Christmas Countdown 2021 Day 10 <3
Happy Friday friends!
I have been enjoying sharing stories about various ornaments on our tree over at the Journey Onward website.
Today’s ornament is so darn cute and is signed on the back:
To: John
From: Mrs. Niehay
We cannot speak her name but that we mentally slap our knee and wave our hand. This was how she taught her students and their parents the pronunciation…
Knee….Hey.
Get it?
Oh how we loved her.
She was not much taller than her class and her eyes sparkled with so much love. You just knew God had crammed the most enormous heart into such a small acreage of human being.
Her classroom felt like you had stepped into someone’s home and learning happened in an environment that added rich nurturing to our son’s education.
When John graduated from high school, he invited all of his grade school teachers to the open house.
Mrs. Joanne Niehay and the equally petite, adorable and wonderful Mrs. Paulette High who had been his kindergarten teacher were the only ones who came.
Like the fairy godmothers from Sleeping Beauty, they giggled their way into the festivities. They were absolutely delighted and said that was the first invite of this kind they had received.
John was so happy they came and we, of course, had to take pictures.
They insisted on standing on our hearth so they were at least someway equal to his 6 foot plus height. They didn’t even come close even though they stood on their tippy toes.
It was precious.
The ornament is a reminder of the many men and women who mentored and taught our children.
We were blessed with some of the best and even the ones who weren’t so great taught us about learning in spite of personality differences and developing character in tough seasons.
Our educators and administrators are in the trenches right now.
Covid’s damage has left an emotional and spiritual scarring on our children and schools are facing challenges we do not even begin to understand.
During the early stages of the pandemic, we hung hearts to support health care workers…the front lines.We put blue lights to support those who keep the peace…the front lines. But our teachers and administrators are battling with little support and much criticism right now.
At the very least we should be lifting them in prayer daily and actively supporting them on social media and in our conversations.
Perhaps you could prayerfully consider reaching out to one or two of your teaching friends today and just let them know you are thankful for what they do and you are praying for their day <3