"Exciting" News!

I sure did wait a long time to come back and share my "exciting" news with you!  You might notice that I put quotation marks around the word exciting; I did this because a lot of people were guessing that the news contained some sort of information regarding a bun being in the oven.  That's when I realized that this exciting news was probably not going to be as big of news to everyone else as it was to me :).

Part of my exciting news is that I got a teaching position here in Louisville!  Woo-Hoo!  It's now been two full years since I have been in the classroom, and I must admit that with each passing month I have missed it more and more.  It was a huge blessing to be able to go to grad school without the pressures of teaching at the same time, however, throughout all my classes, I was itching to get back in the classroom and put into practice my newly learned methods/techniques.  

I'm also really excited about my teaching position because I firmly believe that it is exactly where God wants me to be.  Let me tell you about my experience trying to get a job in Louisville.  I finished my online application in April (yes, I was really eager), and began emailing HR in May.  I never received a response, and then heard of a hiring freeze they were having in the county due to a newly appointed Superintendent. The summer came and went, as did the hiring freeze, and still, regardless of all my calls and emails, I was still hearing crickets.  The way that the school system operates here is that new applicants must be screened by the board BEFORE they are put on a list given to principals.  This list is what principals use to choose who they want to interview.  Due to my lack of response from the board, I was sweating bullets!  I knew I wasn't on "the list" because I hadn't been screened, and I also knew that school started soon (mid-August - this upcoming Monday to be exact).  

Soooooo, Stephen and I moved back to Louisville on Thursday (July 28) and then on Sunday, I received a phone call from my new principal asking me to come in and interview on Monday (August 1).  She said she had received my information from HR and wanted to interview me.  Needless to say I was in shock...I hadn't been screened by HR before, how did she get my information from them?!  She told me that she thought that with experienced teachers, they probably relied heavily on references as opposed to being screened.  I was cool, calm and collective the entire time I was on the phone with her, and then as soon as I got off I was like a small child at Christmastime.  

I went in for my interview on Monday at 10:15 and by 2pm I accepted the position!  PAR-TAY!  I'm the new 4th grade teacher at Klondike Elementary here in Louisville and I couldn't be more excited!  We had Open House last night and the first day of school is this upcoming Monday.  I've been busy, busy, busy, but I couldn't be happier about getting back into the classroom!

The other part of my exciting news is that Stephen and I are in the final stages of buying a house!  We're currently going back and forth negotiating repairs with the sellers and are looking forward to (hopefully) being in our new house by the end of the month/beginning of September.  I would LOVE prayers regarding a clean close to this, and for my classroom and sanity...it's going to be a crazy month!