Blessed.

So I haven't written a post in a super long time. You're probably like:  "Is that a good or a bad sign?" "Is teaching really that busy?" "Should we be concerned?"

The answers: Both, most of the time, and no.

I could tell you minute, fine details about my weeks at school. I could share my frustrations and stresses - there are definitely daily doses of that. But I'm not going to. Instead of telling you when and how my kids can frustrate me, I'm going to share with you the ways my students, their families, and the staff have blessed me in the past nearly one semester.

I am blessed.

I am blessed by the smiles and "good morning" I get from eighth graders nearly every single morning as they put their backpacks in the far back shelves of my room.

I am blessed by the challenging student who is behind in reading and writing, but instead of blowing off a project I've assigned, pokes his head in my room to ask for help. And I am blessed when I am able to give him a good grade for his work.

I am blessed to watch nearly two months of work on a speech and spelling fest, months where I wasn't entirely sure how this whole process worked, pay off at a region-wide festival where my students get mostly all top scores.  I am blessed to be able to just hang out with my students all day at the festival, being invited to eat lunch with them, and even getting surprise candy left in my bag from some of them. I am blessed to see how supportive they all are of one another.

I am blessed by a mentor who throws his support behind most everything I am doing or trying. I am blessed when he allows me talk about way too much during our meetings.

I am blessed by the relationships I have with some of these students, relationships that fill me up and remind me how much I love this job. I am blessed by the energetic sixth grader that reminds me of the girls I've watched grow up, and I am blessed when she is begging me to help her with her homework or is insisting I must be on her team when we go bowling in a couple weeks. I am blessed by the student who would potentially be challenging but with whom I get to spend time after school in study place, where I get to ease off some of the teacher-type command and just get to know her for all her silliness. I am blessed by the girl who never fails to give a compliment or share a short conversation about non-academic topics that are important to her or to me. I am blessed by the student who will often catch my eye to share a smile or tries to quiet his classmates when he knows it's getting out of hand. I am blessed by the student who I admit I wouldn't mind spending time with outside of school because conversation flows easily with her. I am blessed by the student who all the other teachers said used to be a challenge, but whom I see blossoming into a positive leader and a joy to have in my class most days. I am blessed to watch a student call out his peers about unwise decisions or inconsiderate conversations, for I feel blessed to be teaching a young man of such godly character and boldness. I am blessed when my classes can get me laughing or smiling even on tense days.

I am blessed by the parents who come to conferences already open to what I have to say and ready to stand behind me and take my side. I am blessed that they are so invested in their sons and daughters that they want them to be doing their very best, and that they see the value of education, which isn't always the case with parents at every school.

I am blessed when what I am working on doing in my class sticks in the other classes, so that students are pulling out daily grammar books to remind themselves what an adjective is so they can find them in the social studies text or are required to write story problems in math.

I am blessed when a group who struggled with one chapter of an old text stick with it and end up begging for more. I am blessed when students admit they struggled to read a story with vocabulary or sentence structure they weren't comfortable with, but then they end up liking the story regardless and grasping the key ideas I want them to glean.

I am blessed by the room parent coming to ask me if I want the eighth grade to throw me a bridal shower. I am blessed by the family who opened up their home to wild eighth graders on a Saturday night. I am blessed by the students who took charge to pull together food, games, and gifts for the party. I am blessed by fourteen families who sent recipes and ingredients with their student as gifts for me. I am blessed by three quality gifts bought by the pooling of money from each family - all of it more than I anticipated.

I am blessed by a principal who sends me encouraging emails, cards on special occasions, notes of thanks for snacks on my required day or for sharing something insightful during a meeting, and holds a "yay you survived the first quarter" check-up with me. I am blessed that she joins this team to teach and mold the middle schoolers' hearts and minds.

I am blessed by coworkers who are just as open to hear my suggestions as they are willing to give them when I need them most. I am blessed when they look to me for guidance in areas I have been trained in or instructed about during my college years.

I am blessed by the teacher who with one look on a particularly crazy morning says "you seem stressed" and then checks in with me later that day.

I am blessed by four-square and the opportunity to bond on the blacktop as well as the classroom.

I am blessed by the fact that many of my students are nearly as excited about this wedding as I am.

I am blessed by the parent who thanks Kyle and I for the witness we are to the students simply by the fact we aren't buying into the cultural norm of living together, which stimulates conversation between the kids and between the parents and their kids about the why behind our choice. I am blessed to know God's truth can shine through our lives in that way, and that maybe we're making a difference to these kids' perceptions in this post-modern world.

I am blessed that I now come home every night to a man who listens to my stories, holds me when I'm having a particularly rough day, and gives me snacks, chocolate, a back or foot massage, or whatever I desire. I am blessed that in just 19 more sleeps he'll be able to call this apartment home as well and won't have to leave.

I am blessed by this and so, so much more. I am blessed by Sheboygan Christian, I am blessed to be exactly where God has called me, and I am blessed to be doing a job that still hardly seems like a job.