Eyes to see the Blessings

Being married to Brian is definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have never doubted this for a moment of my existence. Uprooting every year for the past four has been exciting, enriching, but on occasion tough personally. At times it has been hard to see God's hand and purpose in continually making and leaving new friends, in acclimating to new schools and then restarting in new districts year after year, and in living geographically away from every person I call friend. Part of me could view all of this moving as a huge sacrifice and to be honest at times there are parts of me that do. Thankfully, God has not let these weak doubting parts of my character fester very long. I am thankful He is working on me and giving me eyes to see the blessings. Let me elaborate.

When we started our seminary journey I knew that our objective was to progress Brian's career and get him through seminary. All I wanted was to get a job in order to pay the bills. I had no idea I would get a job in what I think is the best school district in the country, receive multitudes of training on the best cutting edge teaching techniques, and forever change my attitude and beliefs on education. I didn't understand the blessing that moving to St. Louis was to me. I could have never left Chicago and taught in an above average suburban district never even knowing what more I could have been experiencing. Now, I almost feel like God intended more for me to be in St. Louis than Brian.

When we got the call to Michigan I didn't have eyes to see the blessings either. Leaving my awesome district in St. Louis, the tough job market in MI, and the challenges I face teaching in Detroit were easy for me to dwell on. You think I would have learned from the St. Louis experience that God always has a plan. Doubt is just so subtle sometimes and can sneak back in so quickly. Luckily, God is starting to change my perspective again. The past few months have been a whirlwind for me professionally and none of them would have happened had I not lived in St. Louis, taught at Maplewood, moved to Detroit, and gotten a job in Macomb County.

In St. Louis I received tremendous experience with a program called Cognitive Tutor Algebra I by Carnegie Learning. It is a new, revolutionary Math curriculum that has a very sophisticated software component, and in my opinion is everything that we need to change the Mathematics achievement gap in our country. The county that I live in is one of four counties in the country to receive a federal grant to conduct a study of the effectiveness of this curriculum. My experience with the actual program, the other training I received at Maplewood, and my connections now made in Macomb County have put me in the position to be the county wide Curriculum Implementation Specialist for Carnegie Learning and train other area teachers on the curriculum.

A daunting task certainly for a 26 year old, but one I could not pass up. I will write more about my recent company training experience in Pittsburgh later, as I'm still processing it. There are just too many events that had to string together to make this opportunity happen for me that I'm certain it's a God thing. I am just thankful for the eyes to see that it is exactly that, a God thing.