You Are Welcome Here

     I can't believe that five weeks of preschool have passed. That's crazy sauce! How did that even happen?! Wasn't I just spending time painting the room and praying and praying and praying that God would provide everything I needed?! Wasn't it just the other day that I picked up the furniture and set up the room in preparation for the start of preschool?
     Yesterday was a good day. I arrived at my classroom about an hour early, as usual. I sat Micah down to eat his lunch (I bring him with me, and bring him home after), and I got everything ready for class. Then I sat down on the carpet and began to do a kid puzzle. And I was singing the song "Holy Spirit" by Francesca Battistelli, without really realizing it.
     "Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere. Your glory, God is what my heart longs for. To be overcome by your presence, Lord!"
     Once I realized what I was singing, I began to sing it as a prayer over the classroom. I always try to pray before the kids come (and during, of course!) and I thought that this song was a very good prayer to have!
     I know that God is always with me throughout the preschool -and life, obviously. But yesterday's class just felt like it had God's hand all over it. After the children arrived -I only have four of my usual children, since one was sick, one was visiting grandparents, and one just wasn't there, but the nine year old brother of one child joined us for the second day in a row- we sat down for circle (or, as the kids always say, "No, it's not circle, it's OVAL!" because we don't sit in a perfect circle. I love them!). I talked to them about the big O words -Omniscient, Omnipresent, etc. I asked them if they could guess what each meant, knowing they wouldn't know, and then explained what it meant and how God was like that. One moment that cracked me up was when I asked what they thought omnipresent means, and Micah was like "It means that Santa is going to come and bring us presents!"
     After this, I read the Bible story of the plagues. After, I grabbed a cup of water and put it in the middle of the carpet. "Who can change this into blood?" I asked. One child raised his hand. "Okay, Silas! Turn it into blood!" I said. He looked at me, "I... I don't know how."
     I did this with a few other things, telling them to make frogs appear, and grasshoppers, etc. They thought it was hilarious, but they also realized how they cannot do it, but God can.
     It was a good day :) Plus I got cuddles from Franz, so that just was the icing on the cake!

     Preschool, though, is not the only thing I do here in Madison! Here are a couple pictures from my last couple of weeks here!

Sunset out at the TC, where I live

Our first Love Feast of the DTS! Each school, we have three 'Love Feasts'. Basically we dress up and eat together. We have a Thanksgiving Love Feast, a Christmas one, and then this one- a Passover Love Feast. We staff served dinner and dessert to the students, and then after dinner, we had different people sing and recite poetry focusing on Jesus and His sacrifice.

     So yeah, that's just a small glimpse into my life right now! Its busy but fun and I love every moment of it! 

     I did dream the other night that I was home and it was quite lovely being back. I can't wait to see you all when I come home for a visit!

     Blessings,

          Katie