After graduating from Radford University in December 1994, I was blessed to get a long term substitute position at the same school where I had gone to middle school and where I had been student teaching that fall. God opened the door and I was so happy. It was as if God was saying, "See, I have made you for this. This is your calling." Then the devil tried to steal all of my joy in those months from January to June, but God prevailed through some very difficult trials in my classroom. He showed me that I could do all things through His strength. As I sent out over 200 resumes later that summer I just knew God was going to place me somewhere that I could make a difference. That I could be a positive influence on children. Well, again I would learn what a positive influence teaching them would be on me!
I truly enjoyed the first 5 years of teaching before I had a family. Once I had a family, it became so much harder. I was torn between spending the majority of my effort on my job which I loved, and taking care of my family which I also loved. After we were blessed with two baby girls, I just knew I needed to focus on being a mother and wife and teaching was taking too much time away from them. I was missing so much of their young lives while I was at work. I decided to pray and ask God to show my husband if I needed to stay home and not teach. I had a month before I would have to sign the next year's contract. At the end of that month we were out taking the girls for a walk in the double stroller when my husband shared with me that he felt it was time for me to stay home with the girls. Hallelujah! I was so excited. I told him about my private prayers and how God had answered them. We stepped out on faith that God would take care of that second income for us somehow!
God did provide in many amazing ways so that I could stay home and eventually homeschool our girls. God brought us two more children during this time. Now I was a mother to four energetic and beautiful girls. We enjoyed homeschooling, gardening, and spending lots of time loving on God's people. If I had been teaching full time I would never have been able to spend so much time with our church family and friends and experiencing so many amazing adventures. For 10 years I enjoyed being a full time homemaker and teacher. Yes, I was still teaching. And I was privileged to teach my favorite people. It wasn't perfect. Some days it was super hard. But each day was full of love, prayers, and forgiveness and hope.
Things change and so did our lives. God brought us to a new stage in our lives and I needed to go back to work. Putting our children in private school was a blessing but it was also hard. I missed all of the time we no longer had for the adventures of old. I missed spending an hour each day (not all at once) reading great books with my children. I missed seeing their faces as they learned new things. Yet, they had wonderful new adults to follow as role models. New friends to talk and play with. Teachers who were better experts in their field of knowledge to teach hard high school subjects. And I was able again to be the teacher God had made me to be to my new kids. My kids. Sometimes when I say that people mistake who I am speaking about. I say "my girls" when I mean my own children. I say "my kids" when I talk about my students. For the year or two that I have them they are "my kids." Even after they go on to the next grade, I still think of them as my kids. I love them and always want the best for them.
So this is where we are now. In those early years with my babies, I never dreamed I would stop homeschooling and go back to teaching. Yet, it has been good in so many ways for my girls. I guess there are some regrets I will always have though. There are books I never got to read with our youngest daughter. Or the family trips we haven't taken because getting time off is hard to do. I guess every parent hopes that their decisions are for the best in the long term. My greatest comfort is that God turns everything for our good and His glory. He is the redeemer.
Whatever teaching adventure God brings in the future, I hope I remember to be thankful, because it has always been so good to walk in His will. As of now, I plan to keep teaching at the small Christian school that has been the home away from home for my girls. We have two left in high school. This year Lydia is a ninth grader and Faye is a senior. I am praying that this will be a great year for them both.
With the covid pandemic, it may be quite different, but I am confident that God will sanctify me through this year, as He has the last 26 years of teaching! As of now, I look forward to being the 5th and 6th grade math and science teacher. I plan to share the things that I am going to be working on this year here on these Tuesday Teacher Talks. Future entries should be more practical, but I wanted to share a bit about my journey to this point.
Blessings!
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