Oh the Life of a Teacher...Part 2

So last week was delightful! I cannot even begin to explain how pleased and thankful I am that God brought me to be a teacher...clearly he knows that I cannot handle (or choose not to enjoy) working 52 weeks a year:) As the days went on, I slept in, I read - not only did I read, but I finished a book that I have been reading since, oh about Christmas time (Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett - I highly recommend it! A great book!) I got to go snowboarding one evening (on a "mountain" no bigger than a mosquito bite compared to the CA and CO mountains I have experienced) ice-skating, and I even got in a hike on Sleeping Giant in Hamden, CT.

Though I was not with my 'kids,' I spent plenty of time with my good friend Randi and her 4-year-old daughter Laila. I met Randi through Ryan. She is married to Ryan's good friend and boss Hassan at the GAP. We have had so much fun with them! Randi is in her 4th year of law school, and so she sometimes needs help keeping little miss Laila busy when she needs to study, or even do dishes! So one day I took Laila after we had lunch and we played at my house for 4 hours. We made the biggest drawing of a house I've ever seen, made some extremely messy brownies, built a large fort in my living room, hid from a monster for about an hour, then killed the monster with marshmallows (apparently he was really ugly.) It was so much fun to spend some time with a child who is still so innocent and sweet. I spend so much time with hormone-filled, pre-teens who are screaming up and down the hallways that I forget how lovely children are.

I went back to work yesterday after my amazing 10-day break, and amazingly enough wanted to stay in bed juuuusssssst a bit longer. I begrudgingly dragged myself out of bed, wiped the boogers out of my eyes, and got my coffee fix - ready to go! At 8:30 when my kids started strolling in, I remembered how much I love my job. When Barbara came in and said, "I missed you miss," I remembered that I have been called to my profession. I have been called, and what a blessing it is to serve the Lord. I hope my kids know just how much I love and care about them in the name of the Lord.

Oh the Life of a Teacher

I can't tell you how lovely it is to be able to have a week off in the middle of February AND get paid for it! I have been able to relax, actually spend time with Ryan for a change, and GO SNOWBOARDING! Haha, the snowboarding teacher...I will be excited to hear the reaction form my kids when they hear Mrs. Shumway went snowboarding. "Wait, what?! You snowboard Mrs. Shumway???"

It's funny too, in the short week I have been off, I have thought about my students so many times. I got a text from one of my girls last night that said, "Hi Mrs. Shumway. I miss you." The first thing that came into my mind was, "Awe how sweet." I guess I really am making an impact on my kids, whether they are learning much or not. The second thing that I thought was, "Wow, how bored my kids must be in order to miss me." Thinking back to my own breaks in elementary and middle school, I NEVER thought about my teachers until maybe the day before I went back. I'm so curious if the reason is boredom, or honestly what 'home' is like for so many of my students. I know that some of my students have a hard home-life, and I wish that there was something I could do to help. But I guess in the long run, I am helping as much as I can in the classroom. I am helping them with their basic homework-completion skills, I am helping them understand the importance of respecting their peers and teachers, and I am helping them to understand that they CAN succeed and that they are loved.

Though my break has been short, I am starting to miss those sweet (and some not so sweet) faces. Please continue to pray for my kids. they need all of the love they can get.