Copy Cat Post

While reading some of my favorite blogs I found that my friend had a brilliant idea for the first post of the new year - so I'm stealing the idea and making a similar post.

Following are a few words that come to mind when thinking about 2010:

STRESS AND WORRY
Early in 2010 we were in quite a financial crunch. We had tuition, late bills, and car problems that left us feeling overwhelmed and a little lost as to how to get the problems under control. We cut back everywhere possible and did the best we could just to get by.

BLESSED
As time went by we were blessed with a financial gift and my parents unexpectedly offered to take care of the car. We took the car to their mechanic, thinking he was just going to repair the one thing that was giving us the most problem, and were overcome with gratefulness when we picked it up. You see, mom and dad had instructed them to go over the car and make any repairs needed. WOW! What a blessing.

I was also offered a temporary job at our church (the job I had given up 2 years earlier to focus on school) to work part time while they looked for a permanent replacement. The months spent working at the church provided us with the extra income we needed to further improve our financial situation.

We also painted our house this summer. A job we had planned to do ourselves - with the help of Don's brother, Jim. However, some really awesome men at church surprised us by showing up and painting for 2 days. The day Don went back to work all we had left to do was paint one side of the house and we felt overjoyed to have had such wonderful friends and to have gotten so much finished. They were not done surprising us yet! While Don was at work, 3 men came over and finished the job! Words could not express how grateful we were.

These unexpected blessings brought to light how blessed we are with wonderful friends and family and how God watches over us and takes care of our needs (even when we feel like we don't deserve it).

EXCITEMENT
Those of you who know me know that I have spent a lot of years at WSU. At times I have been unsure of what I needed to do with my life. I was pursuing an accounting degree but constantly felt that God had something different in store for me. After much soul searching and testing I changed my major to Elementary Education. The process has been so long I sometimes wondered if I would ever really finish or if I would fail at yet another goal in my life and leave us with the financial burden of all these years of tuition and struggling to make ends meet on one income. As I began my fall semester, I realized that it is completely possible that I will actually be teaching my own class of students at the same time next year. This was so exciting and it gave me the courage I needed to get through a rough patch in my semester and excitedly look forward to completing my education.

HERITAGE
This year my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. The Bible talks about the heritage that we are left from the generations before us. What a blessing that my parents have left a heritage of love and commitment for me and my siblings. This heritage was left to my mother by her parents as they were married 72 years when my grandpa passed away.

Looking forward to 2011 I am thinking of the word SUCCESS. It is impossible right now for me to put into words how I feel about actually getting through these next 20 weeks and walking across that stage and having that diploma placed in my hand. The funny thing is, I am just as excited to watch the growth of 'my' students as I go through my internship this spring. I know that I will face problems and setbacks but right now I feel confident that with the support I have had in the past and will receive from Don, Dr. Mukes, Penny Longhofer, Ms. Mog, and countless other friends and family that I will learn a lot, grow a lot, and be ready to walk across that stage with the confidence that I can AND WILL be a great teacher!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May it be filled with happiness, love, and more blessings than you can imagine!