Been a while, eh?
My life goes on crazy turns sometimes. (Don't all of ours?) Unbelievably enough, I'm without my new laptop now. It's definitely not me, but something that was wrong before I even received the new computer. On start-up, it takes 5 minutes to load, whereas it should take 20 seconds or around there. It shouldn't take that long. So I took it in to the mac people and they weren't sure what was wrong either, so they sent it into Apple. It was suppose to arrive back for me to pick up this afternoon, but I got a call today in which the guy said "I have bad news, it got lost in transit and we won't have it now till Monday". I think he was surprised of my reaction because I said "that's okay, I'll be in there Monday. I'm just glad you know where it is." I think he expected me to yell at him or something. (It wasn't his fault and really, I was glad it was okay and not lost-lost.) So all week, my laptop has been away. Mac just doesn't appear to like me.
But Mac not liking me is a good thing this week because it's forced me to do other things. Like not blog and not read others' blogs but get myself ready for my big wedding this weekend in Chicago. In Chicago! I haven't had a wedding in Chicago since Johanna's wedding, and I think that's been 2 or 3 years. Jo? This one is at a Frank Lloyd Wright church. A photographer's DREAM. I mean, just look at this place! Just amazing fabulous FAMOUS architecture. Breathtaking. I look forward to the moment of walking into it for the first time. If you have an appreciation for architecture and history, you'll understand my feelings.
(Frank himself!)
We aren't leaving for the wedding until tomorrow morning. Then we're staying up there Saturday night coming back Sunday evening where we'll be meeting ERIN and her hubby, JER, at MY HOUSE! They're visiting us for two days before their drive out east to an outdoor Christian concert. I cannot wait to see my dear Erin again. I can't even explain how neat this is to be able to see her twice in a year's time. I feel very very lucky. :c)
And then when they are on their merry way, we are going to get yet another visitor. Well, visitors, plural! My friends, Lisa and Matt (another graphic designer who will have his mac with him and he and I will talk geeky computer like we tend to do!), along with their 3 children, are coming to stay with us Thursday night. They will be starting their journey from their home in Richmond, Virginia, to good ol' Illinois. They're staying over here till they're off again to a family gathering in Minnesota. Last time I saw them, Maegan was a year old? (Noah, too.) And now they have two more babies, Wils and Mia, whom I've never met and cannot wait to meet these two precious little people. (And we have Maia!) Long story short, I met Lisa 8 years ago on a pregnancy support board (the same place I met Alexis, actually!). It's really neat how God has brought the most amazing people into my life through the Internet. I am quite thankful for the Internet being invented in my lifetime just for those reasons alone. (Corny stuff, but all very true.)
In the meantime, I've been personally struggling a little with something that has been thrown out of left field at me.
Almost a week ago I was asked if I would be interested in teaching art. Yes, TEACHING. At Noah's school. At one point in my life I actually wanted to become a teacher. An art teacher, to be exact. My life, from the beginning, has revolved around art. I remember my favorite gift ever when I was like 8, being a small suitcase filled with child artist's dream --- pens, paper, paint, paint brushes, everything. I can still remember opening it. In college I changed my major to teaching for a day. And then realized that my introverted part of me couldn't handle being in front of people, even kids. So I changed back to graphic art. Now, after having shot zillions of photographs in front of zillions of people, not caring who was looking at me, I tend to wonder if I could actually do it now? I think when you have a passion for something, being introverted or not, it doesn't seem to matter anymore. I love children and love art. But that doesn't mean I can TEACH children. It's a completely different thing. And that is what is holding me back.
I don't have a teaching certificate, but in the private school you don't have to have one. I also would only be teaching 2 or 3 days (I would set my own schedule), for a total of 8 hours all week. I'd be teaching grades kindergarten through 8th grade. The plus to it all is that it's 8 hours and that I can make my own schedule (I could do it all in one day if I wanted or split it into 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 days). And, the classes are extremely small. My largest class would be kindergarten which is 10-15 kids (depending on how many sign up this fall). My smallest would be 8th grade which is about 3 or 4 kids. PERFECT for me.
What's not perfect for me is that I'm not sure what I would do with Maia. I know they would allow me to bring her with me. She loves art, too, so I know I could keep her busy. I don't think she would interrupt what I was doing. If she did, I am sure I could find a place to take her. My friend, Lindsay, already said she could watch her (she is a stay-at-home mom).
The other not-so-perfect thing is the fact, again, that I don't have a teaching certificate, and while that doesn't matter to the principal (he is the one who asked me), it does to me. I don't know how to teach. I don't know curriculum. I wouldn't know where to even begin. And that scares me. I have a lot of sources. My grandmother was a teacher and I kept ALL of her art teaching books when she passed away. I have never even looked at them, but I kept them for whatever reason. (Maybe for this???) And my sister-in-law is a teacher, my dear friend, Katie, is a teacher, my sister-in-law's sister-in-law, Missy, is a teacher, my friend, Leann, is a teacher, and I have a friend who actually is an art teacher at a high school near here. I have so many sources. But again, it would me teaching, not them, and the thought overwhelms me a bit.
The other problem is time. While it's only 8 hours a week, I still have to have time to focus on those 8 hours outside of class. Do I really want to focus on teaching my classes or my photography? Deep down, I want to say photography. That is my passion. I think the absolute hardest thing in all this for me is that 4 of the other teachers have found out about this and are really encouraging me to do it. They think I'm a "perfect fit". They say I'll love it. One even told me that she thinks I'm being called by God because she knows my background, she knows how I have all these teaching books at home, etc. and I came around right at the perfect time of them needing an art teacher. That makes it hard. It's a lot of pressure when they all are so excited but when I just am not sure I can be excited with them.
The day after I was asked this, I read this piece of scripture in a devotional book I read:
"Measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you . . . God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best."
-- Romans 12:3, 6-8, CEV
That scripture spoke volumes to me; that I'm probably doing something right by following my passion. But I'm not sure about teaching.
Then I read this, too.
"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
-- John Wooden
It's hard and I have to think and pray about it a lot more. Pray for me, please, too, if you remember to.
