With work starting back up life as we know it started back up. Of course, with some changes. I knew this year was going to be a little
crazy. Although our small group was
taking a break since Tim was off on an adventure walking El Camino in Spain,
Matthew and I had decided to start working with the youth at Church. We had both been praying about it on our own
before Matthew was approached by Pastor Justin.
We decided to wait until the new youth pastor started in the fall so, we
could be there during the transition. It
was great to meet Justice and Shelby and hear their heart for the youth, which
was very similar as ours. They wanted to
get small groups started up, which is my passion since I know that true discipleships
and relationship building happens in the small group setting. With so many youth coming on Wednesday nights
and me being somewhat shy it was not a quick process to learn names and build
relationships but I know that God has us there for a reason and I am excited to
see what happens in the years to come.
We are both working with the incoming 6th graders, so we have
lots of years to get to know them. I
have also enjoyed getting to know the other leaders and building up the
community of friends we have at Gen Hope.
Of course, Matthew continues to be active with the men’s ministry and
knows a lot more people than I do, which is so good for him.
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In the midst of all the craziness, I continued to get things done around
the house. Now that my closet was
cleaned out, I moved onto the kitchen area again. I cleaned out the pantry again to make more
room for food we have been storing in the spare room. I also decided to make a beverage area in the
kitchen and go through some of the cupboards.
Matthew has noticed that I am getting more and more excited about the
house now that it is feeling more and more like it is our house.
Alyssa has made an effort to come over and see her Dad more often. Instead of just saying we are going to get
together, we put a date in a calendar before she leaves so, we have a plan in
place for the next visit. In September,
she came over to spend the entire day with us.
The twins are growing up so fast, so it has been nice to be able to have
Cooper have this time with them while they are still young.
Work is also a little crazy this year, as a group of us decided to work
on our National Boards. It is a process
that can take 1-3 years depending on how quickly you want to do it. It is great doing it as a group, and nice to know
that while you work on it you cannot be transferred to another school, so my
job is safe for a few years. I have not decided
how quickly I want to do it… I am waiting to decide how much time I have to
work on it in the Spring to determine if I want to do one or two sections of it
this year.
Another aspect that is making work crazier than before is that I finally
was able to get the MLE (Multilingual Learner Education) position at work. For
the last four years, I have been working with the students who English is their
second language, testing them and getting to know them. Sue has been actively trying to get me a .2
position to work with the students every year, but no one would provide us with
the position. I decided to bring it up to one of the board members how we have 20
students who should be receiving services but are not being provided them, only
tested, and within a couple weeks, I was offered the position. It adds more work to my day meeting in small
groups with all of the students and will make it busy during testing season,
but I absolutely love it.
Of course, the day to day at work is always busy… working with my
students, training new paras, writing IEPs, going to job sites, meetings, etc. This year, one of the cert teachers is taking
a few months off for paternity leave and although he has a great sub taking
over for him, a lot of the caseload questions will be falling on my shoulders
until he returns after winter break.
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