A sad day in Chevak

Yesterday morning I decided to attend service at the local non-denominational church. At the end of a great sermon and a time of worship the pastor returned to inform us that there had been an accident. One of the fifth grade girls had been accidentally shot by her father. This has been particularly hard on me because I met this young lady a year ago, the first time I visited Chevak. For some reason her and I hit it off right away even though she didn't exactly get along with her peers. She held a special place in my heart and we exchanged addresses before I headed back to Anchorage. When I returned to teach out here I kept looking for her and after about a week we finally saw each other again! Also, it took me about a month to realize that her younger brother was in my class. Well, their dad accidentally shot his gun in their house on his way out the door to go hunting and the bullet hit the young girl in her head. She was taken to Bethel or Anchorage where she was pronounced dead late in the evening last night. My heart is sad. Living in such a small community, death really affects everyone. Today my students are writing letters to her brother, their classmate, telling him that they miss his sister and I hope is okay. It makes me sad that this is our writing assignment today. That is where I am at right now. Keep us in your thoughts...