Celebrating the Holiday Season…!

One thing I love about December is all the celebrations that take place… whether it be at work, at home with friends and family, or with my D-group girls.  It seems like it is a month to celebrate and enjoy life. 

I absolutely LOVE my job… nothing better than being able to teach young adults with disabilities how to interact in the community, job skills, and daily living skills.  One of our Friday outings in December included a trip to Dennys where they learned to order a meal, wait for the food to arrive, and pay for their food afterwards.  Since we had a little time at the end of our trip we made a quick trip to Carpinito Bothers to take a class picture and enjoy the reindeer and camel.  I am not sure who enjoyed the outing more, the staff or the students.  This outing fit perfectly into my curriculum as we were talking about budgeting for food and the difference between eating out and buying groceries to eat at home. 

One of the hardest parts of my job is that I do work with a lot of students that are medically fragile… you never know when the unexpected will occur especially since many of them are non-verbal and cannot communicate what is going on in their bodies.  I did have multiple medical issues come up with my students this past month.  I try to be there to support the families as much as I can even during the Holiday season. While I cannot go into details please be praying for my students and their families as they maneuver new diagnosis and challenges they are facing right now.  

Where we took our "class" picture... 

Enjoying the festive animals... 

Such pretty trees... 

I am blessed to have a supportive para-educator staff.  They are an amazing group that not only love the students but work their butts off. Room 5 may have started out with a reputation of a “hard” place to work but we now have a reputation of being the “party” room.  We have so much fun together as a staff and someone is always bringing in goodies to share.  It is nice to be able to buy them something every once in a while.  

Gifts for my staff... 

I know that my strength comes from the Lord… and my quiet time with Him… I honestly don’t know how people deal with the difficulties in life without faith… without the hope and peace that I get from my faith.  I have been enjoying extended quiet times during this Holiday season to refocus and quiet my mind.  It was an added bonus when I got my mate cup out instead of drinking just mate cocido.  

Bible Study and Mate... two of my favorite things...!

Celebrating a win against the Vikings... 

We celebrated Christmas with our D-Group girls by decorating ginger bread houses… and invited our graduated girls.  Most of them were not able to come so we called them on the phone to let them know we were thinking about them as they were studying for finals (or living in Australia).  Everyone was excited to see Abby’s ring and hear how David proposed to her.  It was an enjoyable night with the ladies as we sat around and talked about life.  

Love these girls...

The finished products... 

The classic tree pictures...