There's a part of me that can hardly believe it is May already. Last week I was getting teary-eyed on the way to school thinking about saying goodbye in 12 days. In August, we became a family. I was able to witness kids start believing in themselves, accomplish amazing things, overcome obstacles, grow a tremendous amount. This is by far my favorite part of my job, watching them exceed even their own expectations. After 5 years of teaching (can you believe it?!), you would think it'd get easier. It doesn't. In some ways it gets harder. I love what I do, even on hard days, and believe me, there are plenty of days I want to pull my hair out. After saying goodbye, I want my students to remember how much I loved and believed in them. I want them to remember how much fun they had in 2nd grade and how much they learned...especially on hard days when they want to give up. I hope they'll remember how much I cared about who they were and what made them tick. I hope they remember the hugs and the laughter we shared. I hope they remember how much we celebrated, even small victories. I hope they always do the "friday dance" and sing "happy birthday" backwards. More than anything though, I hope they saw Jesus.
