Madness!

I would like to apologize for the lapse in blogging from this end! It has been a crazy few weeks in the Brown(ie) Household! ..... Isn't this what I always say when there is a blogging absence from me? Haha.

Anyways... this time it's really been crazy. Like, life changing crazy. Seriously.

Ready for the news?

Ready?

No. I'm not pregnant.

Adam and I are still married.

Wait for it.....

I got a job.

Yup, I am going to be a working mom.

Let me take you back to a few months ago when I had this inner battle about my future and what direction it would go. As you may or may not know, I finally graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education in May. Well, technically August because I completed my student teaching at that time. I had an internal struggle with what I wanted to do once it was done because a part of me enjoyed student teaching, but a part of me wanted to continue staying at home with the boys. So I finally decided that I would stay at home with them for another year and pursue my career next school year, 2011-2012.

Apparently, someone else had a different plan.

Our school district just received a HUGE grant which opened up 650 new teaching positions throughout the entire district. I put in my application and completed the process, just so I would be in the system and ready to go for next year.

Within days, I found out that principals would be contacting applicants to hire them for open positions at schools and something told me I should just close my eyes and give it a shot in the dark. So I sent my resume to a few schools where I had relationships with teachers I knew.

Within 24 hours, I had 2 interviews at 2 separate schools. After leaving the second interview, I got called in to another school. It was interviewing chaos for me!

I remember driving to these interviews and wondering if I was making the right decision for myself and for the boys. This is something I've prayed about a lot in the past few weeks/months because I was so unsure about it.

The school I wanted to work at the most was my final interview. I left the interview at 8:40 and was called at 9:30 and offered a position teaching first grade..... and I accepted it.

What made me want to work at a specific school, you ask? It's a brand new school - and Adam helped build it! Literally. When I was pregnant with AB4, AB3 and I would drive out there and have lunch with Adam. I saw this school built from the ground up, and now I'm a part of it's staff. How cool, huh? God works in the most awesome ways.

Since I know most of you are wondering how I'm being hired for a teaching position this late in the school year, here is what is happening. Each grade level has a student to teacher ratio they have to abide by. In a lot of the classrooms, the ratio is higher than it should be. So they are taking all of the excess students and creating a new class that I will be teaching. And Voila. :-)

These past 2 weeks since I got the call have been chaotic. I've spent more miles than I realize driving back and forth to the school district office, turning in paperwork, beig fingerprinted, picking up paperwork, dropping stuff off, attending staff meetings, moving stuff into my new classroom (which is ENORMOUS, by the way!), buying supplies and things I will need, checking out daycares, calling daycares, crying about being away from the babies, researching, planning, preparing, organizing, and doing lots of thinking. Add in my daily duties of cleaning, feeding, bathing, and maintaining and you see why I've been absent from blogging! And this is just the beginning of the madness!

I feel so many emotions right now. I'm excited to begin this chapter of my life. I'm nervous about having to pick up in the middle of the first term and teach. I'm worried about my babies being away from me all week long..... but in the midst of all of this, I almost feel at peace, because I know there is someone up above that is helping guide my future on this path. I know with time it will all work itself out. Right now, my main focus is making sure my babies are taken care of. They are first and foremost in my life, above my own happiness, and I need to make sure that they're going to be at a place that they are comfortable at, happy, and loved.

In the long run, I know my choice is the right one. Although we are at a stable place financially, I would ultimately like to build up a better savings account that would allow us to spend more time together as a family and go on trips and show our kids different places. And being a teacher and following a school schedule will surely allow for taking time off to be with my family! I also know that AB3 will benefit from my decision as well. He absolutely loves and adores spending time with children his own age and playing and interacting. Being in a daycare setting 3 days a week will provide him with the opportunity to socialize, learn, and grow. And AB4, well, he will be there with his brother and be able to socialize (in baby language, of course!) through lots of stimulation and play with other babies. The boys will also benefit from familiarity because they will spend 2 days a week with my mom. (God bless my mom and her love and generosity!) I know the first few days and weeks of daycare adjustment will be tough (probably more for me than anyone), but we will get through it.

Blogging is relaxing for me because I get to write out my feelings and thoughts and take a load off my mind. So I am hoping to make time for this throughout the next few weeks of madness. If anything, I will at least be sure to post pictures of my classroom! I have a SUPER cute theme I'm going with, so I'll save that for my next post!

Until Next Time,
Mama Brown(ie)