Where the journey began..

I don't know why, but today I had a million thoughts running through my mind.  Do you ever have those days?  Every time I would get sad thinking about something, this little boy would do something to make me smile.  Now, I'm a little biased, but he is stinkin cute!  Sometimes I need to step back and realize everything that is going right, and not everything that is going wrong.  That is how I begin my blog this evening.

I have been thinking a lot about God's plan for me this year.  I graduated from graduate school at Drake in May of 2010.  In July, I accepted an Administration job.  I left my dream job and became the youngest principal in the Archdiocese of Dubuque.  I was younger than 90% of my staff!

My first year as a Principal was like riding a roller coaster.  So much good with so much scary.  However, intermixed within everything, I started to see how important me taking that job was to my family.  When I was a music teacher, I never realized how much time I spent away from home.  I was gone several evenings a week til after 10:00 p.m. and then was gone on the weekends during show choir season and other schedule commitments.  I was so consumed with my job, that I lost touch with my own family.  I realized this during my last year of teaching when my daughter, Mia, preferred to hang out with my husband when I was home.  I remember the day I "thought" I was making her favorite lunch, but to my surprise, I didn't even know what her favorite food was!  I didn't even know my own kid.

Two years later, I can see the impact my job has on my family.  I'm home more, I drive less, and I'm 100% committed to the school I am a part of.  I see my daughter several times a day. (Even when she's sent to the office!)  I get hugs from little children everyday, I love my faculty and staff, and I have never felt so close to God in my life.  I guess sometimes when God closes a door, he does open a window.
Revelations 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

God was always there at the door, I was just so consumed by myself that I didn't hear him knocking.  I can hear him knocking now and have opened the door.  I trust in his plan.