Graduation...in Kosovo

This week marks a special event in Europe. 

And I'm not there to experience it. 

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while, know that I received a message in 2017 from one of my former students at the University. A message that proved to be a gift.

Heather graduated from the teacher education program where I taught and served as the head of the education department. I was one of Heather’s professors as well as her advisor when she studied at the private university in Cincinnati.

Since graduation, Heather had married and now used her gift of teaching at a private school in Kosovo. Think “Southeastern Europe.”

The message was simple. Heather let me know she and her husband were going to have a baby. It brought a smile to my face.

The next part of the text explained she was returning to the United States to have her child. I remember thinking that was likely a good decision. 

Finally, she noted that since she was going to be in the States, she needed a substitute to take her place teaching her fourth-grade class at the school. This was a request for me to take that position.

I gave her the only answer I could. “I’ll pray about it,” I typed. 

And I did. I had taken a group of college students to the war-torn country a few years prior. My husband was with me then, but this trip would be on my own. Tom died in 2014. Mike and I didn't start dating until 2022.

In 2018, The tiny country of Kosovo
celebrated 10 years of being a nation.

I had just moved into a smaller, more manageable home. Still, I was true to my word and prayed about it. Not alone. I talked it over with my family.

A little over three weeks later, I was on a plane out of Chicago heading to Prishtina, Kosovo. 

I taught fourth grade that year. And it was wonderful. There were two Americans in my class and the rest of my class were Albanian Kosovars.

Fourth Graders are Fourth Graders Wherever They Are...

Now, my sweet fourth grade students are graduating high school. Most are already enrolled in universities across Europe and a couple in the United States. I haven’t heard from all of them, but I know these kiddos. They will be successful and make a positive impact wherever they land.

If you want to read about some of my adventures in the Balkans, I’m listing a few links below. And feel free to share in the comments a time you’ve accepted a “challenge” in your life; a time you took a chance; a time you said yes…and didn’t regret it!

The Adventure of Living: A New Chapter

The Bus Ride

Permission to Rest

Thank you, Mr. President *Letters to and from Bill Clinton

*I need to  mention, the students also thanked President Bush for the roll he played in helping Kosovo become recognized as a country. I am sure he acknowledged those letters, but not before I  returned to the States.