Tribute to Teacher Diane

I want to give tribute to a special volunteer that we had at our school this Spring.

 

In March we had an English teacher quit.  All of us who teach English at the school, including my husband and I took on extra work.  We sent out an email letting people know about our shortage; Ecuadorian English teachers are in quite short supply here...I was not getting enough sleep with the increase in my class schedule and was wondering how we were going to make it until the end of the school year.

Well, a special lady from Oregon volunteered to come and help us the last 2 months of school.  She took over my 5 classes with the preschool and kindergarten and did a terrific job.  I was able to finish the school year well with my 1st grade class and help with the planning for the new year!!  Gal. 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens"; thanks Diane for being a terrific burden bearer!! Diane left yesterday...I know she left a little of her heart here!!  She will be missed...That is one of the tough things about working with short-term volunteers.  I get pretty attached to them and it is a sad day when they leave.

Thinking about volunteering overseas??  It is DEFINITELY worth it and even a few months can be a huge help to the organization that you are volunteering with.

Wandering In Ecuador

HI!! Welcome to my new blog.  My sister just started a blog and I got inspired to give it a go too...I am a mom of two boys age 5 and 7.  My husband and I administer a Christian school here in Ecuador.  There is always lots to do and balance is a challenge for me.  Today I am going to talk about my 7 year old's school birthday party this morning.  We live in a town of about 20,000 and there is nowhere where you can shop for everything in one place.  After wandering around town yesterday, I realized that there was nothing for sale with the Peter Pan motive that my 7 year old wanted for his birthday...so I created most of it on my own.  The cake and decorations turned out terrific.  Below is my 7 year old dressed as Peter Pan.  I cut up an old shirt and made a hat out of craft foam.  I cut a round circle of craft foam, cut a slit to the middle and stapled it together.  My other son participated as Captain Hook.  He had this red suit made for a school program so I just needed to make him a hat and hook.  The cake of Neverland was made by looking at lots of pictures on the internet and using what is available here.  The characters were all clip art.  I downloaded the story of Peter Pan to read to my son's class and added ways for the kids to participate.  I found some eye patches at the pharmacy so each child got an eye patch so they could be a pirate.  At the end of the party we ate the cake. 

 After the party we cleaned up and then I taught my scheduled English class to the 1st graders in my son's class.  I wore lots of hats this morning!!  I am a happy, tired mama right now!  Below is my favorite homemade birthday cake website.