My New Job

If you didn't already know, I recently was hired to work at Head Start, a nation-wide, federally funded preschool program for children near or below poverty level. Head Start programs promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.

I am a teacher in the Buffalo Extended Care Site. Traditionally, Head Start was a half day program, but over the years it has evolved to fit the needs of working families. Our site is open from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Today we had some trainings in the morning: Bus Safety, Mandatory Reporter for Child Abuse, and SRAS (forms we have to fill out during home visits). This was followed by a catered lunch for all of Wright County United Way employees and board members, a short program, time to socialize, and door prizes. I actually won a certificate for 4 hours of paid time off!

I enjoyed getting to meet the other teacher, assistant, and aide that will be working at my site. On Monday, we will start working on getting our room set up, lesson planning, and home visits. We also have two more days coming up of trainings. The kids first regular day will be on September 14th.

I am really excited to take all the ideas floating around in my head, combine it with what I have learned in past classrooms and in college to be the very best teacher that I can be. Now reality... I will probably hate my job for the first month or two and then not be sure how much I like it for several more months. That is just the way I am. It takes me forever to really get settled it. I truly hope that the other staff and I can work together like a team because the people you work with can make all the difference.

Ladies Night Out

Tonight I went out for the evening with 14 other ladies (9 from our church). We went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis called The Blue Nile. The lady that organized this outing has a two year old son that they adopted from Ethiopia.

The waitress started by bringing hot, wet, towels for each person to use to clean their hands. Then she brought out platters with piles of different types of food and baskets of some kind of flat bread. I'm not exactly sure what all the foods were, but some of the piles were chunks of meat in sauce, cooked cabbage, and legumes. Some of the food was spicy and some very mild. There wasn't any dishes or silverware; everyone used their hands and ate right off the platter. We tore off a piece of bread and picked up the food with the bread. It was a very fun experience and I think that I will take Jeff there sometime. I think he would enjoy trying something new.

While eating out was a lot of fun, it was great to spend some down time with the ladies. The few minutes to visit before and after church just isn't enough time to really get to know each other. It was nice to get to know these church friends better and get to meet some new friend, too.

God Bless Our Home

This is the home that we have under contract in Montrose. It is a 3 bedroom/2 bath home with a big family room downstairs, a big deck off the kitchen, and is on a 1/3 acre lot.



Jeff has been in Watertown for 6 months now and it’s been 3 months for me. During the time I have been here, we have been house hunting and I have been looking for a job. It just seemed like nothing was happening with either one of those things. Recently, Jeff and I decided to take a step in faith in an area of our lives, knowing that we would probably have to make sacrifices and there would be consequences. Why do we always think the worst? All we could think about was what we might have to give up by being obedient to God, yet God was just waiting to heap blessings on us.

Just a few days after we took this faith step, I got a phone call from Head Start and was offered a position as Head Teacher. This was a job that I really wanted to begin with. I had sent them a resume back in May even though they didn’t have any openings at the time. (I will blog about my job in a few weeks once I know more about it.) I was so excited when I got off the phone that I was literally shaking. That is not the end of our week though.

That very same day, we got an email from our realtor with another house that came on the market. We drove past it that evening and because it was empty, we got out of the car and walked around it and peeked in the windows. We loved it and were a little surprised that the price was in our range. Two days later we got to walk through it. Sunday, we walked through it again as well as a couple of other houses. We decided that it was exactly what we were looking for and that it fits our needs perfectly. That evening, we wrote up an offer and within 24 hours they accepted our bid!!

I don’t think that it is coincidence that during that week after Jeff and I decided to step out in faith and to be obedient to God that I was offered a job and we bought a house. God was just waiting for us, not because what we can do for Him is so awesome that no one else can do it, but because he wants our obedience and for us to trust Him completely. He was just waiting to reward us for being faithful. Hmmm, maybe sometimes the misery that we wallow in is of our own making.

Grand Babies Come to Visit

Just 36 hours after I got home from my vacation to Pennsylvania, Jeff and I drove to Iowa for a doctor's appointment. We met Zach and Andrea while we were there and picked up our two oldest grandchildren. Bryce is 4 1/2 and Hailey is 2 1/2. They came back to Minnesota and spent seven days visiting us. We had a good time while they were here and enjoyed a trip to the beach, several parks, a very short boat ride, story time at the library, a parade, and a church picnic. We did not keep Khloe this time. I decided that with a baby, it wouldn't be as easy to do all the activities we had planned. Maybe we will take her another time.

I miss Zach and Andrea, but I especially miss the grand kids. It has probably been the hardest part about us moving to Minnesota. I don't want the kids to think of us as the old people that spoil them rotten every few months. I want to make a difference in their lives. I remember the special times that I had with my Grandma and Grandpa who lived just a few blocks from me when I was a kid. My parents were great loving parents and provided for me above and beyond the necessities, but grandparents give something that parents just can't give. It's hard to explain.

Somehow, I need to figure out how to be a grandma more than just a few days or weeks of each year. If anyone is in a similar situation, I would appreciate some feed back as to how you keep up with your relationship with your grand kids.