Oh Happy Day

The past couple of weeks at Smart Start have been filled with rainy days. While the kids still get to play games inside, there is something special about being able to enjoy running around in the sunshine. This Thursday we finally got to head out to the park and play. And not a second of the day was wasted!
Monday through Thursday, we play a group game with all of Smart Start before heading into the classrooms in order to develop community among the classrooms. It was beautiful to see the fruits of our attempts to make Smart Start a Christ-centered family. Numerous games of tag, soccer, and football were going on all at once, teachers were swinging on the monkey bars with their classes, and the swingset was occupied the entire time.
Before we headed inside, I noticed something that made me smile to myself and encouraged me that we are making a difference. Two little boys in the kindergarten/1st grade class were playing at the swings.
Before I go on, let me tell you a little bit about these boys. While they appear cute at first glance, these two in particular always keep their teacher on her toes. They have definitely had their fair share of timeouts and parent conversations, but changes are happening and this moment helped demonstrate their progress.
Without any teachers around prompting them to do so, the 1st grade boy was pushing the kindergartener on the swing and they were laughing and having a conversation. Seeing their interaction, even though it's a seemingly small event, shows a huge step in their development. Teaching kids how to love one another as Christ has shown us to do is a huge goal of our program. There are no tests or benchmarks or quantitave data sets that we can take to measure this effectively, but today the victory was shown through two small children playing together on the swingset. God is good.