"To change one's life, start immediately, do it flamboyantly, no exceptions."

(This is Wednesday's blog, for some reason it did not post, so I am doing it now. Sorry.)

Morgan shook me awake this morning, saying it was 6:40 (our alarm is set for 6:30). I jumped out of bed, threw my stuff on, and inhaled my breakfast. We reached the school before the kids, and were able to give good morning hugs. Zulema held my hand as she walked to class, calling me "mama." I had no specific class today, so I was to help contain the kids who were wandering and help anywhere I was needed.

I walked around the school with a little boy named Jose Daniel. He clung to my hand and guided me to a bench near the back of the school. I tried to talk to him, but he would not respond. Every now and then, he would look at me for a while, then smile and laughed. He continued to do this until he decided to smack me in the throat. I told him not to do that and, angry with me for telling him what to do, stormed off. I caught up to him in a minute, in which time he must have forgiven me, because he grabbed my hand once more. We walked together through the school's field of banana trees until we reached a fence. On the other side was another school, where children would occasionally come up to me and try and tell me something (I had no idea what they were saying). After about fifteen minutes of walking up and down the fence, Jose Daniel asked me to pick him up and bring him back to the school. Shortly after out little endeavor, I went to Yahoska's classroom, where I worked with Zulema until lunch.

During lunch, I sat with a student named Diana, and two deaf students named Tania and Rosa. We talked and signed with each other until the bell rang and I followed Diana to Auxilladory's arts and crafts class room. While her friends took countless pictures with my camera, Diana told me that she was going to learn English. So I taught her a few words like "house," "apple," and "cat." Though simple, Diana was extremely excited to learn these new English words. With only about thirty minutes left of school, I went to Norah's classroom next door to work with Darwin, who has cerebral palsy. We started by putting little plastic bears in cups, but when he did this flawlessly, we moved on to math. All too soon the bell rang and I wheeled Darwin out to the bus.

Education is one of the number one things I take for granted. While I pray for at least one snow day, these kids come to school smiling, ready to take in as much knowledge as they can. I'll never forget Diana's expression when I offered to teach her English. Our time with the students may almost be over, but it's never too late to change someone's life.

"To change one's life, start immediately, do it flamboyantly, no exceptions." - William James