Real World, Here We Come!

Last year, I graduated with a degree that I couldn't use. No, it wasn't in anthropology (no offense, Bequis...) or underwater basket weaving. Unified Early Childhood Education. At most universities, when you graduate with a teaching degree, you tend to have a teaching license as well. Not at KU. Instead, they make you enroll as a graduate student to do your student teaching, which means an additional year of schooling before you can work and an increased tuition rate. Not cool. However, it has been nice not to worry about the job market this year as I've been student teaching and paying to be an intern. But, that time is slowly ending! Searching for a job is never fun, but add the budget cuts at all the area school districts and the fact that we are having a baby this summer and it can get pretty stressful pretty quickly! Luckily, our time in Haiti helped us relearn to rely on the Lord, move forward, and trust that everything will work out in His time. So, that's been our perspective during the past few months! Already, so many questions have been answered. We found a bigger apartment with enough room for the baby this summer, this morning we signed a lease with the apartment complex we really wanted to move into more permanently, and we've already heard good news in the job department! I had heard of a half-time teaching position from one of my classes and randomly decided to apply for it. I had a screening interview a week later and a follow-up interview two weeks after that. Since then, it's been a month of waiting, knowing that they have contacted my references, and more waiting. Well, last night at 6:45 the assistant superintendent called me to offer me the job (I didn't realize they could call that late...I had already resigned myself to another week of waiting)! Adam and I had previously talked a lot about the position, so I was able to accept it on the spot and will be signing the contract on Monday. Wahoo!

This job feels right for a number of reasons. The biggest one is that it is half-time. I've never been excited about working when I have a family, but our circumstances for the time being pretty much require it. But, with this job, I can work half the hours and we'll still have our needs met. That means I can be home most of the day with our little guy! Second of all, it's in a field that I love. While I am certified to teach age 0-8, I'm not a huge fan of elementary gen. ed. classrooms. This classroom is an early childhood special education classroom! I'll have 12 four-year olds, six with identified needs and six who will be peer models. Plus, I'll have two paras working with me, so the adult-child ratio is awesome! My first experience with special education was in a similar classroom, so I'm getting excited. My class will be from 12:30-3:30, Monday to Thursday, and Friday is reserved for planning, training, and meetings. Awesome. The school district sounds amazing and they have a bunch of supports set in place for new teachers. There are a couple downsides - it's in Gardner (which will add almost two hours to the time I have to be away from home). And....okay, the only other one I could think of is the fact that I have to be away from home at all (but that's not this job's fault!). So, all in all, we are very grateful and blessed to already know in April our financial and employment situation for next year.

Now, the last question we need to figure out is childcare for the time I'm away during the afternoons. Any other moms planning on working part-time and want to figure out a swap? I'm trying to keep my mind open for all sorts of possibilities and solutions, since I know the Lord is wanting us to do as much as we can to figure it out! But, I definitely know that He will help us figure out the best solution! Now it's just remembering patience as we wait to know what that solution is!