A Little Bit About A Big part Of My Life

Yesterday my preschool started back up after the holidays -without me. Actually I haven't taught since right after I was diagnosed at the end of October. I really miss it! And thought I would share a little about this big part of my life. I was advised by my Doctor that being around children and the germs that come with them would not be good for me and the chance of getting an infection would definitely set back my treatment. So I had some quick decisions to make and have found the Lord's hand helping me along the way. The next day after we found out I had Cancer was one of the hardest days of my life. We had planned and practiced with the preschoolers for a Halloween program for their parents. Somehow after much prayer and the help of my dear daughter-in-law and fellow teacher, Dani, we made it through the program. We did fine and the children did great. It is always fun to see them in their costumes and watch them "shine" for their parents. Over the weekend we consolidated the classrooms into one, and I was able to hire my Daughter Mallory and Dani's older sister Laci to take my place teaching. I am so proud of all of them. They did a great job jumping right in and children loved them. I continued to write the lesson plans the rest of fall and tried to be involved on the sidelines as much as possible. There is no way I could have continued to teach. My energy level was not up to three and four year olds! Because of changing college schedules for Laci, and Mallory they were no longer able to teach come January. I began praying to find someone who could help Dani so that we could continue to hold preschool. One day I received a card in the mail from a woman in my ward whom I barely knew. I always thought she seemed really on the ball, and a fun person to be around. She wrote a sweet note offering to help any time I needed a substitute for preschool. She had previously taught Kindergarten and had ran a preschool from her home. After talking to Nicole, I knew she was definitely an anwer to my prayers. She gladly accepted my offer to take over the preschool and I couldn't ask for a better fit to my program and a mentor for Dani as she hopes to be a Kindergarten teacher one day. I was a little sad to see preschool start back up without me. This has been my "baby" for the last fifteen years (not including the years I took off to have Trent and Spencer) I have taught several hundred children. I can honestly say I have loved every single one of them in their own way. Preschool is always a happy place where we can get excited about the simplest things. It has been a joy to watch the children grow, learn and discover new things, and see them progress throughout the year. The last few years I have started to get antsy every spring-thinking I should go get a fulltime job teaching in a public school, however after I sit down and look at all the advantages I have teaching preschool I always decide I have it too good to leave. I have only taught two and half days a week. I get to use my creative energies in creating fun lesson plans and activities that teach. I get to play on the computer looking for new ideas, I get to work with little people who love me and laugh when I call them "my little chickadees" and most importantly I get to be home when my children are home. So it's time to hand over my "baby" completely to someone else. I know they will be in good hands, and I know the Lord has a hand in orchestrating all of this. Joe and I have discussed many times as we look back over the past six months. We see the Lord's hand preparing things in our lives to make this challenge easier for our family. Large and small things that we would haven't even noticed until we were faced with this challenge. The Lord is there. If we really examine our lives. I know each of us can see His Hand helping us along the way and preparing us for not only challenges, but also blessings. Thanks for letting me share-Love, Kris