Tag Archives: God

We’re Thankful For…

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Little hands, colorful paper, and thoughts of what we are grateful for, helped to make our Thanksgiving turkeys this year.  As we prepare to celebrate this festival that began with the Pilgrims back in 1621. I asked our class to share what they were grateful for. For Alexa, it’s God and Jesus; Lucas, his garden; and Ryan, his house. Dominic, Chase, Nick, Joseph and Annabelle are grateful for family. Adrienne is thankful for the earth; Lily, for oxygen; and Mark, for his faith.

Today, our program also had its annual Thanksgiving food collection.  All the items went to our church’s food pantry. This will help feed many people here in our own home town this Thanksgiving. Together, all the students filled 100 bags! So, I like to say; Way to Go! Great job!

At our prayer service, I had the privilege to read  beautiful scripture of Jesus feeding over five thousand people. Matthew 14:13-21, “When Jesus heard what had happened, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed Him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ‘We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they answered. ‘Bring them here to Me,’ He said. And He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

This reminds me that Jesus was truly the One who taught us about Thanksgiving. He not only preached this, but lived by example. Whether He was feeding four thousand, five thousand, or God only knows how many more not listed in scripture. We see our Lord’s divine ability to completely meet the needs of all the Earth. This, in itself, is an awesome  blessing to be grateful for. Ephesians 5:20 says, “Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So, this Thanksgiving, as we’re thankful for all the wonderful things in our lives, may we join together to pray for the poor, the homeless, the orphans, and the widows. Let us pray for all the needs of others and the needs of ourselves. May you be blessed with peace, happiness and great health this Thanksgiving season and always!

Deanna Danielle

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

How to Get to Know Someone

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The only way to truly get to know someone is by the amount of time we spend with them. Having a class of 19 first-graders once a week, for only an hour and a half makes getting to know every one of them both joyful and challenging.

For our first day of class this year, I decided to prepare pin style name badges for each of the students. When I was through with writing their names, I was afraid the pin might stick them. So, to avoid this, I taped the badges to ribbon and created necklaces. These cute lanyards would now serve three purposes: First, to get to know their names, Second, I could use it as a class lesson, sharing with them that they are a gift from God, thirdly, they are recyclable and we can use them each week.

Three weeks have passed since our second class. One week the school closed for a tornado watch and the last two weeks I had been attending seminars. So, returning this week, I thought I’d keep it simple and make old-fashioned stick-on name tags. Funny how the kids remembered our routine, as they approached me asking for their name tag necklaces. Taken by surprise, I have to thank God for the new opportunity I had. I was able to share with them how we began with the ribbon necklace so they can see how they are all gifts from God. Now, today, we have name tags, because every gift has a name tag on it, and they are all presents to their families, me and everyone they meet.

There is a saying that I have come to know because it describes a part of me very well. It goes like this, “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.” I have to say, I’m still working on remembering everyone’s name. However, their little personalities speak loudly. From those who are there, ready to respond, to those who are a little more quiet, and still those who find the chairs a little too uncomfortable to sit in for too long. This is the beauty of being a teacher. It is my prayer that as I get to know them, that they get to know our Loving Lord through their involvement in our class lessons. The truth is, “How to Get to Know Someone” is truly by the gift of time we have to spend with them.

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”   John1:1-4

Many Blessings,                                                                                                                    Deanna Danielle

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Change Of Plans

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I am grateful for the opportunity to share God’s love through our first grade class. During the last two weeks, our class has been involved in the filmmaking of 201 Boulevard. My plan was to film one hour a week for two weeks, to prepare for a film festival that I would like our class to be part of.

At our first week of filming, I was asked to take in a second class. No problem. With Dominique, Kristin, Hope, and Juliana helping, we can do this. I had prepared a lesson, so the girls could lead part of the class while I went into another classroom to start filming. I have to say, after filming for a few minutes, I knew we had a lot of little stars in our class, and they were all ready to give it their best. I’d say, “Okay, say that line one more time,” after they had already said it five times. They’d just giggle, with a sigh and smile, saying, “again!” They were so excited to get it just right.

Back in the classroom, the lesson was going on about Adam and Eve. How God told them  never to eat the forbidden fruit on the tree in the middle of the Garden. As Dominique shared how they bit into the apple, Ewan raised his hand and said, “I eat apples, am I bad?” Thank God for His grace as we enter these precious moments and respond to  sensitive questions! Both filming and class were cut short when we were reminded one of our parish priests was waiting for us at the church. We quickly packed up and headed over.

On our arrival, the priest said, “repeat after me.” He said, “Jesus” and the class repeated, “Jesus” and at that moment a few of the kids began chatting, so to get their attention he turned to them and said “HELLO.” In a moment, 28 first graders repeated “HELLO” in his same tone! It was so funny the priest, himself, could not keep a straight face.

As we plan our time, it’s very important that we leave room for change, because it’s often in the change of plans that some wonderful things will take place. As I plan for this upcoming week, week 3, to finish with the filming project, I pray for God’s blessing, peace, grace, protection and guidance to live my life in the plan He has prepared for me. As David said in the Psalm 139:3-18 , “ You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment You know where I am…” This always reminds me that God takes care of us.

Last week was Dominique’s last week with our class, since lacrosse practice has begun. Now, it’s up to Kristin and me to fill in the joy that Dominique’s presence brought to our class. We are going to miss you Domi!

I look forward to sharing our film production with you in next week’s blog.

Blessings Always,
Deanna
Picture taken by Dominique

Picture taken by Dominique