Week 15: One Chapter Ends, Another One Begins

As I reflect back on this semester, and even year, I am in amazement by how fast and SMOOTH it has gone overall.

Last semester was not bad at all - even though I feared the travel would make it so. Though, by December I was definitely tired,  it was so worth it. And while I am tired again now, I also know that I am renewed.

In my life, this year has brought on:

Many Decisions - 

Do I go back to school? 

Do I stay on part-time at work?
Do we buy a house? 

Go to WVU and live at home? PSU and travel every week? 

Much Stress - 

How are we paying to remodel a house? - IN A MONTH

28 credits. I repeat - 28 college credits in one semester. I thought I was insane. 

How am I possibly supposed to get everything done - each week

Was this the right decision?

And Much More Happiness - 

Yes I went back to school at PSU. 

Yes we bought and remodeled a house a month before I left in August.

Yes I successfully completed 28 credits last fall - with a minimum amount of stress. 

Yes, everything gets done - one assignment at a time. And I was still in bed no later than midnight every night. 

Yes, I completed student teaching and (proving my worst fear wrong) LOVE IT. 

Absolutely, this was the right decision. 

I am HAPPY. 

I am not saying I wasn't happy before. I am a generally happy person, but this new career for me has proven again and again to feel right. I truly believe that God has placed me where I am and that he has carried me through the last year. I have had ups and downs for sure - but no sleepless nights. I taken the good with the bad. 

I was given an excellent University Supervisor (they are all fantastic), but Dr. Ewing was a great fit for me and has kept me grounded and is a helpful ear when I needed it. He is someone that has taken time to get to know me - and my crazy obsessive compulsiveness with things - and I know that I can call with any questions throughout my career. 

And I was placed with the amazing Jodie Hoover who is a saint that I will swear was sent to guide me this year. She does not take and "crap" and will just tell you how it is - which is what I like and needed. Someone who could tell me, "that sucked' and we could work through and make it better. Someone who understood that I wasn't going to teach just like them, but instead of changing my teaching methods, strives to make me better at how I teach. Someone who was not afraid to learn from me too. Someone who was not afraid to equally learn from me, the way I learned from them, when the opportunity arose. A mentor that treats me like an adult and who I have no doubts I can call in the future if I need anything at all - including figuring out how to make me a better teacher in the years to come. 

While I do not yet know what the future holds, I am sure that God has a plan and I know that it will be great, whatever it is!