3 It's the Magic Number!

Do you know what the 18th letter of the alphabet is? Can you hold up three fingers? Do you know what three R's are? I bet you do.

SCS students and teachers have been focusing a lot on how we can take care of our environment. It began several months ago in a brainstorming session with parents and teachers who got together to come up with ideas on how to raise some funds for our school. One of those ideas was to have an Eco-Karnival. The purpose of this event is twofold: one, to raise money for some major repairs and replacements the school is in need of, and two, to educate our students, parents, and the community on the importance of taking care of our environment.

This is going to be a major event for SCS. Huge. Each grade at SCS is responsible for a game booth that must be made of recycled materials. Fourth Grade is using, believe it or not, used chopsticks that have been cleaned, painted a bright color,

and made into a slingshot. There will also be booths that sell

plants, books, food, and crafts and stuff from recycled materials. But that's not all. Because this is an event open to the public, there will be an alumni booth, information booths featuring local

environmental agencies, and some cool entertainment.

Thursday evening SCS had an Eco-Karnival kickoff. For weeks we have planned and rehearsed and edited videos to demonstrate how

serious, yet fun, this event is going to be. To check out our video, go to YouTube and type in Isaac Myhrum and look for the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle video. It's a Jack Johnson song, but with a local and more personal touch. Look carefully, you might recognize someone! To show our commitment and school spirit, all students, teachers, and staff wore the same t-shirt, and if I may boast, we looked pretty cool.

Being in involved in this event has inspired me to think more carefully about ways I can reduce, reuse, and recycle. When I go to the grocery, I take my canvas bag. I wash out my ziplock baggies. They can be reused to store crafts or buttons, etc. I learned long ago to put natural food items in a compost pile, and just recently a Japanese mother showed me how to recycle an old t-shirt into slippers. I'll post pictures of that project when I finish making them.

We are supposed to be good stewards of our world. If one person is conscientious about taking care of our environment, and they inspire three to be good stewards, and those three inspire three....well, it will spread and changes will happen and I think God will be pleased that we respect his world.

"Wake me up, God; ignite my passion, fill me with outrage. Remind me that I am responsible for Your world. Don't allow me to stand idly by. Inspire me to act. Teach me to believe that I can repair some corner of this world." - Rabbi Naomi Levy, founder and spiritual leader of Nashuva, a groundbreaking Jewish outreach organization.

Life is Fragile

This past week I was reminded of just how fragile and precious life is. On Wednesday, one of my students noticed a nestling had fallen from its nest. It was still breathing, but of course very vulnerable. Innocent as they were, the students wanted to keep the baby bird. "Miss Mac, let's keep it and take care of it in the classroom. Please?" One look at the baby bird told me unless we tried to find its nest and put it back, it wasn't going to make it. This was a nestling, not a fledgling. But I didn't want to discourage the compassion in my students. Another teacher made a makeshift nest and both of us researched online on how to help a baby bird that has fallen from its nest. Clearly we were unequipped to take care of this baby. It was in a fragile stage and needed its mother. We kept the nestling in the classroom for almost an hour. You could still see its chest moving up and down. I explained to my students that if this baby bird was to have any chance at all, then we must do the right thing and try to place it back in the tree. Maybe, just maybe, the mother will find it and help it survive. They understood that it might not make it, but I think they learned a lesson in compassion and that life can be fragile, but its worth the effort to survive. I do not know if that baby bird survived or not. I do know we tried to help it.

Hitting even closer to home, I received a phone call from my mom telling me that Dad was in the hospital and had been since Tuesday. What can I do to help from this distance? The only thing I can do is pray. And thankfully many people are praying right along with me. Unlike the baby bird just being born and struggling to survive, my dad is older and health is more vulnerable now. It's difficult seeing a parent begin to lose health. It's difficult thinking of losing that parent. But he is in good hands. The doctors are helping him and trying to find out what is wrong. My dad is a Believer and I know he is in God's hands too. That thought comforts me when I worry about being so far away and not being able to see his face.

Haiti and the devastating earthquake that destroyed everything there is another reminder of how fragile life is. In a matter of minutes one's life can be snuffed out, or life as you know it can be turned upside down. I can't even imagine how the survivors feel. I try to imagine losing everything. Your home. Your neighborhood. The local market. The hospital. The school. Friends. Family. Everything. How does one go on from such devastation?

The only answer is hope. As in the case of the baby bird. My students had hope that they could feed the baby and help it survive. I have hope that the doctors will find out what's wrong with my dad and solve the problem. The people of Haiti have lost everything. Everything, but hope. Let's pray that they don't lose that.

Life is fragile. Live it carefully. Live it well.

My First Painting

This past Wednesday I accomplished something that I have been eager to try for some time now; a work of art that captures a memory I want to keep of my life here in Saipan. Specifically, a painting of the view I see when I look out my window. I had the vision, I just needed a little guidance putting it on canvas. That guidance came from Debbie Winkfield, the art teacher at SCS. She supplied the paints and the brushes, I had the canvas and the vision.

At first it feels intimidating staring at a blank canvas, trying to figure out where to begin and which colors to use. She eased my apprehension by asking me what I saw in my mind. That was easy, the vision was already there. Taking a few paints and mixing the colors, I simply moved the brush across the canvas the way I saw it in my mind. Vision accomplished.

My first painting is not flawless. It's a lot like me. It won't hang in galleries or be sold at an auction. I don't care. It is my first art piece and it captures the vision I had. Now it hangs on a wall in my Saipan apartment. Later it will remind me of my life here.

Blank Canvas

There is something mysterious, even hopeful about a blank canvas. At first glance all you see is a boring white rectangle. But step back and take a broader view of it. Yes, it still looks like a white rectangle, but one that has possibilities. I like to think that my life is like that blank canvas, not just yet, but it soon will be. Clean, white, flawless and ready to be revealed. After I finish this school year at the end of May, my life as I know it now will be a fond memory. I'm starting over....a blank canvas.

Starting over both excites and terrifies me. On a good day, I am excited about the possibilities of a new career and making new contacts. On a bad day, I am terrified about the job search, the interviews, the waiting and hoping, the uncertainty, and the effort on building new relationships. Most days I am excited. And that is what I am focusing on...the possibilities that await me. What will my life look like a year from now? I have a vision in my mind, but will it be painted that way? Am I in control of the paintbrush of my life? No, not really. I leave that to God. Of course I let God know what's in my heart and I hope that it will be painted that way, but I am not the artist or the creator of my life, God is and I must trust him to paint my life as he wishes.

This week I will paint my very first art piece. I have the blank canvas, the paints, the brushes, and the vision of what I want my work to be. It will portray what I see when I look through the windows. While I will have the brushes in my hands, I will rely on the master artist to guide my strokes to reveal my vision. Debbie Winkfield, the art teacher at SCS, has agreed to "coach" me on bringing my vision to the canvas. The literal and figurative blank canvas excite me. The possibilities are waiting.

Will my own life as a blank canvas be so easy to paint? Lord, may it be so.

The Decision

The Letter of Intent hung on my refrigerator for nearly a month, a daily reminder that I had a decision to make: stay for another year at Saipan Community School or move on? Not an easy decision to make and one that caused a lot of inner turmoil. I love teaching 4th grade and I love SCS. And living on a tropical island is kind of nice too. But I felt my heart was pulling me home. I struggled many days and nights trying to make up my mind. I prayed a lot. I asked others to pray for me as well. There were no signs written in the sky or on the wall telling me what to do. Rather the answer came as simple and as quiet as a verse I read in the Bible. On the eve before I was to submit my Letter of Intent to the principal, I sat on my bed surrounded by yellow 3 x 5 index cards with Bible verses written on them. "Why are you troubled? Why do you have doubts?..." Luke 24:38. "Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." John 16:24b. "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24. But the verse that I kept focusing on was Isaiah 41:13, "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you." I fell asleep holding that yellow 3 x 5 index card in my hand. No answer came, no decision was made, but rest was given. Something my body and my mind needed. I slept peacefully. I awoke before the alarm went off, something I rarely ever do. It was then that I knew what I had to do. I would not renew my contract with SCS. I am going home.

Now that the decision has been made to leave Saipan, I face an unknown future. But I am not afraid. God said he would help me. I believe it.