I’ve been teaching bible class at church for quite a few years. I started out helping in classrooms to learn how things worked at my church, and after a few quarters of observing, I started teaching every week! Each quarter, I tell the preschool directors to put me wherever they need a teacher. I’m not really picky about having a certain age or a certain curriculum. I just want to help where I’m needed!

Fifteen months ago, I was put with a class of two year olds. When I got them, quite a few of them were pretty wild and crazy. It took us a few weeks to get to know each other, for me to figure out how they worked and for them to figure out my expectations. Once we did, we fell into a great routine, and I fell in love with these little cuties!

As the first quarter was coming to an end, it made me sad to think about moving to another classroom. We had made so much progress that I couldn’t stand letting that end, so I asked to keep them for one more quarter. As that quarter ended, I asked for another one, and last Sunday, we finished our fifth quarter together. Fifteen months.

People have been surprised that I’ve not only stayed with one group for so long, but that I’ve been teaching for as long as I have. I will admit that sometimes it’s hard. There are many times where I’ve left at teh end of class completely drenched in sweat, nerves shot, and absolutely exhausted. But when I come back the next week and see them rush into the classroom yelling “Miss Ashley!” and hearing them retell the story from the previous week, almost word for word, makes all of the stress and exhaustion worth it. Knowing that maybe they are learning something from me, something as important as the Bible, helps me to push through the hard weeks.

We have definitely have our fun moments too! I could tell all kinds of funny stories on them, from the one who rushes in to show me her painted fingernails, to the one who says at least twice per class, “Miss Ashley! I need to tell you something!” and goes into a big story about something that happened at home, to the discussions on Frozen and which Princess we prefer (Elsa is the favorite!).

They have definitely mastered the silly faces :)

Sunday was our last day together. Most of the kids are moving up to a four year old room since they are turning four in a couple of months, and I was asked to stay back and teach another group. Fortunately, I do get to keep three of these guys (out of a class of about twelve!), and while I’m excited to get to work with a new group of kids, I’m really going to miss these sweeties. I’ve watched them grow up, going from wild, sometimes exhausting two-year-olds to sweet, smart, sometimes sassy almost four-year-olds. I’m can’t wait to see what comes next for these guys, and maybe somewhere down the line, I’ll get to teach them again!

-Psalm 127:3