Crazy Week, Calm Weekend

It has been one crazy week!  I applied for a teaching job but wasn't called for a first round interview.  I was extremely disappointed and moped around all last weekend feeling sorry for myself.  My small group at church was praying for me and the teachers I have worked with were disappointed as well.  After school last Monday I was talking to a couple of teachers that I am close to when my phone rang and it was the district office offering me an interview.  I couldn't believe it!  Turns out that a student teacher from our school accepted a position in another district and that left a spot open for someone else to interview and the principal from our school (well technically my kids school) recommended me for an interview!  I was extremely nervous and only had a day to prepare for it and the soccer party that I was in charge of.  Thankfully my friend had pushed me to buy a suit a while ago in case something like this happened.  I knew ahead of time that 14 principals would be interviewing me all at the same time.  I was definitely intimidated by that.  Nothing could prepare me for how I would feel walking into that conference room with all those people watching me.  I knew about 4 of them which was nice because 2 of them gave me encouraging looks.  I found out later that as soon as I left 5 schools said they wanted to hire me.  Definitely boosted my confidence a little.  I got a call that night and missed it so had to wait until the next day to find out that I was offered a position at my kids school! We are all beyond excited!!!  Starting in August I will have my own classroom and will be teaching 3rd grade!  It is all perfect.  I'm excited for 3rd grade.  It is such a good age.  I can still do cute, yet they are becoming more and more independent.

Today David and the kids went to meet up with his brother and his family to go camping overnight.  I decided to stay home for a few reasons but ultimately I'm exhausted from this crazy week.  My adrenaline has been keeping me going but now I just need to process everything, sleep, and clean my house.  I have neglected it way too long with working and all the activities we have going on.  Soccer is over for a while, school will be out on Thursday, and I'm excited for my new job!

Looking back I know that God had his hand in this all along.  I turned down an interview last fall because it didn't feel right along with several long term subbing positions and then ended up teaching almost the whole year anyway.  We decided this year that we would take anything I was offered and deal with it.  If we were faithful, God would be faithful and we would figure out a way to make it all work out if I was working at another school.  In the end, I get to be with my kids at their school, I already know all the teachers and staff, it's an ideal situation for everyone.  This year I got to prove myself to the principal when I took over a difficult position and my hard work paid off.  I go on June 3rd to sign my contract and I am already thinking about how to make my classroom perfect.  I have a million ideas running through my mind and trying to figure out how to make it happen.

There have been a lot of ups and downs for us but through it all we remain faithful.  It is so hard for me to sit back and wait to see the big picture.  I know this isn't it but it's another piece of God's plan for us. I've been trying to explain that to the kids lately.  They weren't thrilled that I was trying to get a job, especially if that meant another school.

I attended a Beth Moore study this spring at my church called Breaking Free.  It was a wonderful study and while I didn't do all of it or attend every session I feel like God opened my eyes to some things this year.  I have held onto the pain of my miscarriages for a long time now and just couldn't seem to let it go.  There was a time recently when the kids were talking about wanting a baby and kept asking and asking and I finally told them what had happened and that we weren't able to keep trying to have more.  We are going to be content with our little family.  They were very sad to find out that happened but I feel like in the end it was a huge weight lifted off my chest.  I feel like we have become closer since that conversation because there is no longer that wall that I have up.  If you have any strongholds in your life, I encourage you to read her book or do the study.  We all have strongholds and bondage. They may not be obvious to us but once you start digging into the study, you will find things that you need to deal with or let go of.

Have a wonderful weekend friends!  I am going to relax in the quiet house!

April update

Well after the kids won at the Science Fair at school they went to the district science fair.  Grace won 1st place in the whole district for 1st grade and Andrew won 3rd place out of all the 3rd graders in the district.  We were very excited!  Since then they have also been recognized at a school board meeting where they received another certificate.

Above: with trophies.  Below: at school board meeting

Also to back track, Andrew was chosen to go to All Stars for soccer in January.  It was a very busy time with practices during the holidays.  The tournament was the weekend after we went back to school for January.  Here are some pictures of my all star.  We didn't win but they played hard and had fun.  It was a really good experience for him and all the boys.

 That's my #2 kid out there.  

We have also celebrated Grace's 7th birthday.  We had a roller skating party this year.  It was so much fun!

 A friend made the cupcakes and cake for me and I made the chocolate suckers to go on the top.  I also had another friend that came over and made cake pops for me.  They turned out so cute.

 Our family that came to the party.  We were so happy that our cousins from Arizona were in town this weekend and were able to come to the party.  

 A new soccer season.  Coed spring soccer....Hurricanes.  Andrew scored 2 goals on Saturday and we won 9-0.  We even tried not to score at the end but they couldn't stop any of our kids.

I think that is all the big stuff that has happened so far this year. It has been very busy for us and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.  

Science Fair Winners

Both of my babies were science fair winners for their grade level.  It wasn't mandatory in 1st grade so there were less students that did one but Grace was still a top 3 for her grade level and moves on to the district science fair. It was mandatory for Andrew in 3rd grade and he was a top 3 (out of about 120 students) in his grade level as well.  They were each chosen as top 3 for their class and given an honorable mention certificate on stage at science night and then announced as top 3 for their grade.  A proud mommy right here!!!  We worked very hard on our science fair projects.  Grace obviously needed more help with the writing but Andrew was able to do it on his own.  We definitely had some tears and it was tough to get it all done but we made him write his stuff out and I helped him type.

Such a fun night. We were so proud of them.  When they go to district they will each get a medal and then the top 3 will also get a trophy.  Grace was giddy up on stage and I didn't get good pictures because I was off to the side at that time.

Andrew is playing basketball for the winter season.  We are half way through the season and we are staying busy.  I'm teaching in a 4th grade classroom right now at the kids school.  Definitely different than the younger kiddos that I'm used to but we are getting through it.  By the time I get it all figured out, my time will be up!  Other than that, life is good.  Just busy, busy, busy!!!

A New Year and an update

The kids go back to school tomorrow and I am definitely sad about this.  We lost a week of our Christmas break because the teachers were given their work days back.  It's good for them but not for us.  We had a great Christmas and New Year's.  We went to grandma's for Christmas Eve and stayed home on Christmas day.  We had family over on Christmas day and it was really nice to spend the day with more people than we expected.

Andrew's soccer all star tournament is next weekend.  We will be busy with practice this week preparing for it.  Grace's dance classes resume this week and Andrew also starts basketball practice with games starting on the 18th.  Life is about to get really crazy again with all of this starting.  We also have science fair projects to work on and complete.  I really dread science fair projects because there is so much parent work involved.  I should have done them with Andrew every year so we would be prepared for how to do it and how to put it together but I didn't and now it is required and I'm not really comfortable doing it.

Starting on the 13th I will be going back to the women's bible study at our church.  It's on Monday evenings which will take another evening away from my family but it will be good for me to go back.  I stopped going because I couldn't commit to going during the weekday mornings and didn't want to be away during the evening but I just need to go back.  This spring we'll be using the book "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore.

Here are some pictures my friend took of the kids for Christmas and our card we sent out this year.

Happy New Year to everyone!