Teaching & Y-Care Supervising

Things have been going well for both of us with our jobs. Amy is still enjoying her teaching and comes home regularly with stories from her classroom. It has been neat to hear how her twelve students have grown and developed throughout the year. There are also the times when Amy comes home with a problem with a student be it lying or bullying, or not doing homework or not studying for tests. By God's grace, she has handled each situation well with the help of the school principle and other teachers too.
I have continued to enjoy my time at Carver Elementary School with the Y-Care program. I have enjoyed the many opportunities that God has given to me to be a light, get to know the kids and their parents, as well as opportunities to share of Jesus Christ. However, this has not been without opposition. I was approached by my boss about some concerns. Some were related to things that I could change (things I was unaware of before), but mostly it had to do with my faith. In essence I was being asked to be quiet about my faith. Even if the kids brought God up in conversation, I was being asked to steer it away into something else, or at least keep it very general (god, the golden rule, etc, not Jesus). I have been careful to not to push anything on anyone, but have simply talked about Jesus in natural conversation and nearly always in relation to my own relationship with Him. The times I was more direct was when talking about the origin and purpose of Christmas. I have also been more bold to talk about Jesus with children whose parents go to church (be that Catholic, or mainline Protestant or other). I have gone only as far as I have felt God leading me to go. In the process of talking to my boss and later to the school principal, I was able to be light as I shared where I stood and where I could not compromise. Praise the Lord that I have not been approached further on this, despite my making it clear that while I would be more careful, I could not stop from speaking of Him.
One of the other blessings from the job is that I have been able to connect to several of the parents and in a couple of them have been able to speak of Jesus and spiritual things with them. The first day of Christmas break Amy and I had two of my Y-Care kids over (two girls, Amelia and Grace) along with their older brother. We spend an afternoon of sledding and hot chocolate and playing Hungry Hungry Hippos!