‘Cause You Gotta Have Faith

So I wrote this the same day that Jon contacted my parents to ask to "meet" with them.  I had NO idea he was planning to ask them for their blessing to ask me to marry him!  God continues to amaze me!!

                                  Faith                                 11-01-10

When I step back from everything that’s happened in the past three months, I’m pretty embarrassed by the lack of faith that I’ve given God.  For those of you who don’t know, I moved out to Santa Maria, California (central coast) the end of July to be closer a pretty amazing person and things couldn’t have worked out any better.  Before moving out here, I worried about where I would live.  And when I worry... I worry!  Rent is pretty expensive in California and finding a decent place in a decent part of town takes some time.  I did find a great place renting a granny house (an attached but separate apartment to a main house) from one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.  Thank you Lord!

I spent the first month worrying about finding a job.  California is bankrupt, so money for teachers was severely cut.  The public schools now have about half the staff they did two years ago.  I put my resume out to just about all the public and private schools in an hour’s radius.  And again, God blessed me with more than I could ask for.  I was hired on August 31 to work for the best public school district in Santa Maria. 

Since moving out here, I have felt completely out of my element and not myself at all.  I have spent way too much time worrying and not enough time relying on God.  Every day God takes care of me better than I could ever take care of myself.  And every day reaffirms my decision of moving closer to that special someone who is dedicated to God.  Who makes me laugh more than anyone I’ve ever met.  Who can do anything…yep anything.  Who makes me think about things from a different point of view; which I have a hard time doing.  And I get to be with him.  Again, God has proven to me just how awesome he is. 

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Finding my Groove

If you do not know by now, I am teaching 1^st grade in Birmingham, AL now.  I started January 4^th, and I can’t believe I’ve only been there for two months!  It feels like a year!  I am loving it!!  I student taught there on my last placement and was lucky enough to get a job there.  I’m slowly finding my groove as I get settled in to my new job.

I have learned to take smaller steps when I lead the kids down the hall.  At first, I felt like I had to rush constantly to get everything done.  When I walked, I walked high-speed.  I’d look back and see that my class was WAY down the hall.  I’ve slowed down my pace to medium now and my class is doing a better job staying together.  I have to remind my students that when we walk in the halls we walk in a straight line.   We don’t hop on the tiles, spin in circles, zig-zag in the hallway, or kick our friends. ☺

I’ve also learned to do a better job holding my stern face when I’m correcting their behavior.  Sometimes I get so tickled, I can’t help but smile.  One day, two of my boys were wrestling so I was getting on to them and they both started crying.  They went on and on about how it wasn’t their fault while the tears were flowing down their cheeks.  I had to cover up my mouth so they couldn’t see me smiling. 

They make me laugh all the time.  During center time, I have small reading group instruction.  If the students at the centers have questions, that they just cannot figure out, then they bring me a token with their name on it (their question chip), and when I’m done or have a break with reading groups, I’ll answer it.  If I stopped to answer all the kid’s questions, I would never get anything done!  Anyways, sometimes they bring their tokens over and stand there for a minute.  Then they’ll pick it up and put it in another spot- kinda sliding it toward me like…. Ummm look…. I have a question.  Or they’ll stand there for a little while waiting for me to look up.  All the while, I’m ignoring them and laughing with my head down while listening to the kids read.  I’ve had to tell myself that I can’t answer everything all the time.  If there really is a problem, they’ll make a point to make me listen.  So many times I stop to answer or listen to them and it’s tattle telling or something else insignificant. 

The first week or two that I started teaching, I tried to write down the cute things or funny things to remember.  And that was it….  There are so many things that happen all day everyday, I just can’t keep up! 

I praise God that he provided this job for me and blessed me with 16 wonderful (well most of the time ☺) students.