Service Day

It has been a long couple of weeks, lately, as the school year is winding up at the beginning of June, work on the shower finished up, we are gearing up for groundbreaking in the backyard,and Hannah is faster and smarter than ever... nothing is left unturned! And I continue to find fun things in fun places. Today, one of her shoes was on a shelf in the fridge. I think she snuck it in there while I was getting stuff out for dinner.
But, the good news is: today is Friday! And even better, today was Service Day. Twice a year, my awesome school takes the day off from classes, and teachers and students alike serve at various sites throughout the community. The Spring Service Day is my favorite by far, because the juniors and seniors host "Day of Dreams" - a special day where students with disabilities of all kinds come and make friends with one of our students for the day. They play games, color, work with clay, dance and sing on the stage in our performing arts center, make music, and have lunch.
I was stationed in the art room, and couldn't have been happier helping students and their buddies play with clay all day! I thought of Micah all day long... I played with clay, watched a car show that was running on the projector, and then headed out the AMAZING car show they had set up in the lower lot. (Can't believe I didn't get a picture!) He would have loved my job today!
But, my favorite thing to watch, by far, is the singing. I had to go check out the "performance" in the Nechita Center, where our students and their buddies were rocking out to "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts. It's fun to watch them all be rock stars for a day!
I needed this day today. It's a great change of pace, yes, but kind of humbling too. I was out of my element for a while today, trying to communicate with deaf students. One of my students, accustomed to having me translate things, asked me to ask his buddy a question. Then he realized that I don't really know much ASL! I was so wishing that Julianne was there to help! But, thank God we remembered how to finger-spell... problem-solved! I totally enjoyed the challenge, and I know it was good for my students to see me struggle with communication and prevail in some way. I still felt really pretty shy about the sign language for most of the day. I am so used to noise (and a lot of it!) in my classroom that I had a hard time paying attention without the sound. Our classroom was almost full, and it was reeeeeally quiet! So, I just watched. Totally enjoyed taking it all in, and I'm pondering many things in my heart still. I love my job on any given day, but it was a special blessing today, being able to serve alongside my friends and my students.
A great start to the weekend. Oh, the weekend. It's finally here, gracias a Dios.