The Child Development Center

        The Child Development Center at the Saipan Seventh-day Adventist School is separated into three classrooms and three age groups. The toddler room, preschool room, and pre-kindergarten room have two teachers in each room, and each year enrollment is completely full. Our school has a very good reputation for the quality care the kids get in the CDC. As any student missionary is aware of, working at a school requires that you be flexible. "You will be asked to do more than what is in your job description," I was told before I left Walla Walla. Hearing that prepared me for working here at Saipan. There are many occasions when an extra pair of hands are needed to do a variety of jobs. I find that I enjoy the variety! When I am tired of working in front of a computer there are always other outlets where I can be useful. 

One of my favorites is subbing for the teachers in the CDC. After working there, I am a firm believer that people need at least eight hugs a day. These children are so sweet and so loving! It took them only a couple visits before they warmed up to me, and now when I enter the classrooms I am greeted with several hugs and children calling out "Teacher, Teacher!" If that doesn't completely melt a heart, I don't know what does.

One will learn a lot about taking care of young children from working here. One of the first things I learned is that sugar in any quantity and any form is enough to send all 16 of them bouncing off the walls. I've decided that they can multiply the energy and share it among themselves. It's too bad they don't share their energy with their teachers. Mom, if you are reading this, thank you for putting up with two rambunctious twins! Nap time always follows lunch time, and I haven't yet decided if this is a grand idea or a terrible one. The kids are usually so hyper afterwards that it takes no small amount of convincing to keep them on their own mats. Nap time lasts two and a half hours, and by the end of those two and a half hours of monitoring the classroom I am about ready to take a nap myself.  

          The other day when I entered the preschool classroom to give one of the teachers a message from the office, I was invited to sit down and take a couple pictures with them. The minute I sat down, several kids crawled into my lap with their books and posed. It is moments like this that make me stop and realize just how fast the year is flying by, and just how much I enjoy my job.