Praise God!!!!!!! We got the license!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the school day today an announcement was made over the intercom saying that the education committee granted our license! There arose a collective shout of celebration throughout the school immediately after the announcement. I had been on outdoor elementary duty and had not heard the announcement, but after being told by a fellow teacher, I yelled for joy! What a huge answer to prayer! Thank you for praying!! Thank you, Jesus, for answering in the nick of time!

In talking with other staff members, I've realized that this date is quite a milestone in the history of our school, and the whole licensing process over the past two years, especially in these past couple months, has really helped to bring even more unity to the school family. Cool how God works, isn't it?

The Big Day is tomorrow, August 26!

To all who have been following the licensing situation for Hinkson, we just received an update today. The latest news is that the committee will make the decision on our license tomorrow, August 26, and not on Thursday, August 28, like we had previously thought! Please join our school in prayer for this very important day!

Two praises!

God continues to show His faithfulness! Yesterday I was able to talk with my student whose mother had been in a coma in Korea for a few months. She has come out of the coma, but she is still recovering in South Korea! Praise God! Also, my friend Laura was able to find a great apartment. She will be living with our school secretary this year, and it works out beautifully for both women! Thanks for praying!

Tears of thanks

Tears of thanks filled my eyes as I sat staring off into the distance tonight.

I'd stayed late at school to finish getting sub plans ready for tomorrow morning (veterinary visit for Ira), and on the way back to my friend's apartment, I decided to get some dinner at a food court. After successfully ordering my food (quite an improvement over two years ago), I headed over to a small table to enjoy my baked potato and salad. It was really good, especially since I was so hungry.


Near the end of my meal, my mind started to drift. You know those moments when you're in the midst of a bunch of people, with so many conversations going on at the same time that you can't decipher any specific words...yet you're somehow removed from it all, and it's as if all becomes quiet? That's how it was for me. As people milled all around me, I started to recall moments from class these past two days, as I had interacted with 12 of my 16 students (four have yet to arrive), laughing, eating lunch with them, playing soccer at recess, just being with them. Then I thought about how I'd just finished reading through and commenting on their first journal entry from this morning. It was humbling to realize that now I am the teacher whose comments on their journals the kids can't wait to read the next morning. It wasn't too long ago, back in 1994-1995, that I was in awe of Mr. Dumler, my fifth grade teacher at Springview Elementary School in Flushing. I remember his fascination with cars. I recall how good and precise his handwriting was. I remember how he shared stories with us about how he was facing some difficult times in his life. I remember just loving being in his class.


Back in the days when I was in Mr. Dumler's class, I had no idea that I would someday be the fifth grade teacher in Moscow, Russia. I didn't know that the students I would have in the school year 2008-2009 were still three years from being born. I didn't know that the pieces of art I was making in Mr. Barnes' class would one day cross the Atlantic with me and would inspire my third class to use their imaginations and God-given abilities (Nor did I know that one of my students would persuade me today to finish coloring a piece that I'd started fourteen years ago, but had never finished). I never suspected that the journal I had diligently kept during class would be one of the most eagerly anticipated events in my fifth grade class someday ("Do you guys want to hear what Mr. Hays was thinking fourteen years ago today?" "Yeah!")


All these thoughts crescendoed when Mr. Dumler's words in a letter from a few years ago echoed in my mind again tonight: "I will always remember the '94-'95 class as a special group." And there I was, sitting in a food court in Moscow, Russia, already filled with joy that I have such a special group of students this year. It was one of those moments when I realized that this life is so much bigger than me. There is a Creator God, a loving and Good Shepherd, who has a plan in all of this. He formed my life path in such a way that it would converge with the paths of ten and eleven year-olds from all over the world. I was born to be their teacher, and they were planned to be in my class. And all of a sudden, the truth of my calling found its way to an even deeper part of my heart. What do you say in a moment like that?


I think my tears captured my emotions much more fully than words ever could. But a simple phrase did find its way to my lips: "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you."

A Look Back

What a summer it was! As I'm less than 36 hours away from the start of my third year of teaching fifth graders, I thought it would be valuable to take a look back at an incredible summer, a true blessing from above.

Church camp at the dachas; young and old gathered together for four days in early June.

What a great place to spend the summer! The red brick house on Flushing Road is the only house I've ever lived in!

Annual bike trek with Dad on the morning of July 4th, the 232nd anniversary of the United States of America.

Beautiful farm land and open road in Shiawassee County.

Golfing with Grandpa Wright, Lance, and cousin Josh at Rocky Lakes in Ohio.

Cousin Ashley's wedding, early July. She married Brandon, who is currently serving in the Marines.

A social gathering with Grandpa Wright wouldn't be complete without some form of athletic competion, such as corn hole.

Grandpa's also known for his ceaseless goofing. While on a camping trip in Cheboygan, MI, in late July, Grandpa found this piece of driftwood on a hike...who but he would envision it as a human exoskeleton?

A nearly 71 year-old man climbing to the top of a coniferous tree? Unheard of in most places!

Breathtaking sunset somewhere in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

Brothers and best friends...catching some rays and enjoying the ferry ride to Mackinac Island.

On a picturesque, perfect day, the four of us took a bike ride around the eight-mile island. Oh, it was so gorgeous. Click on the picture and look closely to see Mighty Mac, the Mackinac Bridge, in the background.

Mom and Grandma signing "I love you" on a bridge over Ocqueoc Falls.

Minnesota Twins game versus the White Sox in the Metrodome. More interesting than the game (Twins lost in a blow-out) was the endless flow of beachballs that were blown up and tossed around by the young people in our surrounding seats; all the balls were eventually confiscated by the stadium staff!

The Twin Cities were only a stopping point on our way out to Wahpeton, North Dakota, where we visited my sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law Daniel. It was so fun being reunited again and spending time with my sister and her husband in their new home. Pictured above is their adorable Alaskan Malamute, Takota.

Smile! (A mounted warthog at Scheel's, the world's largest sporting goods store, in Fargo, ND, shares his joy)

Celebrating my 25th birthday one month early. Here I am posing with my parents beneath the Mickey Mouse Happy Birthday sign that has hung above the kitchen doorway for every birthday party since my first one! Cake, ice cream, cards, presents, and birthday spankings (yes, I requested that Grandpa Hays deliver his usual "punishment") with family were a great memory! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

skin

While riding on the metro a few days ago, the thoughts for this short poem ran through my mind:

skin

sometimes we’re so eager to get out of our own skin,
to be someone else
to cease the stares from others
to be relieved from continual and nagging problems
that we forget there’s someone whose greatest desire is to enter our skin with us
if He loves to be within this skin
then maybe we should too

A quick update from Москва

So much has happened since arriving back in Moscow on Sunday afternoon! Since I tend to think in bullet points, I'll fill everybody in that way:

• Educational license - Our day of prayer and fasting on Tuesday was very effective, as we received part of our answer immediately after we finished praying (in the form of a cell phone call)! We found out that the woman who must take our papers to the educational committee was able to get us on the committee's schedule for August 28, which is the first day they'll be back in session! Please continue to pray for favor in that process. If we are granted the license during that week, many problems will hopefully be averted. Our 30-day period, during which we are to "address" the problem of our licensing, will expire around the first of September.
• Apartment - Upon arriving at my apartment on Sunday, I found out that it was in a state of complete disarray, as a big renovation of the main room (we have a one-room flat) was underway. I won't be able to move in until at least the 19th. But I'm not worrying. I'm staying in the vacant apartment of a friend before another missionary couple from the school arrives on Monday, and then I'll stay with another friend for the next couple nights. What would I do here without the Hinkson family?
• Apartment needed for friend - Another one of my friends, Laura, the 4th grade teacher, arrived on Wednesday to discover that her landlords were refusing to rent to her and her roommate. So she's currently out of a place to stay, and it's quite stressful, with school starting in just five days (August 20). Please pray for her to find a good flat that is affordable (it's nearly impossible to find an apartment that costs less than $1500 per month...the best she's seen so far was $1666 for a place with no furniture) and near the school. I told Laura within the hour that many people I know would be praying.
• School staffing - The roles of science teacher and teachers' aides have been filled! Praise God!
• Student's sick mother - I haven't heard any news about this family situation yet. Keep praying.
• Ira - My precious little gray cat is slowly mending. I was able to see her for the first time a few nights ago. She's been so traumatized by all the needles and vaccinations and surgical procedures, that she's really guarded whenever anyone reaches for her, even me. She did recognize me...barely. Just yesterday she went in to have X-rays on both legs, and the doctors decided that the bones in her left leg were healed enough to remove the pin. They had to knock her out for that, but it was a success. She slept most of today. Another follow-up procedure will take place next Friday. Then a few weeks after that, we'll take her in to remove the pin in the right leg, God-willing. Once we get moved back into our apartment and all she has to do is heal, I'm sure she'll begin to warm up to me again. But in the meantime, while I'm still "homeless" in a sense, she's staying with the missionary couple who watched her this summer, in order to help her heal in a familiar environment. Praise God for her progress!
• School! I'm so excited to start my third year of teaching! I've heard a lot of good things about the 16 students I'll have this year, and I feel so much more prepared this year than in years previous. The classroom is almost finished; I'll be here working on it all day tomorrow in order to have it ready for Business Day on Monday (meeting students and parents, etc.). School starts on Wednesday, and I plan to have everything in place by then. There's something so invigorating about a fresh start!

More to come from Moscow in the coming days :)

Urgent Prayer Request

Yesterday morning I received an e-mail from our Hinkson director in which he called all of the school staff to join him in prayer and fasting next Tuesday, August 12. What's going on?

The school just received a letter from a local prosecutor informing us that we are violating the law because we are operating without an educational license, and that we have one month to "fix" that. What does this all mean? Does it mean that our school could possibly be shut down? I don't know. All I know is that we need to pray earnestly that God would grant us favor with the government committee that will be reviewing our license-renewal paperwork during the last two weeks of August (it's been in process for many months now...we have been doing everything within our power to operate within the law and get the license renewed before the expiration date). If our license is renewed by that committee, then we will be in very good shape...we hope.

Please join with me and the Hinkson family as we engage in some serious spiritual warfare these next few days and weeks.