What Comes Next?

When I was 7 I fell in love.  I mean, I loved my parents, I liked my siblings most of the time and I ADORED my baby sister, and in my second grade mind I loved Jesus.  But this was different.  I fell in love - with my second grade teacher.  I still remember what our cIassroom looked like, I remember some of my classmates, and I remember that I loved Miss McClung - so much I decided  to be a teacher when I grew up.
In all the years since,  my lifelong goal has never changed.  I worked with kids at church, I babysat kids in the neighborhood, I played school with my brothers and sisters (they weren't happy about that) and I knew someday I would be a teacher.

And I have been.  For the last 36 years I have taught school.  (I know, I know, I don't look that old.) But seriously, I have loved my job.  I might not have always been the best teacher - but I have been the best that I know how to be.  I have tried to keep up with new trends, not be afraid to try new things, and love learning from my colleagues.  I love buying new "stuff" for my classroom.  I love new crayons, pens, markers, Post-It notes, and reams of paper.  I love new textbooks and the excitement of the first day of school.

I have taught so long I have had children of former students, and grandchildren of former students.  I have students I will never forget and students who have touched my life in amazing ways.  I have had the privilege of having all the siblings in a family.  I have seen students grow up to be wonderful parents, and follow wonderful career paths.  It has been a very rewarding 36 years. I have made fabulous friends that I work with, who have shared their lives, as they have shared in mine.

For the last few months, however, I have agonized over how much longer will I do this job?  And the answer is - not much.  I am going to retire at the end of this school year.

So, what comes next?  That is what scares me a bit.  I have worked in some form or other since I was junior high school.  What will I do with all my free time?  Should I write the great American novel?  (ha ha - although at one time I thought that was something I might want to do)  Will I take classes and find a new interest?  Will I find another job/career?  I do know that I have a room at my house I need to redecorate, and I love to travel - and now won't be tied down to school vacations, personal days, or summer vacation.  I have 300 books on my Kindle that need to be read, I hope to have grandchildren to rock and love on.

In the meantime, I am going to make the rest of this year the best it can be.  I am going to go to work every day and enjoy the students that are my "kids" this year.  I am going to enjoy the friendships I have in my workplace, and I am going to continue to love my job.

What comes next?  I don't know, but that's okay.  It will be great.

And there will be a party to celebrate!!!!!

Making Choices

I have a young friend who is graduating from college in 2 weeks.  As she prepares for her future and we talk about her choices, I think about the choices I have made in my life and will still have to make.

One of my recent choices was looking at my current lifestyle and realizing that while the people in my family tend to live a long time (my grandparents were in or close to their 90s when they died, my parents are in their 80s) I can live a long time or can I live BETTER for a long time.  I have never been one who enjoyed working out a gym so I decided I would try running.

I started "Couch to 5K" at least 3 times and never got past week 2.  A friend from work took the Genesis 5K program and recommended it to me, so I signed up.  It was some of the hardest 10 weeks of my life that ended with a 5K race.  Some of those class nights when I was cold, or discouraged, or hurting,  one of my running buddies would encourage me with "we're up, we're moving forward, that's more than some people can say."

The first day I ran 20 minutes without stopping I felt like maybe in the distant  future I would be able to finish that 5K race.  One of my practice days I decided that I didn't care how long it took I was going to run 3 miles.  It took me almost an hour but that day I knew I could do it, even though it was still hard for me to run for a long time.

So Saturday, December 7 was the culmination of our Genesis 5K training with the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis.  Since I have arthritis in my knees it was an appropriate run for me.  :)  One of our classmates in the program had given her "running" testimony the week before the race.  She has muscular dystrophy and said during her first 5K she claimed the verse Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".  I had practiced, tried to eat healthier, and trained my body.  It was time.

Saturday morning I got up early and did all I was supposed to do for the race - don't wear anything new (I did wear new Christmas socks), eat a light breakfast, drink some water, took some Aleve and then prayed and claimed Philippians 4:13.

Now, I didn't set any records.  I finished 38 out of 40 in my age group.  I finished 273 out of 282. I finished 181 out of 193 females. But I FINISHED :)  And I finished running.  We had to set 2 goals for the race.  My goals were finish a 5K, and finish a 5K with no walking.  (that was hard for me to do - run without taking walk breaks).

I'm not a runner yet - but I'm getting there. And my time WILL get better,  I have a personal best to beat now.

Blessings from Heaven

Warning:  This will be a rambling....

Psalm 37: 4 says "Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."  The picture on my blog is a desire of my heart.  We, very quickly, sold hour house and had to move about a year ago.  Circumstances led us to a cozy - read small - apartment and we were glad to be here.  But over the last few months it has become a desire that God show us what our housing situation should be.  Should we stay here (inexpensive, clean, quiet, safe) or should we look for place we could live that met our needs better (more room, place for company, etc).  Dave and I have very earnestly been praying together about this for several months.  Also, I have spent lots of weekends visiting open houses and doing internet searches for what I thought might meet our needs.

I, only half  jokingly, mentioned to my work prayer buddies that I wanted God to give me a house.  I said "If He wants to give me keys and say this is your house I would be ok with that, but I will pay for a house...I just want God to give it to me."

The picture on this blog is God's blessing for us.  He gave us this house.  Yes, we have a mortgage and yes its more than our original price point, but the whole thing happened in a way that showed us God gave us this house.  It brings to mind another verse:

Ephesians 3:20 - "Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than we ASK OR IMAGINE, according to his power that is at work within us,"

We honestly believe that God has blessed us with this house and therefore, we need to use it for His glory and blessing.  We're not sure what that is yet, but we pray every day that we are open to His leading and that all who enter the doors of our new home find it a place where God is honored and where they are welcome.

Thanks for reading.  (and will post more pictures when we finish our home makeover :)

Ohana means family

This week is a special week in Mrs. Shadowen's class.  We aren't doing a story from our reading book because it's a short week and we are not doing Phonics since we ahead of the rest of second grade.  Therefore....we are doing some special things.

I grouped the students in groups of 4, and assigned a "group leader".  We began with a discussion of what a good leader does, how they treat other group members, and what kind of words would we use if we needed to encourage our groups.  Then I asked "Who has seen Lilo and Stitch?  In that movie Lilo uses the words Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind."  After we got over the giggles and the "we aren't family" discussion and talked about how we were a classroom family I told them how the week was going to run.

We will have a new group leader every day and that leader is in charge of materials for their group for that day. We are to encourage our group, help them finish work if they need to and pass out and take up all materials for the day. Your group is your family and "Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind".  I saw some great attitudes and group participation today.

 We are doing an author study (Kevin Henkes) and activities with one of his books. Today we did a plot activity, a vocabulary activity and made amazing words posters.  The students earned stickers for working well together (all of them,) and  finishing their work (all of them).  I forgot my camera but hope to have pictures later of more things.

The students were FABULOUS.   They even helped each other at times they didn't need to.  They were so excited about stickers on their charts (and we haven't even decided on a reward yet) and they kept the floor clean too.  - and that is the biggest problem in my room..the messy floor.

What a great day.  I can't wait for the rest of the week.  Planning was crazy figuring out all to do but the day was one of the easiest this year just because they worked and I just facilitated their learning.

Have I mentioned I LOVE MY JOB!!!!!!!!

disappointments and decisions

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had trouble praying things for myself.  I have actually in the last few weeks spoken aloud to my school prayer group and to a couple of friends a prayer request I had for myself.

In that vein, I was excited to see what I thought was an answer to that prayer.  However, circumstances have shown me that either the answer is not what I wanted (YES) but either NO or WAIT.  I'm not doing so well with those answers...go figure.

Anyway,  I have to make the decision that God knows best.  This is easier said than done but I will work on that.  I guess if a disappointment leads to a decision to listen to God it can't be all bad,  right?

On another note, I have had some pretty intense God moments working on some camp things and that is exciting.  When I get these ideas I first write them down and then pray about them and discuss them with people who serve in leadership with me at camp.

I guess at this moment in time I will chose to work on camp and have some answers I like and keep praying the desires of my heart.  God will either give me those desires or change my desires.  If you are a praying person throw one out for me now and then if you think about it, both for my "heart's desire" and for camp planning.

Thanks

yeah...that's me

I'll put it here in writing.  I'm a procrastinator.  One of the world's worst.  I bring home stacks and stacks of papers to grade in a weekend when it would take me only a few minutes every day.  If I have a big project I start it and go great guns for awhile and then quit until a few minutes before that project is due.

But....I need to do better than the adrenaline rush of putting off a job and then doing it as well as it should be done.  In that vain, I was proud of myself..after grading those mounds and mounds of papers, I actually got my midterms done 2 days early...and forgot to send them home.

And I usually do my lesson plans sometime on Sunday night - usually 8ish or after and spend several hours.  But this week I had dinner plans for finished my lesson plans before 6:00.  It made such a nice evening knowing that when I got home from dinner my time was my own.

And I have bought a notebook to carry with me at all times so that when great camp ideas come up I can jot them down right then and have them all in one place so when camp time comes its all together in one place instead of "where did I put the notes on?"

So, in my old age, I am going to try to plan and do things in a more timely matter.  It will be less stressful and give me some free time hopefully.  You friends of mine...stay on me...

God in a box..

I will first admit that I believe in the power of prayer.  I have seen answers to prayers, I have prayed prayers that have had answers,  I have seen miracles in people's lives because of prayer. And I know scripture tells us in Mark 11:24 "therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.", and in Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

I say all of that to say, I have a great desire but I am lacking in the faith to believe that God will do what He says in His word and in the desires of my heart.  Why can we as Christians pray for others believing that God will and can answer but can't believe He will do the same for us?