opening day

No, not baseball... I'm talking about school! In Romania, the first day of school is more like the "open house" that we have in the U.S. Community leaders make comments, teachers are introduced, and the school is declared officially "open" for students and parents to go inside. The ceremony lasted about 30-45 minutes, plus about an hour of meeting teachers, looking at classrooms, meeting friends, etc. It was a morning full of sunshine, Romanian-speaking, and crying children whose parents won't actually leave them at school until tomorrow.

I was reminded of my first two weeks of Kindergarten, where I had the kindest teacher and a class full of my closest friends, yet still wrapped myself around my Mama's leg so that she had to park her car and literally drag me down the hall every day to my classroom. We'll see tomorrow if anybody can top that performance.

Community, church, and school leaders welcome parents and students to the new school year. Notice the Romanian, Christian, and American flags together -- the school is supported in part by partner churches in the U.S. (Ready for a game of "Where's Becky?" I'm the big-haired blonde wearing a purple skirt!)

Girls wait with flowers for their teachers.

This little guy wanted to see the action!

Now that the festivities are over, tomorrow we will have the first real day of school. I have a total of five classes, ages 3-6, with 15-20 students in each class. I'm can't even express to you how excited I am to start my teaching career in an environment where my coworkers and school leadership are committed to using this school as a platform for the Gospel. Pray for me and my Romanian partner, Laura, that we will be able to manage our students with patience and the love of Jesus!