Birthday Blessings!

I was definitely blessed on my birthday. My roommates decorated my door, covered the stairs with toilet paper I had to break through, and made me strawberry shortcake for breakfast. And Esther made me applesauce so I can make an applesauce cake with cream cheese icing (my favorite that my mom usually makes me for my birthday but I didn't think I'd be able to make because there's no applesauce here)! At school lots of my kiddos wished me happy birthday and gave me hugs:) Some even game me presents; I got flowers, a keychain, silly band, and bread. They are so sweet. My sixth graders and their homeroom teacher threw me a surprise party! They all brought in snacks and cakes. My favorite part was when they each went around and said something to me. Many thanked me for coming so far to be with them. One said I was the best teacher she ever had. My one boy that's new and in the begining wasn't trying at all, but now is trying and really getting it, said you were able to get English into my head, which made me smile and feel good, because I feel like he now believes he can learn English. Another boy said I was very special to him and that he knows I am far from my family, but that they are my kids and he hopes I can confide in them. Another girl said, I know we misbehave sometimes, but thank you for being so patient with us. It all ment a lot to me, especially since they can be a somewhat difficult class, it was good to see how they do care for me. I had to tell myself, don't cry, don't cry...haha! And tomorrow the teachers are coming over for a birthday party (for both Megan and I because our birthdays were one day apart), so I am excited about that.

In other news, I had my first parent teacher conferences today, and they were in Spanish :O...haha It seemed really scary, but it really wasn't. The classroom teacher talked more than I did. I made some speaking errors because I was nervous, but I feel like I understood really well, which is exciting. And when we would have a little time between parents I was able to chat with Rosio and Pamela, which was nice, becasue I felt like I got to know them better.