Back again.

I haven't blogged in so long, I don't know where to begin. I think I will have to do this over a few days rather than one big time. I only have a few minutes before picking Laura up from school, anyway.

As my last post stated, I am now a real teacher. I would like to say it has been enjoyable. It has had it's moments of fune, but mostly I have been stressed beyond stressed. I haven't felt like this since I was working in the OR at Baptist Hospital in Memphis, TN. I know that God has called me to this position, so I am trusting that he is going to keep me sane so that I can continue.

I am the teacher of a class for children with Autism. That in itself is stressful. To add fuel to the fire, I am also going to school to be a teacher. I wish I could do one at a time, but perhaps I would have never gone back to school had I not done it this way. For the next year and a half, I am in for a LOT of hard work. Right now, I have four children in my class. Ages vary. I didn't know children with Autism could be so violent. That is one of the things that I learned right away. I learned it the hard way too. I also didn't know that I could love those kids so much. They make me laugh and they make me cry. All in all, they are still just kids.

My program is a site based program which means that I am a focused classroom in the SPED department. It also means that my mentor is across town at another school. I absolutely love her and she is the best, but sometimes it's hard when I need questions answered. Thursday I will join her and four other teachers in Cleveland, OH at an Autism Summit conference. It should be interesting and I look forward to getting to know my colleagues a little better.

The reason I have time to blog this week is because I am on Fall Break. The rest of my family is not, but I am grateful for the time to catch up on a lot of stuff. So far, catching up has included getting all of the veggies out of the garden. We had our first freeze last night. I am inundated with tomotoes and carrots. If anybody knows the best way to store fresh carrots, please let me know. Also if you have some really good carrot recipes, just let me know. I am thinking carrot cake muffins. Yum...

Yesterday, I brought Laura lunch at school. Today, I joined Becca and volunteered in her class. I miss daVinci. If felt like home and I was so glad to be there. People hugged me and told me how much I am missed. It felt good to be home.

I wanted to send an official congrats. to Jen and her boys. She is not to be the only female in their family much longer. They think they are having a girl this time.

I am off to go get Laura.

TTFN