don't mess with God's plans...

I received an important lesson today, and I'm pretty sure it was sent straight from God.

This whole "lesson" started last week. I had a voicemail waiting for me last Friday. During my lunch break from class I listened to the message from my principal to call him as soon as I had time. I called him and he proceeded to tell me that there was a good possibility that the 3rd grade teaching position would become available during the week, and was wondering if I was interested in it. After he told me I had 30 seconds to decide and I laughed out loud, he told me to get back to him over the weekend with my decision.

Third grade has always been the grade that I dreamed of teaching. They still like school and their teacher, they are just starting to really get into some fun and interesting science units, they are more independent than 1st and 2nd graders and they are starting to understand my humor (let me tell you, 1st and 2nd graders are a tough crowd!).

After spending all day Saturday and Sunday running to the bathroom because my nerves were going crazy, except for when we were out at the skydiving place watching dad jump (more to come on that later this week after Matt gets the video posted) I knew I had to make a decision. I had JUST decided last week to start grad school this semester and I was really worried that with grad school and starting a new position a week before classes started that I wouldn't be able to put all of my energy into a new position. I went back and forth all weekend and eventually came to the decision that I couldn't let my dream position pass by. However, it is important to know that even if I had decided to take the 3rd grade position it wasn't guaranteed to me because the principal would have to find a qualified candidate to take my position. Meaning, that the applicant would have to have a reading endorsement or minor in order to teach reading, otherwise they would only be qualified for the 3rd grade job.

So I got a hold of my principal and told him that I would like to move to the 3rd grade position, assuming that they could find a replacement for me (ha, like anyone could really replace me, I am pretty much the most fun reading teacher ever! =). He told me that that sounded great and then he explained that the interviews were to be Monday morning and that only one candidate had a reading endorsement. I left that conversation feeling a bit worried. However, he said that he would let me know the decision by early afternoon Monday (today).

About an hour ago I received a call from him... the teacher they would like to extend a contract to does NOT have a reading endorsement. Bummer. However I somehow knew this morning when I woke up that I would not be scrambling to set up a classroom this week, I had a calmness about me that knew I would be in my comfortable and somewhat more relaxed position again this year.

So now I sit, knowing that life will be a little bit less hectic this year than I had hoped for. That I won't be spending weekends at school setting up fun science experiments and picking neat books to read aloud to the class. (when you only have 3-5 kids at a time, read alouds don't really happen too much) And to be honest, I'm okay with all of this. I know that SO many things in my life have worked out EXACTLY as they were supposed to, and I'm taking this decision as another one of those things.



I'm ok with life

and life is ok with me.

Things are rolling along just as they are meant to be.