Greetings from the newest
residents of Kensington!
Despite, the sublease on
our steps, the 6am wake-up call when we trip our alarm system, the constant
barrage of, “Doors are closing,” and the sirens that don’t end when we turn off
The Wire, we’re not sure if we fit
into Kensington. We have indeed navigated the El, surprised our neighbors (the
priests) with brownies at 8:30 at night, and tried every hoagie shop within a
one block radius. So you can say we’re becoming accustomed to our new home…
August 25 we moved base
camp from Chestnut Hill College to our new digs in Kensington. We have been
going on excursions to school, to home, to the college, and on any other
adventure we happen upon. Most of our
fabulous adventures involve visiting some of the 900+ SSJs in and around the
Philadelphia region. We cannot express how truly welcome and accepted we have
been made. Each visit, chat, and quick hello in the hall has inspired us to
continue battling it out each day in our prospective work sites. Thanks for your
great attitudes, open hearts, much-needed prayers, and energizing perspectives.
Ready for any good work:
In Camden Claire is
fighting the good fight: taking her students to infinity and beyond, in her
magic trailer. She teaches 8 special ed. students while training to maintain
the perspective that the lesson is not lost even if a student offers “jump” as
a noun. She is also involved soccer club after school and routinely visits St.
Francis Inn to keep up with the Kensington gossip and pick up new recipes. Yum!
The food is delicious but lasts for at least 2 weeks. (We think their recipes
are made for a greater number of people.)
Closer to home, Maggie is
hanging out with preschoolers and kindergartners during the day, working on
English language skills, or occasionally Spanish or Vietnamese. She gets the
sense that the kids pick up English faster than she is picking up their
languages. During aftercare, she works with an energetic group of 5th
graders, playing soccer, working in the computer lab, and doing math homework
that she promised she would never ever
do again after she completed 5th grade.
We are finally starting
to settle down into our new convent/home and enjoying all the beautiful trees
around us changing colors J. We are excited to continue our work and looking
forward to more visits to the mother-ship mother-house, and more protest
marches around Philly.
We’ve stopped praying for
patience because every time we do, we are given a new opportunity to practice
it. Instead we pray for laughter, heat, engaged students, and all the support
and love we can get! Thank you for words, thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Claire and Maggie
