Free My Dearest Naomi by Jerry, Tina Eicher Page A

much trouble, I’d ask the school board members to double-check them.
    The school has an extra hour of school compared to where I taught before. The school day starts at 8:30 and goes until 3:30. I’m trying to get the school board to start thirty minutes later because I have a hard time keeping the children occupied that long. I have no problem being occupied, however. So I’ll see what the board decides. What might swing things in my favor is they already switch to a 9:00 starting time when winter arrives. Hopefully my idea will carry.
    I learned something new the other day at school. One of the children, Lacie, claimed that “stolon” is a word. I said it wasn’t. She declared up anddown her mom said it was. So off we went to the dictionary, and the child was correct. Poor teacher.
Saturday evening…
    This finds me alone in the house again, and it’s impossible to describe the lonely feelings I have. You would have to go through this yourself to understand. I received another of your welcome letters today, and it’s always so heartwarming to hear that you still care for me. I have a problem at times believing anyone could love me, including God. I am constantly questioning my worth and coming up far short. I could never be good enough for God, or you, or anyone else. But I am trying hard to believe the fact that God cares for me even with all my faults. Maybe someday I’ll have my faith strengthened and be strong enough to fully understand and absorb His love.
    I will close this letter. If I’ve said too much, your wastebasket is always handy.
    With all my love,
    Eugene

September 28
My dearest Naomi ,
    This finds me happier than I have been since I came out here. The reason lies in the fact that I’ve just been told I will get to see you over the weekend. Oh, glorious thought! Lonnie and Luella didn’t say anything to me about these plans until yesterday evening. They want to come out for a visit because they are anxious to see my home community. They thought a good time to do so would be over our communion, which is this weekend. Yippee…I shall see you soon! It’s a good thing you mentioned when communion was going to be or I would never have known.
    Last night was a school board meeting. It went really well. Since it was my first one, I was a little nervous, but there was nothing to it. For one thing, they don’t have school meetings like the Amish do, where all the parents come, sit around, and take turns talking in public about their concerns. Here only the three board members attend on the first Monday evening of each month. Then twice a year there is a meeting where all the parents can come, bringing in food and playing games. During the course of the evening, each set of parents then has a chance to talk privately with the teacher.
    Luella found a poem about a teacher, which she read to me the other evening, and Lonnie and I had a good laugh. The story was told to her about a teacher called Miss Blodgit who was going to spank one of her pupils. She had him stand up in front of her desk and had her stick all ready. Before Miss Blodgit started, she told the boy that if he would write a poem she wouldn’t spank him. So the student quickly rattled this poem off:
    Here I stand
    Before Miss Blodgit.
    She’s going to hit me,
    And I’m going to dodge it.
    —A NONYMOUS
    Janie and Amanda wanted in on the fun when Luella told them the story, so they tried to come up with a poem for me. I ended up helping them out, and this is what we came up with. Everyone got a big roar out of it.
    Here I stand
    Before Eugene, wary.
    He’s going to spank me,
    And it’s awful scary.
    With love,
    Eugene

September 29
My dearest Eugene,
    Greetings of love!
    I had a headache this morning, and I’m feeling like the flu is creeping up on me. Add to that, we are fasting this morning for communion next Sunday. I fixed breakfast for the younger ones, and I’m quite hungry.
    I worked at Mrs. Bach’s in the afternoon, and this