Mixed Emotions

Llegamos al final. We made it to the end. We have reached the last day of school. Wow.

I’m not sure that it has completely sank in with me yet. I have spent almost every day with my little 2nd grade friends for the past year and then at 11:30 tomorrow, it will end. My interaction with them is over. I won’t greet them every morning with a high five anymore. We won’t read the morning message and have morning meeting. I won’t have to tell Gandhi to stay in his seat anymore or Ritzy to raise her hand if she has a question. I won’t get to watch them laugh and play during recess or get really excited when they know an answer to a question and earn a point for their table. I won’t have to break up any fights or take away their mangos during reading because they are eating in class. I won’t get to dismiss them at the end of the day and receive hugs and goodbyes from some of the sweetest Hondurans I know (granted I don’t know all that many!) and then remind them not to run to the bus!.

I truly will miss them. I feel like they have become my actual children. I tell them this a lot and I think they think I am crazy!

I think one reason I am really sad is because I want to see my kids grow up. I want to see their English improve even more.  I want to see them going to high school. I want to see some of them break the cycle of poverty in their families because they can get better jobs than harvesting crops in the hot sun because they can speak English. I want to see Kensy and Milton live in a house made of cinderblock one day instead of mud.

I was making a memory album for each of them this afternoon to give them as a present. In it I have a picture I took of them on the first day of school and a picture that I took of them on Monday. I seriously cannot believe how much they have changed and matured in 9 months! It just seems like life goes so quickly.

I am so thankful for this time I have had in Honduras and I am so thankful that I still have about a week and a half to close up my time here. I am also thankful that I can come back and visit in a few years. :)

It is so funny how the Lord works through EVERY situation and how He led me and Allan to this place. Its so great how the Lord created relationships and enables us to build them with people of all ages. Its neat how I feel like I have learned just as much from my students as (I hope!) they have learned from me.

My mom made me a shirt with a picture of Honduras on it and a little heart where Copan is. I think it is a great representation of how I am feeling right now.