I am so lucky

So this afternoon as I sat in the back of a darkened music classroom, I was struck by the change my life has taken over the last two years. Here I am among these wonderful children whose lives I am touching and (hopefully) making a difference. I am surrounded by other adults who respect what I do and welcome me with open arms into their environment. My license is all but delivered and I may get a permanent job soon. Or I may not. That doesn't even matter really. I am happy with who I am today.

I am so far from who I was two years ago. I couldn't even imagine my future. All I could see was endless days of sameness with no real meaning or fulfillment. But in retrospect it seems that I've been undergoing a series of slight but important changes over the past two years. It is led me to where I am today and will continue to lead me into God knows what. I feel no anxiety at all about the unknown. I have faith that God will take me where I am meant to go. I am so excited about what is yet to come. And I am so excited about sitting in that classroom today and looking into the eyes of those children who appreciate having me in their lives.

I am truly blessed.

Be Careful What You Wish For

I have been really surprised this school year so far. Last year at this time I was lucky to get one day of work per week. This year is a totally different story. I have been working almost full time ever since school began. I think there are fewer subs this year. Anyway this full-time work thing really affects your time for other things! Between working and shuttling the kids to sports practices and scout meetings, I'm busy all the time! I say all this only as an excuse for my not adding to this blog for over a month. However, I don't have to go to work today until noon, so I thought I'd play a little catch-up.

I was so blessed yesterday. I was on duty as the RE Associate of the day so I was supposed to help out the DRE. I am new to the job so I was just going to shadow her. But it was Spirit Circle Day (children's chapel) which happens once a month so all elementary kids grades 1-6 were together. And there were several RE teachers there so it wasn't difficult at all. In fact it was fun. The topic of the day was peace. One of the teachers read the book Cain and Abel by a local author named Sasso. It led into a wonderful discussion about making choices to act in anger or to act in peace. Anyway...back to the way I felt blessed...

One mother came to the class with her 8yo son who was really giving her a hard time. Basically he was throwing a tantrum about not wanting to be at church. I looked at her and smiled a hello and she was obviously near her wits end. (Having been there many times myself I recognized it well.) Then she looked at me and pleaded with her eyes and said, "I need help." I immediately said no problem. I took her son off her hands and gave her a chance to sit down. I put my arm around him and firmly but kindly showed him where to sit in the circle and I said I'd sit by him - which I did. Since he could no longer push his mom's buttons, he went along (although he pouted at first). He was quiet and didn't participate much, but he was listening and I do think he got something out of it. He participated fine during the craft activity. After the class was over the mom came up to me and thanked me several times for helping her out. She had been struggling with him all morning and she knew he was playing her like a fiddle. I didn't mind helping out at all and in fact, I was really happy that I was able to do something to defuse the situation and make everyone happier. I'm really happy when I can give to someone a significant gift and make their lives a little better - even if it is only for a morning.

I guess I'll stop there for today. I'm really busy with church this year and have a lot I can post about. I'll try to post more regularly to keep everything up to date.