Dunk Tank.

 As a special treat to the kids we brought in a dunk tank where they could be dunked.  It was  guilty pleasure to be able to watch them be thrown into the water...plus I got some funny pics.

nervous giggles.

gotch'ya

so funny.

a happy wet fourth grader

It is the Joy of My Heart to Follow You

You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
   You're blessed when you follow his directions,
      doing your best to find him.

Psalm 119:1

A couple weeks ago Faith Elementary participated in our Filipiniana Week.  This is a week in which we celebrate the Philippines, the country where God as called all of us to serve in.  It's a tiring week and by the end I feel as I am about to collapse, but the kids love it and it does provide them with some great opportunities.  

I posted a few pictures of our ministry day.  This is a day that we reserve specifically for a ministry somewhere in the metro manila area.  All week my class had been going through their own toys and deciding which ones they should give away to the less fortunate.  This is of course very difficult for the kids, but I reminded them of those that we had ministered to last year, and how they didn't even have lunches.  After a week, we had two giant boxes filled with toys, the kids were very proud of themselves.  So on our ministry day we were invited to the Faith Family Children's Home where we were going to deliver the toys that we had collected.  I headed over there with my 27 kids and was greeted by 32 happy and toothless smiles.  It was a great opportunity for kids to get involved in ministry work, and they ended up having so much fun with the kids.

At first the kids were somewhat hesitant and didn't know how to act. I found one of my kids yelling at the top of his lungs, "MISS COSPER, WHERE ARE ALL THE ORPHANS?  I THINK WE SCARED ALL THE ORPHANS AWAY!"...yikes, I quickly pulled him to the side and said, "hey bud, they're kids just like you, so I think it would be better if you just call them kids, and not orphans"...haha

Anyway, I was so glad my kids had a blast, and by the end of the day they were begging me to be able to come back and see the children's home again.  

When we got back to the classroom we talked about the joy that they were feeling.  They felt joyful because they were doing something that God would be pleased with, they were helping someone!  It was so cool to see the kids so excited.  Even just the other day the kids asked me if they could go back and see their new friends.

Ken and I...I love that his name is Ken.

Ken...little boy with a man's name

some of the kids and my fourth graders

Yuki...loved that dark curly hair

Kids playing together at the orphanage.  All of the swing sets were donated by Faith Academy.

Very excited it was non-uniform day, so he decided to wear his Kimono 

At the orphanage, the boys uniforms are laid out for them.

The boys made a new friend, Alvin.  They loved playing basketball together.

laughing at kids.

I've been terrible at blogging, and that ha partly to do with the coming season (christmas) and just the craziness of the school day.

Had lunch with a couple of my kids, and loved laughing and talking with them.  I love having lunch with smaller groups of kid because it's a time that I can use as a mentoring time, and less of a classroom teacher. Often times I will surprise them with little snacks and gifts.  Here's Samuel, Jaeyoung and I.  Jaeyoung (in the middle) really loves his ice cream.  He told me he tries to take as much time as he can eating his dessert so it will last forever haha cutie!

what a guy!  He even let me take his picture with ice cream still on his face!  I told him it made him look more grown up, like he had facial hair or something...