Everything

Having given up a year of my life to serve the church you might think its easy for me to say, Jesus is my everything. But really, we all have to got through a daily struggle of giving Jesus all of ourselves. Saying that nothing else matters in comparison to Him and that today, we promise, we will not let anything take precedence over our goal of following Him and Him alone. It a tough thing to do and yet do it we must.

"God in my living, there in my breathing

God in my waking, God in my sleeping

God in my resting, there in my working

God in my thinking, God in my speaking

Be my everything, be my everything

Be my everything, be my everything"

Tim Hughes, Everything

"And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Cause you're all I want, You're all I need
You're everything,everything
You're all I want your all I need
You're everything, everything.
You're all I want you're all I need.
You're everything, everything

You're all I want you're all I need, you're everything, everything."

Lifehouse, Everything

Maths Classes and Ostriches

Well, things have kicked off with Back to School! After 6 months of being out of the classroom I'm back in it on the other side of the table! Somebody had the strange idea that I can teach maths and so I've been taking the 6 most able children in Grade 5 (10 years old) for their, numbers to 1 000 000 lessons! This mainly involves a lot of number lines and counting on, which may not sound so hard but I did put a number line on the board yesterday that I couldn't answer! This elicited the question "Are you a teacher?" from one girl, the answer was "Sort of!" Apart from that we are now only 2 short of a full team, the first of which comes back tomorrow and then the second of which...I'm not sure! Feeling ready to take on the year and hit the ground running.
We've been doing 'birds' in class as well where, as Mike said, my extensive knowledge of birds really came in handy! I've learnt that Ostriches are the largest birds on earth and can run at up to 45 mph. Today we had 2 Love Birds and a Chicken in the classroom which was...interesting! The Love Birds wouldn't really shut up so it was a bit frustrating after a while! I really became a teacher when I sat down with 2 subjects worth of books and was like, AH now I have to do all this marking - although the best bit is getting to choose stickers to reward them with. I think that every year should get stickers, right up to Sixth Form. Everyone loves stickers, am I right, or am I right!?

Things to Do Without a TV: No.1

Make a scrabble board full of words associated with God, great for focussing on His character and increasing vocabulary at the same time!

Arrival in Clarens and a Very Wet Safari

Well, I'm here. It seems like a lifetime ago that I started praying, planning and saving for this moment, so much so that its a bit unreal to think that the time has actually arrived - I keep half expecting to be told to go home again! We had a wonderful family holiday although the two days at the safari lodge were waterlogged to say the least, however, we still saw loads of animals including cheetahs and giraffes!
I started this post a week ago and have now had one week which has also been more of a holiday but also some adjustment time. Our team has not yet re-assembled after christmas and so things are on a go slow at a push! But it has been, in a way, quite good to just pick up the pace of life here and try and settle in to what is now my life. I think we underestimate moves like this, excited as we are, we forget that there is a lot involved and that actually behind the exciting things we're doing and the great things we're going to do and see and experience life doesn't just change at the click of a finger and we aren't able to just fit into a new place as immediately as hoped! I say 'we' because I think really that is one of the true lessons of leaving home for everyone who's done it. Now, don't quote me or use me as some expert on this because, seriously, I haven't consulted anybody else on this issue, its just a hunch. I think one of the biggest learning curves leaving home is that home doesn't happen overnight. You can make a place look like home and, yes I believe Clarens is my home [see previous blog posts to see just how much] but actually making a home in a new place, especially on your own is tough. (I hope this is making sense, I'm really just typing before my brain thinks this through). I suppose I'm just grateful that I am joining a church here that feels like a home, that the people will make sure I feel like part of a family, and that the Northcote family let me kip on their floor!