Eat, Pray, Love School

We love Ella's school, they serve the students there with such a passion not only for their education, but most importantly, their hearts. I love that Ella's spelling tests have words like "Jesus" and "pray." I love that Ella comes home and says that they prayed for Todd on his business trip, that we need to pray for Ethan's tooth to feel better and that Trevor's Daddy would come to know God. I love that before Parent/Teacher conferences the teacher sits and prays with us, for us, for Ella. Each teacher is unique and shows their love for the Lord in different ways. Each year at orientation, the teachers share how they came into a relationship with Jesus, most of them cry, all of them touch my heart. I just like walking down the halls at her tiny school, it's so intimate and you feel like you're part of something really great. One thing Ella's 1st grade teacher does is to post a character trait on their homework page for the week. It has their Bible verse, their spelling and challenge words, and then something to focus on in their character. I actually look forward to reading them every week, the explanation is short and sweet, and it reminds me to work on those things in my own heart. Here are some of the character traits my 1st grader and I are working on together:)

Worship ~ showing great respect and honor to God.
Unselfishness ~ caring more about others than worrying about myself or what I have.
Forgiveness ~ Treating someone as though they had not hurt me or made me angry.
Honesty ~ Always telling things exactly as they are.
Faith ~ Believing God will do what He says.
Obedience ~ Doing what I am told with a joyful attitude.
Joy ~ Having a spirit that is always happy about who God is.
Love ~ Putting others before yourself.

And by the way, is there anything cuter than a toothless wonder explaining a phongram, a blend, or a t-h brother? I can't stand it when Ella starts doing these full-body moves and hand and arm gestures about words and sounds, cute doesn't begin to describe it. "Does it look right, does it sound right, does it makes sense?" is another favorite jingle she uses when reading. She's been struggling in some of her math concepts, and I wish I could make it easy for her. But she's working really hard at it and keeping her chin up and making some great strides already. I was super worried and emotional about it, but everyone had been so encouraging and  helping me keep it in perspective. Todd keeps reminding me that he needed after-school help with his multiplication, and he went on to graduate with a Master's in Engineering at Gonzaga, so I guess it's normal to have a few hang-ups along the way. So I posted some pictures of school stuff. Some of her artwork, which is always so whimsical and hilarious, one of the awards she's received this year, and one of her 100% spelling tests. She's been on a roll with this lately since I let her have hot chocolate on Fridays if she gets 100%. Interesting how that's all it took and she's suddenly a super speller:)  The picture of her praying up top was in the newsletter. I usually just look through the monthly Crusader Pages since it's geared more towards parents. But they send out a quarterly that's more of a pamphlet and to be honest, I usually throw it away, but I'm so glad I didn't because the Bean was in it! She makes me so proud in every way and I'm grateful for every year we've been able to send her to a school that we love, and that supports us and encourages her in academics but best of all, in her relationship with God.