Working with Obbasen |
Last
week we held a dinner for the families that live in the village who have children with special needs. Mike and Missy shared their story with all of the
families on the joys and struggles of having a child with special needs. They
did a great job of relating to the families and to helping them to feel like
they are not alone. These families were able to see Mike and Missy love on
their son, Lane, in a way that we hope to see each of them growing to love
their own children with special needs.
After
Mike and Missy were done talking to the families, I wanted to take a few of the
parents into the classroom. This way they could see where their children go to
school each day and see what they have been learning. The first family I brought
into the classroom was Doudoune’s family.
Doudoune is an 18 year-old sweetheart that has Down
syndrome. She comes to class every Monday and Wednesday with a little girl
named Kebeke, who also has Downs. In the past month they have been learning how
to count to 10. We have used buttons, cookies, rubber ducks, and also playing hop scotch to help
teach them how to count.
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Learning to count with buttons |
Matt was with us while all of this was happening and
had the great idea of letting Doudoune show her family something she has been
doing in class. So, we pulled out the fun, rubber ducky number game. For this
activity, there are 10 ducks, each with a number on the bottom of them. Then
you place the ducks in a bowl of water. The child then takes a duck out of the
water, looks at the number on the bottom and then has to place that duck with
its matching number on a mat with numbers 1-10. Once we got the activity set
up, Doudoune took a seat, her mother stood behind her, and her brother sat
beside her. I first asked her to count to 10 before we began the activity. I
gave her the first number to get her started and then she counted, “Youn, de,
twa, kat, senk, sis, set, uit, nef, dis!”
Judith working with Doudoune in class |
I wish that I could put into words the excitement on
her family’s faces. They could not believe Doudoune just counted to 10. It was
amazing!! It brings me to tears just thinking about it. Her family not only saw
what she did on paper in the classroom before, but they were able to see with
their own eyes, evidence of her learning. What an incredible feeling it must
have been for Doudoune, to hear her family cheering and clapping with
enthusiasm. And, as Doudoune did the rest of the activity, her family encouraged
her the entire time! What a neat experience :) Their lives are changing right in
front of our eyes. My LIFE is changing and it has swept me right up from under
my feet.
It is the little things like this that remind me
that I am where I am suppose to be and doing what I am suppose to be doing at
this point in my LIFE. I am thankful that I got to witness the family’s
encouragement towards Doudoune. I am thankful for Doudoune and all of my
students. They remind me that even though it may take a week, a month and sometimes
even a year to see change, I can’t give up because they are a person, just like
everyone else, who deserves a chance. That being said, I am thankful for that
moment because Doudoune’s family found worth in her they did not believe was
possible. And it is not because of me. I cannot take any glory for that moment.
It is all because of God. If He had not placed this passion in my heart to be
here, then I would not be here right now telling you all about how great my
kids are. I don’t deserve to have this joy in my heart, however, I am forever
thankful that He has placed it there.
I absolutely love it when I see someone else take
pride in our students and realize that they can learn. I could not be more
proud of my students. Each of them are lovable and smart in their own way. And
very soon, you can be a part of our students’ lives. We are in the process of
creating sponsorship opportunities for students here in our ti, tiny school for
children that have special needs. Would you like to be about something BIGGER
than yourselves and reach out to a child who is seen as unworthy of love? If
that is something you would like to be a part of, I encourage you to pray about
it. However, if sponsorship is not something you can do right now, that is perfectly
fine. You can give through your prayers and sharing with others about what God
is doing here at myLIFEspeaks.
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Surprised by my beautiful students in their NEW UNIFORMS!! |
We live in a broken world full of hatred, sin and more problems than I can even imagine. There is so much to be done but we can't tackle all these things on our own. Find one person you can pour the love of Christ into. Love on them and support them. Witnessing one person being adopted into our Heavenly Father's family is better than any gift or amount of money we could give them. So I would like to ask you to pick one of my students and please pray for them.