Hey, Girls! You won't believe this...

I thought I'd just totally throw my daughters for a loop. They think I'm pretty predictable (probably because I am!) and I can guarantee you that the LAST thing in this world that they think I would do is take the Harry Potter personality quiz. So I did it---and I'm Harry Potter! Pretty hilarious, if you want to know the truth :-)



Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

The reality is...

...that the writing does not come quickly or easily and that I am so busy living my life, I don't have time to document it. So much has happened in the last few months that, as Inego Montoya says in "The Princess Bride"..."I just sum up".

I didn't get the job back in September, but they hired a wonderful teacher to come into our class. I have so enjoyed working with her, watching her style, picking her brains and getting more experience. The whole month of September I studied and studied and studied and in early October, I took the certification test for Special Ed. Had to wait a month for the results and was very pleased to find out that I passed. I figured I would need to finish out my year as an aide, but when I went to a workshop to learn how to write the TAKS-Alt tests, the teacher (who is the supervisor for Spec Ed for the entire district) told me in no uncertain terms that I should apply NOW. They have openings now and there is no competition for these positions. (And the aide positions are easier to fill, so they don't consider that a big deal.) So I scrambled around and got all my forms filled out and the letter of intent written and the resume updated and sent off and ...waited. Then I got an email saying that they DO want to talk to me! SO excited! That is big progress from last time. So I get to sit down next week with 3 Ph. D department heads/supervisors and strut my stuff :-) I'm so excited that it's a little hard to focus on anything else.

And as if that all by itself is not enough to totally absorb all my energy, attention, and time, I'm also studying for my Hebrew exam, getting settled in our new apartment and getting ready for the holidays.

So that's why I haven't written since September. (But this one's for you, Cathy!)

Thankful Thursday--on Friday

I filled out the application for the opening in our classroom and put it in the L-rd's hands as to what would happen. And I found out very quickly. The Asst. Principle stopped me in the hall as I was leaving school yesterday afternoon and told me that they had pulled my file and looked at it and that I wasn't far enough along in the process of getting certified for them to consider me as a candidate for this particular job. I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. But mostly that is because we could really use the money. As for the job itself, there's a lot to it and the learning curve would be all consuming. So I'm thankful that I can trust the L-rd to protect me from getting in over my head. Now I have a year to study and learn in this class before I take the plunge.

And I'm thankful to have a daughter who sees the humor in the small things of life. :-)

Turn in the Road

The past two weeks, my life has not been cute little sound bites that make for quick, easy, funny (SHORT) posts. I have been through an intensive, week-long orientation to the building, the staff, and the procedures at my new school. That, in itself, was pretty tiring. There were two nights that week that I got in bed around 9:30 and slept all the way through the night til the alarm went off (very unusual for me!) Then the next week the kids came. And what an amazing, exhausting, exhilarating experience that has been!

I thought that this brand new job would be a totally new experience with a pretty big learning curve. In some ways it is. But, at its very most elemental, it is very similar to much of what I have done for the last two decades. (The biggest surprise to me is that virtually all of what we do is confidential--even to the point that we are not allowed to tell anyone, including the parents of the other students IN the class, who any of the students are. I can't even talk about them in public in case someone in the general vicinity might overhear and recognize who I'm discussing. So anything I share about the actual work will always have to be very vague and generic.)

Because this class has turned out to be much bigger than is reasonably manageable by one teacher, there has been talk from day one of adding another teacher for this bunch. Much to my surprise, I very much want the job! Since I'm already certified in another field, all I would have to do is take a test in this subject. I could even be given emergency certification and have a year to get all the requirements met. Two weeks ago, I would've sworn with my last breath that there was no way I'd be willing to put up with all the aggravation that comes with classroom teaching. And now, I'd jump through any hoop they hold up to get a chance to work with these kids. I totally trust the Lord to put the right person in our classroom.. So I'll be perfectly happy if they hire another teacher and I finish the year as the aide. And I'll be (extra!) perfectly happy if they, um, choose me. I've signed up to take the test next month so that either way, next year I'll be looking to hire in as the teacher. What an amazing development!

And that's just one unexpected turn in the road. There are others, but the time is not right yet for talking about them. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "May you live in interesting times." We do.

Liftoff

Last Thursday was my last day of doing home daycare. Friday morning, on our 36th wedding anniversary, my sweet hubby and I got up bright and early and jumped on an airplane to South Carolina. We had big fun, shopping and fishing, and flew home Wednesday. I got up bright and early Thursday morning for an orientation day at my actual school and then spent the rest of the day unpacking and cleaning up our room. And then last night, Hubby asked what time I wanted to get this morning and I realized that THIS is the moment that my new life begins. I do NOT have to get up bright and early, because I don't have to go to work today. Anywhere. For any reason.

It's like that moment on the plane ride to and from SC. The plane is roaring down the runway and then there's that bump and you feel the instant you are airborne. You know for sure that you are not on the ground anymore; you are in a different dimension. Liftoff.

I'm going shopping.

Thankful Thursday

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. I Chronicles 29:11

I am so thankful, not only to have had a wonderful time with our family in South Carolina, but to have been able to go to the beach early on Sunday morning. The guys fished and I just sat there near the water and had my quiet time. The sound of the waves and the breeze off the ocean were such powerful, yet gentle reminders of the awesome sovereignty of God.

And oh my! Thankful! Today is the first in-service day for my new job as a special ed bridging aide. I'll learn where everything is and what we're all about doing and meet some of the people I'll be working with. That old slogan "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" takes on new meaning right now. Such a BIG new beginning!

Wordless Wednesday