My Baby is a Teacher!

My hubby and I finished dinner tonight and he disappeared to the pool. After cleaning the kitchen, I walked outside to check on him and he was on the phone with our oldest daughter. Tomorrow is a very big day in her life. She is a new school teacher and tomorrow is the first day of her "official" teaching career.

Of course, as a mother, I have been praying for her off and on all week, and I had spent three days in her classroom earlier in the summer preparing for the big day tomorrow. She claims to only be tired, not a bit nervous. I hope that she is so prepared, that she walks into that classroom with grace and confidence. What hit me hard, in the emotional department tonight, was when I overheard my husband say, "I remember your very first day of school and now you are a teacher." As sweet as that sounded from her very proud daddy, the memories of her first official day of school, flooded my mind like a movie in rewind.

Like all parents we wanted our children to have the very best education that we could possibly afford. So without delay, I registered my sweet little 3 year old little girl in the very best church pre-kindergarden that our home town had to offer. I had researched the curriculum, pre-paid the registration fee and shopped for the cutest outfits a new kindergardner could wear to school.

What I had not prepared for was the terrible anxiety that I would have about two weeks before school started and my fears of sending her off into the world. Literally, I dreamed that she would not have money for lunch or that the building would catch on fire and she would be left alone in the classroom. Call me desperate or a control freak, I quickly began praying about what God would have us do about her education.

At the time, 20 years ago, home schooling was a bit of an odd concept and not widely accepted in society, the world of education, nor in the church. Being the efficient Type A personality that I am, I began to diligently research my options. It only took a few days to really feel that God was leading us in that direction. Little did I know what God was urging me to do and how enormous the responsibility of home schooling would be.

I will save the rest of the home schooling story until another time. With supplies, clothes, and all of the necessary tools that a teacher and a 4 year old need, we began our first year of home schooling. To make it official, which is probably the only thing her daddy remembers, we dressed her up in the cutest little navy jumper with a navy and white stripped shirt, socks, leather oxfords, and a huge navy hair bow. With curls in tack and her American flag in hand, she walked out into the garage and then turned around and marched into the kitchen to proclaim "officially" the first day of school.

Never was a mama so proud. Pride soon turned to perseverance when the newness of the routine wore off. We persevered for the next 8 years and she entered "real school" at the beginning of the eighth grade. She continued pursuing academic excellence both in high school and college. Graduating from a college prep high school Summa Cum Laude and graduating from the University of Georgia's College of Education, Magna Cum Laude, the third ranking education program in the country.
She is now midway through her Masters in Education at UGA.

My sweet little girl will start her teaching career tomorrow and we are still so very proud of her. I believe that God has not only called her into education, but also gifted her with an amazing love and concern for children. We need more dedicated young people who want to make a difference in this world. We can hardly wait to see the great and mighty way that God will use her.

If you read this blog, please say a prayer for her as she begins an exciting and challenging new chapter in her life. Never is a parent so grateful to God for His mercy, where a child is concerned, as is a home school mom who through tears, joy and perseverance knows that her job as the primary educator is finished. Praise God we finished this phase of the race and the job was well done!