A Week of Firsts

Greetings of love to you in the name of Jesus! I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the beginnings of April! My, how this year has spend by! Only four months ago I was spending my days in Ghana and here I am enjoying (and adjusting) to hot Missouri sun. J

This last week has been amazing; one chucked full of challenges and small victories. I name last week the Week of Firsts. Firstly, J I began teaching my two younger cousins. They have had a great year of homeschooling with my mom but due to some scheduling changes I now assume the role of teacher   . .  . gulp! I find the irony unpleasantly funny--my major is elementary education—and yet teaching two of my own relations terrifies me. I am terrified over the vast amount of work involved, spooked at my own inabilities, weakened by my very see-through attempts at patience and a sweet teacherly attitude.  But friends God has been so good! I praise Him for His outstanding faithfulness. Every day I am given strength and new hope; a bit of patience arrives exactly when needed with every undone math problem. He is so good! And I am so excited to be teaching these very dear young people.

My second first of this week involved quality time with my brother . . . shopping . . . looking at swatches . . . and tuxedos. (This is when it gets hairy.) My! I had no idea the amount of work that went into picking your man’s suit. Would you like your white dress shirt in microfiber?  Your tie-- will it be striped, solid or paisley? A long jacket or short? Pleats or no pleats? And colors? Oh dear . . . which would match best: malibu, turquoise, Riviera turquoise, blue . . . or fushia? So many choices! But I am so thankful for the helpfulness of the store owners, a patient brother, my mom’s opinions and such nicely laid out catalogs.

Disclaimer: When my special guy needs to wear something nice I’ll be happy with something much simpler. Say, a white buttoned shirt. But that’s just me. <3

And first number three? I taught children’s church; normally Momma teaches this class but since she is out of town I tried to fill her--large—shoes. With three students it was fairly stress free (yes, I do stress over these types of things). Our subject today was obedience. The children colored while I read a story about Nigel and Nellie: two siblings who took small steps toward disobedience and ended up with big consequences. Afterwards I poured different cups of Tang (this was my favorite part). I obediently followed the directions for one pitcher trusting that the creators knew what they were saying  when giving directions. But for the second pitcher I disobeyed the directions and, thinking I knew better, added lots of salt into the purple drink. Needless to say, I hope the children will never forget how bitter disobedience is. J

Altogether, this last week was wonderful. Sure, there were moments when (I felt) crying was the only sensible thing to do or when feelings of being overwhelmed seemed to be natural. But that’s exactly what those moments were: feelings. I praise God that He is greater than my fickleness or stress. I praise Him for being faithful in teaching me while I was busy teaching.  

May the LORD bless your upcoming week!

Frannie