Hand of God

So much has happened in the past three weeks, I am not even sure where to begin. So yeah, the whole teaching thing did not work out… at all. The most frequent question I have gotten is, “Was it the kids?” and the answer is “No, not really”. The kids were fine. The “disruptive” ones were also the ones who wanted to answer questions and otherwise actively participate in class. Some were introverted and some extroverted but all good kids. I have come up with several analogies to help me explain it but I will spare you. It was a very surreal experience and I don’t remember a lot of details from the 2 weeks I was there. I do know that I have never prayed so hard and so often in my life. I got to the point that anytime I even thought about the situation I would get overwhelmed. I certainly was not myself. I had several conversations with the administration and left on good terms. My only regret is that I could not give them more time to find a replacement. I can also tell you that teaching has to be the most overworked and underpaid vocation, ever. Seriously.

Ironically I feel very positive about the whole experience. I have wondered for a while if I should be a teacher and now I know the answer: NO! or at least not in a traditional school setting.

So what am I up to now… well I am back in my former position with the state. When I resigned from teaching I was prepared to clean houses if necessary but God was at work and I was able to return to the state. If you are at all familiar with hiring in state government you will understand how awesome it is that from the time I called my supervisor and asked for my job back to walking back into my cube was only 5 working days. My agency is actually a good place to work and my leaving was more about trying something new than leaving. I may have also set a record on amount of time before I came back. We have had other people leave the department and then come back, but my 11 days may be the fastest. So far most people have been glad to see me back so that is a nice.

JD also started school. His school is brand new and gorgeous. We like his teacher and felt very good about everything. We went to the meet and greet, the parents meeting and open house. This week they have been talking about body parts and shapes. Our homework was to talk about the shapes of things at home… which was not going over very well. So I asked JD if he could make shapes with his body and it was awesome. Phillip did some drawing with JD and they drew a fish, an oval body with triangle fins. JD asked me this morning how to draw a diver.

And God blessed us again today when we got a call that he has been accepted into the Montessori program at the same school. We are beyond excited. Now that he is in a magnet program we won’t have to reapply in October, he gets priority in the magnet schools when going to middle and high school. And most importantly he can keep attending the same school after this school year. Pre-k is first come, first served; not based on where you live. Our neighborhood school is not actually near our neighborhood and is not in a convenient location either. Daddy and I were discussing it at lunch today and daddy did not realize how much I was worrying about next school year… but I was just preoccupied. So no more worries about next year.

JD also started a Karate Class at little gym. JD has only been to one class, but so far so good. We also finally officially moved his room. His room was the one next to ours but about 6 months ago he started sleeping in the room across the hall. We had a chat about it and moved his possessions into the new room this week. He has a school uniform now so I purged his clothes and got it all down to one chest of drawers. We hung pictures and brought in his books and stuffed animals. I hung up his morning and evening routines and we spent some time reading on his bead. JD likes it. I also taught him how to clean his room.

My only lingering concern is that we help JD deal with all this change. I changed jobs, twice. JD started a new school and just as he is getting settled he will be changing classes. That’s a lot for a little boy, but God willing, it will go smoothly.

And though all this Daddy had been wonderful. He picked up the slack at home when I was overwhelmed by teaching. He also does the morning carpool to school. Hopefully his work will pick up at the end of this month.

Throw in some health concerns for various family members, my birthday, and book club and I think you get the picture on how hectic our lives have been! But through it all I have felt God’s presence and I am very thankful.