I'm employed!

God has truly answered my prayers concerning where I need to be working. Last Thursday I was contacted by a charter school organization asking if I was interested in a special education teaching position at one of their charter schools here in NOLA. I had sent my resume to the organization in the summer but they did not have any positions open for the Fall semester and they now have an opening because their special education coordinator is on maternity leave for the rest of the semester. Anyways, I had two short phone interviews with them and went in Friday to meet the kids I would work with. After being there for about 30 minutes, the principal told me that she would like for me to start Monday. Yikes!

I am so thrilled about working with the kids in this school. The school is located in a low-income neighborhood about a 15 minute drive from my house. The majority of students are African American and there are only two white kids in the whole school. I think this is awesome but I am a little nervous about the cultural barriers that I will have to overcome. Coming from a white middle-class family, I will have a lot to learn about how to relate to the children who may have experienced much more hardship in their few years on Earth than I had by their age. I'm also a little anxious coming into a school in the middle of the year. Everyone there is firmly settled into routines and relationships and I will be an outsider. Also, I do not know the children or their strengths so I am worried about being able to continue the progress they have made since the beginning of the year.

Please continue to pray for me 1)that I would easily build relationships with the existing teachers, 2) that God would give me peace and the ability to recall all relative knowledge that I have learned over the years, and 3) that God would use me for His glory in ALL things. Also, I would love to be praying for those of you who read my blog. Please let me know if there is anything I can pray for you about.