The kids marathon has begun!

My students were so excited when it came time for math. Many of their parents told them about what we were going to talk about today. We all sat down on the rug and I displayed a picture of my dad and I on the smartboard. One of the girls quickly said, "that's your dad and he is in heaven". I looked at her with a smile and confirmed her answer. I told them that my dad was very sick with a bad disease that took his life. I was saying this all in spanish (but with a lot of actions) so I don't know how much they understood. I told them that I'm running a marathon for my dad because there is very little help for the disease and most of all, because he was so special to me. One of my students then said, "we know you miss your dad and love your dad so much" and tears began to well up in my eyes. I wanted to see more of my dad so I popped in the slideshow that I made of him for his celebration service. Even though the video brought tears to my eyes, the kids lifted my spirits with their cute comments about me when I was little and they definitely enjoyed the music (they were singing along!). It definitely touched my heart when one of my students commented about one of the pictures with my dad saying, "You are so beautiful Señorita Hladky!" I put together a slideshow to kick off the marathon so that the kids would get a better idea of what they were going to do. They basically run a relay, one time around the track, and they run with their students at their table. We talked about how many times around the track equals a mile and how many miles are in a marathon. We counted all all to 26 and did some stretches. The kids were so excited to head outside for the run and I praise God for the nice weather! I couldn't have asked for better!! The kids did such a good job and they cheer for each other the whole time, some even run up to the runner to give them support as they come around the last corner. Even though they know we are doing this for my dad and for fun, they are very competitive. The winning team finished in 10:30! What good sports! We circled up at the end and gave each other a round of applause. We put our hands together in the middle and on the count of three shouted, "Corremos por Larry" (we run for Larry). God is amazing!!
Much love,
Lacy