A Weekly Recap

I must say that I am glad today is Friday!! I am looking forward to a restful weekend. This week has been full to say the least.

Dave
It has been a tough week. On Wednesday, we went up to his school. We needed to pay our monthly bill and return his library books. His teacher had asked to see him to apologize. When we got there, I was totally unprepared for what happened. As we were walking up to the school, all of the kids ran to the gate and waved to him and called his name. I couldnt believe it! Dave walked right into the school, looked at the secretary and told her that his Daddy said that they couldnt tape him up anymore!!! HA!

We then walked around to his little class. There was only 5 kids in the class. I didnt know there was so few kids. It makes me wonder why the teacher seemed to have problems controlling things in the class. They were all sitting down having snack. One little boy in Dave's class (they are all local kids) came up to him and gave him a hug. Dave then went and hugged the teacher's aid (the one involved in everything) and told her that his Daddy said that they couldnt tape him up anymore. That was that and he sat down at the table and asked me why I didnt bring his snack to school.

Are you kidding me? I was just so unprepared for all of this. Him dealing so well with things...his forgiving heart...his courage....his friends...HIS LOCAL FRIENDS! Kids here really struggle with having local friends, and Dave has had no problem at all. He hugged his teacher aid, and he was over it. He has been fine! Praise the Lord.

It was concerning to us, however, that the teacher wasnt there. We have since found out that she has resigned as teacher and will be working in the office. This has really been hard for us. We didnt want this to happen. We just wanted her to get some mentoring and training so that things dont get out of hand again. It is out of our control, but still a difficult situation to deal with.

I have just really struggled with it all this week. I just want to rewind things and go back to the beginning. I know that I cant, but it has just not been easy. I have just really been grieving over the whole thing. Grieving that this happened to Dave and he was treated in this way....that the teacher has resigned...that Dave is missing out on friends and his friends are missing out on him.

We have been in contact with the school and we are just waiting on them to let us know the boundaries that they are putting into place and changes that are being made so that this doesnt happen again. Dave has asked to go back to the school. I must tell you though, as a mother I am scared. I am scared of something happening to Dave. I am just doing lots of praying at the moment. If he does go back, I will be going with him. Whether I help out in his class or I just hang out at the office (the school is the size of a big house!!), I will make sure that I stay around so that Dave understands and respects his teacher, and so that I can just be around to give support to the teacher and watch out for Dave as well. It could end up to be good language practice as well (most of the school is only in the local lingo).

Just continue to pray for this situation. For some reason, the Lord allowed it to happen. We know He is working in our lives, but we also know that He is working in the lives of the teachers at school. Just pray for the trust to be reestablished and pray that the Lord would show us what he would have us to do.

Also, Dave came up to me this week, and asked me where the airport was because he wants to go back home. This was really hard for me to hear (he was quite serious). I think Dave is probably struggling more with the fact that we are keeping him home from school then he is with the fact that he was tapped up! We talked about how we miss our family and friends, but that this is our new home. He just said that he was sad. He is really good about talking about how he feels and I am thankful for that. Just keep praying for him, and that things will just be made clear to us. Pray for the Lord to protect Dave.

Language
Because Dave is now home with us for the time being, it has just been too difficult doing language at home with 2 kids. On Monday, we are starting at a local language school. We really loved the method we were doing, but it is not practical to continue it at home where we have 2 kids running around. We think we have done enough of the method though to help us in the future.

Shane will be going to school from 8-11, and then I will be going to school from 12:30-3:30. I think this will work out better for us all. I am sort of looking forward to getting out on my own a bit. This is an organized program and a lot similar to what we did in Vietnam. So please be in prayer for this new schedule for us.

Driving
I did it!!!! I drove all on my own from Noah's school to our house! I almost had to do a hill start, but we kept honking the horn and the people finally moved so I am thankful I didnt have to do it! Shane only freaked out twice! I need to practice more though because Shane still has to tell me what to do, and I have got to do it on my own. I felt pretty good after though...I have never prayed so much in my whole life. The boys were laughing!

Mail
We got our first package in the mail this week from my parents! It was so needed, and just made my day! Thanks Mom and Dad. If anyone wants our address, please just email us or leave a comment. We love mail...even a letter!!!! If any of you reading have kids...our boys would love to get some mail!!!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers. You have no idea how much we have needed them this week. It has been an especially tough week for me. I continuously have felt the Lord trying to encourage me. I keep reading in the Word...Do Not Be Discouraged. Sometimes though, I have felt discouraged. Not everyday will be a thriving day...we know that from experience, but bad days can sometimes be hard just as they would be if we were home. I often tell my best friends to keep their head up and stand firm...so I think I will take my own advice and keep my head up, standing strong because I know that the Lord is fighting for us and going before us in everything we do. Amen to that!