If at first you don't succeed...

I figured a new leaf in my life deserves a new attempt to blog the daily amusements and other happenings in my life.

What do you think of the design? I thought the fall motif was kind of beautiful and appropriate!

So to catch up those who may not know all about what's happened in my life recently:

I ended this past school year in kind of a shambles. I had a really rough experience and I was really fearful that I wouldn't be able to get back into the classroom again.

But God is good. And that's kind of become my mantra.

I went through a couple of really rough months, having to lean on my parents much more than I would like, and really scraping to get by and trying to find work SOMEWHERE. It was probably one of the lowest points I've hit, for a number of reasons.

However, God is good. And God also has incredible timing (what with it being perfect and all).

Just as I was about to settle into a full-time, short-term job and a part-time job on top of that, I got a call.

It was from the Assistant Principal of a school here in Lillington. She called me on a Thursday evening, letting me know that they had an unexpected opening in third grade. She asked if I was able to come out for an interview the following morning, and let me know that they had gotten my resume from the Harnett County Job Fair, which is INSANE because I thought it had been a total bust. (Officially the longest sentence I've typed in a while; sorry about that.)

Of course I went! I called in with an unexpected appointment to the full-time job that I literally had JUST begun on Monday, and drove the almost-hour it takes to get from where I was living to Lillington for an 8am interview.

I didn't walk out of the building until 10.

The interview turned into a discussion of teaching methods and different programs and how things work at the school, and then I had a conversation with the man who was to become my Principal. It started with high nerves, but ended with a promising handshake.

I got a call back by early that afternoon asking if I would like to come on board, pending completion of my references and a background check. I was through the moon!

Just to check back in and make the timeline clear, here's how things went from there:

Thursday - Call for interview
Friday - Interview, Job Offer (pending references/background check)
Stopped by the house to get some of my classroom stuff
Drove back out to Lillington (for the 2nd time that day)
Filled out background check paperwork, got about 30 minutes in MY classroom
Saturday - Spent almost all day in my room desperately unpacking MORE classroom stuff and figuring out what my room should look like.
Monday - Teacher Workday (used to its full capacity)
That evening, Open House!
Tuesday - Teacher Workday (again, used to its FULL capacity)
Wednesday - School started!

Did you catch your breath in there somewhere? I didn't. But I was already in love with this place and the people at the school, and I really felt purposeful. I felt like I was there for a reason, and that I brought something to the table. I felt like I could really learn and be nurtured and grow in that place.

Now I've been there for about 7 weeks of school, and I couldn't have been more right.

I've found a place out here for roughly $300 a month LESS than I was paying in North Raleigh. It's nicer, it's in a prettier location, and it's just as big.

Things have just lined up in an incredible way, and I'm at a peaceful place in my life.

I feel with great certainty that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.

It's pretty incredible.

So anyway, that catches us up to this moment. I'm not too far from heading to bed, which I need to do just because I'm trying to shake some kind of allergy yuckiness.

This week is bound to be glorious for a few reasons - workday on Friday! I desperately need (along with everyone else at school) to have a day to just work in my room and get caught up on little things. Then, Friday night I'm staying with my parents and going to the Fair with my Daddy on Saturday morning. Poor Linda will be recovering from some minor surgery on Friday, but I'll be around to help out. I'll be spending Saturday night there, too, since I'll head to church on Sunday to teach Sunday School.

Busy, busy, busy.

But it's all worth it, and I'm feeling great (aside from this allergy junk).

And through it all...God is good!

Catch you later.

♥ Marlee

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck