generosity.

Today was my last official day of teaching...for who knows how long?
It was truly a bittersweet day, as I was filled with mixed emotions - the happiness that comes with the end of the year (even sweeter when it's 3 weeks early!), sadness to be bidding farewell to a really great class, awesome co-teacher, and the school that I've been calling mine for the past seven years.  Plus, just general exhaustion from being 8 months pregnant and surviving on only a few hours of sleep the past few days, as I've rushed to complete my final formal observation lesson plan and long-term sub plans into the wee hours of the morning.

Yesterday I sent home a letter to parents to let them know about my early leave and the substitute teacher's name.  I didn't want the parents to be taken by surprise with the substitute starting tomorrow morning.  What I didn't expect was to be overwhelmed with kindness from some of the parents after school today.  They came to pick up their child bearing sweet gifts for my baby girl.  I was so humbled by their thoughtfulness and generosity.  Most of my students come from difficult financial backgrounds - in fact, one of the mothers amazed me, since I know she works nights as a custodian...yet she so lavishly gave.

Last week was teacher appreciation week and it seems like this was the first time in my seven years of teaching that it was actually celebrated or recognized (outside of my principal sticking little tokens of appreciation in the staff mailboxes).  I know that in other counties and school districts, the PTA goes all out in showing appreciation to the teachers, but we know not to expect too much in our school.  However, on Friday last week, my principal called all staff who could stay after school to the cafeteria and there was a huge buffet set up...all donations from the parents of our school who cooked or purchased food to say thank you to the teachers.  My principal said that in the ten years of our school's existence, this is the first time that anything like this has ever been organized by the parents.

These two examples were extremely humbling because I was on the receiving end of both.  It almost made me cry to think of the beautiful hearts behind these generous gestures.  It wasn't about the yummy food or the cute girly outfits...it was the heart behind each act.

This year's key verse for me is all about generosity and I feel God reminding me over and over again how beautiful real generosity is to Him.  I want to love like that...