A MASTER Plan

The elementary where I teach sends home with students their class placement  on the last day of school.  Teachers receive their list for the upcoming year, but I always stick it in a drawer until I come back from summer break.  This year was no different.  In August, we had a Meet The Teacher time before school started.  For 2 hours, my students and their parents walked through my doors, looked at their room, and introduced themselves to me.  It was a quick meeting, and I tried very diligently to put names and faces together.  I did remember a family that had a strong accent when I spoke to them.

    During the first few weeks of school, I work to build a compassionate, caring learning community.  We spend time sharing, celebrating, and talking about our lives.  One day, we were sharing something unique when a boy, D, shared that his parents were from a country in Eastern Europe.  Of course, I was so excited and I began asking D questions.  Come to find out he can speak the same language as our Sarah's country!!!!  I could hardly believe it!!  D is now in charge of teaching a Word of the Day during our morning and closing meetings!!  How about that!!  I have my own language tutor from a fourth grader.   
Life is GREAT!!!

  Before I saw what I saw the last day of school, before I read the family blogs, before I thought about adoption and Down Syndrome, and before I was even shown this is the journey to go on, a young boy was placed in my classroom who speaks the same language as our little Sarah's country and would be able to teach me and my class conversational language from Eastern Europe.  I shared with a friend my story the other day, and she said, "Shelly, you found out the WHY things have happened sooner than some.  Count yourself blessed."  
I do and I am.

    I have grown so much in the journey thus far.  I'm learning to laugh about inconveniences and happenings. (Such as:  the dishwasher breaking a day before our first social worker visit and our kitchen is torn apart:(  I'm learning to do what I can and leave some things for another day. (I'll never be caught up at school!!)  I'm taking time to celebrate the small things. (My son loving his new cooking class /Cub Scouts activities and my daughter teaching her brother math games at home.)  I'm learning to take deep breaths and walk away when someone says something insensitive about adoption and Down Syndrome. (It's only happened once, but it left me speechless.)  Mostly, I'm seeing the world in a new light.  In a few short months, Sarah will be seeing everything for the first time and I'm looking at the world around me with a sense of awe and wonder. 

“Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.”

Busy, But Blessed!

By far, this has been our busiest week of the summer.  VBS in the mornings, and swim lessons in the evenings, along with another get-together mid-week.  Tired,but worth it.  I always teach with my good friend, Debbie.  In all the years we've taught together, this was the smoothest group we've had.  Our leaders decided to give us a break this year by assigning us mild-mannered kids !!!

It's been a week of celebrations, especially since the theme of VBS was
Jeremiah 29:11:  God has many plans for you!  Isn't that the truth!

Celebrations:
1.  Austin was moved up to beginner in swim lessons because he has made so much improvement since last year and he is swimming pretty good.

2.  Addy is jumping of the diving board on her own, without a lifeguard catching her!  Her next challenge is the HIGH DIVE! Oh my!

3.  Austin jumped off the diving board twice(with help), but still isn't sure of it.   At least he's trying!

4.  Monday, as parents were picking up the children from VBS, a young man walked by and said "Hi."   I heard him ask his sister if that was Mrs. Archer?   He was in my very first class in Dublin 10 years ago.  It wasn't my best year, he and his brother were challenges, yet he was sharing his celebrations with me.  He is going to college, running track, and made Nationals this year.  His brother is playing football for another college.  Amazing the impact we have on individuals, even when we are not sure we are doing a great job!  What a moment for me!

5.  My friend, Debbie has been praying for a teaching job in her old district.  She took many years off to be with her children, but has been trying to get back in this year.  It's not a good atmosphere for teachers who have taught.  Administrations want brand-new teachers, instead of experienced ones.  Anyway, her old principal called her on Monday to inform her that she would only get 5 years, if she were hired.  She was disappointed, yet hopeful for a job.  Tuesday afternoon, her principal called her to tell her she had a position for her.  How thrilling!  She was so excited on Wednesday to tell me.  Guess what our Bible Story verse for the day was:  Jeremiah 29:11:  My God has many plans for you!  She and I were both joyful that day as we sang the songs about God's plans.

6.  I've enjoyed watching Addyson and Austin do the motions to all the songs in VBS.  It's something to watch your own children learn.

7.  I learned how to make a photo montage on the website, and then embed it into my blog.

8.  I learned how to embed youtube videos into blogs.  I've been wanting to learn that for a long time.

What a week!  I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, and spending the afternoon at the pool.