

So, now its the Sunday before week 2 and I sit back and ask myself am I ready??

Am I ready for another Preschooler to run off during my class--- Yep, it happened. 

(This same preschooler also saw me at church today and said... "Ms. K!!! Do you remember me?!!"

And all I could think was....you really think I could forget you?!! Crazy Kid!)

Am I ready to put on another puppet show?

Am I ready to go here, Am i ready to go there?

The answer is probably NO to all these questions but good thing the Lord is ready. 

Yep, I threw that Jesus card out there because its true. Theres no way I could have gotten through this week without Him and theres no way I will get through the next one without Him either. 

I do have to add it is such a joy to be where I am doing what I am doing and being able to write about my 2nd year in Ecuador. Its still crazy that I write to you as a PE teacher and ELEM. Chaplain but thats okay! I know there are more adventures coming soon so stay tuned! 

Until Next Time, 

Saved by grace, 

Kb