What happens when the music teacher isn't around. . .

Last Friday, I walked my wriggly line of preschool students to their weekly music class, only to find the door to the music room shut and locked. We quickly found out that the music teacher was sick and hadn't come into work, and the message hadn't been passed along. . .the thought of bringing the group back to the room for unplanned craziness didn't exactly appeal to me, so I thought I'd play music teacher. We entered the room and I had the kids pull their chairs to surround the piano (a lovely, slightly out-of-tune upright with real keys! The only one I've seen in Nicaragua that isn't digital!). And we did "request time":--kids could pick any favorite worship song they'd learned this year, and Mr. Ippel would try to figure it out without music (a good challenge). The students hadn't seen me play piano before, so that was a fun surprise for them. My kiddos have a HUGE song vocabulary from our daily worship time (always a capella), so our 30 minutes were quickly filled with favorites from the year. . .Bless the Lord (10,000 Reasons), God's Not Dead, Pharoah Pharoah, From East to West, Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet, Awesome God, Lord I Lift Your Name on High. . .a few of the songs my students chose. I wish the time had been recorded on video or audio, at least. . .these kids can sing. And they sing not "like" the mean it--they MEAN it. . .some shut their eyes tight or raise hands during the slow songs (not something I teach them) and they absolutely dance to the fast songs (I have to settle Mae down every once in a while!). My Spanish-speaking kiddos have learned these songs just as well as their English-speaking friends; it is so fun to hear them all singing together at the top of their lungs, praising God in a common language. We sing together daily in my classroom, but I think it was hearing their sweet voices worship while I worshiped through playing piano that made this particular time special to me. It was one of those moments that kept me smiling all day, thinking "I have the best job EVER." (Don't worry; there are plenty of moments during my teaching day that remind me otherwise!) So, yeah, Mr. Ippel LOVED being the music teacher last Friday. It might have been one of my top 3 moments of PreK2 for the whole year, and I'm thankful to have that memory with this unique group of 4-5 year-olds as we end our school year next week. God is good.