Stories from the week

Brian and I have both chosen a highlight from the first week to share on the blog…..well, actually, I chose Brian’s for him…..:0S

One of Brian’s responsibilities is to monitor the rock climbing wall here at the school in the morning while kids are arriving.  He’s out there for about a half an hour with children of all ages.  About half way through the week, Brian shared this little story (my paraphrase):

He was at the wall doing his duty when one of the kids who were waiting on the bench for his turn naively asked him, “Mr. Hovey?  Are you a Dad?”

“No,” Brian replied.
“OK,” said the child.  He continued waiting and then when he was close again responded, “Mr.  Hovey?  I know what you are…..”
“Really?” questioned Brian.
“Yup!” the child spoke confidently……(pause)……………“You must be a Grandpa!!!!”
Hahahahaha!!!!  I thoroughly enjoyed this child’s reasoning and thought our readers might too!

My story is a serious one, but it displays the protection of our Lord in ways that we can’t even begin to comprehend or fathom. 

On our hike up the mountains a week or so ago, I asked one of the missionaries about snakes in Chile……are they poisonous?  Are there a lot?  Are there any other poisonous/dangerous creatures we should know about or be aware of?  I was happy to hear that there are NO dangerous snakes in this part of Chile.  I was even MORE happy to hear that there is only ONE kind of spider that is poisonous……it’s called a corner spider (Chilean recluse spider), and it is rare.  Whew!  I figured that we were safe…..relatively.
In my classroom, I have a bulletin board near the door where the children line up that monitors behavior for the day.  I was trying to get all the kids lined up for lunch, when someone bumped the bulletin board so it was hanging by one nail instead of two.  One of my students shouted, “Miss!  Miss!”  I saw what had happened, so I made my way to the board to try and relieve this student from holding the board up on the wall.
I quickly put the hook back on the nail when to my horror a brown spider the size of a half dollar came crawling from behind the board up and over the top!!!  Yikes!!!........I quickly told myself NOT to freak out……..THAT would only contribute to the chaos of the transition……I started looking frantically for a Kleenex or something else to squish the spider with.  Ah!  Found one within reach!  As I tried to strategically plan how I was going to kill the spider…………..it fell off the board and into my line of children!!!!!  NOW I was frantic!!!  I told everyone to move away from the board while I searched the floor for ANY sign of movement………………..I spotted it by the edge of the wall and quickly squished it with my Kleenex—no more strategy—just KILL IT!!!! 

Now, normally, I’m not freaked out by spiders, BUT I vaguely remembered the description of the corner spider----it is brown, larger than a quarter, and loves dark places.  After I relayed my story to Brian, we BOTH wondered if my spider had been a corner spider…..so we looked it up online just to see if they even looked similar………………

The corner spider looks like this:

 

And?  THAT is what MY spider looked like!!!!!!!! 

When I realized that?  I had to stop and pray with earnest thanksgiving for God’s protection and provision in ways BEYOND even what I knew! 

We truly serve a merciful Savior, and I stand with week one behind us and THANK Him for His provisions and care and humor in the midst of our daily lives!!!!

Blessings to each of you!!!!