Successes and Heartbeat Skips

These last few weeks have been such a joy. The smiles, the funny sentence formations, the shouting, the hugging and even the snotty "wailing."  

I signed up for this internship, because all of last year, I missed kids more than anything. Back home in Dallas, I had been a children's church teacher for 5 years. It took me a while to realize that it was the lack of children in my life that I was so obviously missing. The first week, I think our whole team was just enamored by how adorable they are. They reminded me so much of the kids back home. I just love hearing about all the funny things they have to say. It's also so much fun to see the innocence of the children. I saw one of the kids arranging all the toys after dramatic play was over. I hadn't even asked him to do it. I love that about this job. I love getting to see their personalities shine even at such young ages. I love getting to see the simplicity in childlike happiness.

This last week has been a whole new set of personal joys. Between Tuesday session and Friday session, I could already see significant progress in letter recognition for their names. That was a personal success for me. It wasn't about the palpable progress, though. It was the simple fact that something we did together could significantly change the trajectory of their lives forever. That one letter recognition is a slippery slope to a hundred more successes and personal heartbeat skips. I can't wait to see what my little rugrats accomplish by the end of the semester.

Even though I don't get to see my students back home grow up each day, I think this is the very best alternative possible. Good luck with your kiddos for the rest of the semester, y'all!

Leanza Bethel
Corps member
Team Learning 2