Let’s face it, the COVID-19 crisis has caused most of our lives to change drastically. I am not a fan of much of this change-just now, I am heart-broken that many of my English students are just giving up on trying to do online school. I am also grieving for my own children who want to be able to see friends and teachers. I’m more than ready for a more “normal” life. At the same time, I have to admit that this “shut-down” has been eye-opening, forcing me look at my priorities, what I truly value. As the old hymn states, “This world is not my home, I’m just a…

Yesterday was a hard day. I got a message on Remind that my son and I had to go pick up his shadow box project from school. They were supposed to come up with a way to illustrate something they had learned. Most of them were about pollution, and my son was very excited about creating and presenting his project having to do with the destruction of turtle nesting grounds. But, he never got to present it, nor did he get to spend one day a week with this dynamic teacher he has wanted to have since he was three. To add to the wound, the teachers were wearing masks…

The current stay at home orders have, of course, spurred all sorts of comments. While many of us are still working, we are more isolated, so what do we do? In an effort to connect, we turn to social media more than ever before. Socialmedia.com reports that app use is up 20% since these quarantines have started. According to my observations, many of the posts, on Facebook at least, are in favor of staying home to avoid the spread. I will not weigh in on the necessity of almost completely shutting society down because, well, my opinion doesn’t matter, but as a public school teacher, I am bothered by the…

I’ll admit, as a working mother, there are many times I have wished that life would slow down, just for one day, even one hour, but when it did slow down due to COVID-19 , I encountered a crisis I could not have foreseen. For me, my job is source of security, a safety net. It may seem odd that going to a school with almost 2,000 public school kids every day is secure or safe, but this job, for me, is a calling, and it has been my “identity” for longer than I have been a mother, even longer than I have been married. Working with teenagers, the more…

I’ll admit it. I love cheesy movies. As the only female in my house, I have endured countless hours of harassment from the “boys” in my house over the Hallmark and Hallmarkish movies I watch. The bad acting, the fairy tale endings, the assurance that the guy always gets the girl and everyone reconciles-I love it all. I am not sure why I love these movies, but I tell people that I deal with enough real life as a public school teacher. Depression, drugs, sex, abuse, neglect, hopelessness-I accept this as my normal a lot of the time, so when I am at home, I want to know what I’m…

In these trying times, I am trying to cope with the fact that I view life differently than a lot of people. Even this morning, as I walked into the grocery store, a fellow shopper handed me a sanitizing wipe for my cart. I was actually taken aback. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was nice of her, and I did actually sanitize my cart at Walmart the other day, for once, but that was a rare occasion. I simply don’t live my life in fear of much, but I definitely do not let the fear of germs control me. I have taught school for so long, fully aware…

Prayer is a funny thing. As believers, we talk about prayer daily. We often tell others that we are praying for people, circumstances, relationships, and we ask them if we can pray for them, and promise to. There are times in my life when I prayed, truly prayed, clinging in desperation to Christ, knowing a specific circumstance could only change with his power, but that time is not now. If I look back on the times when I truly clung to God in prayer, I see how he answered, sustained me, restored broken relationships, etc . . . The problem is that I often don’t even think about him answering…

I wear many hats. I am a wife, mother, teacher, mentor, and a writer-in my mind anyway. The older I get, the more I realize that God’s plans are accomplished in His time. I find myself desperately wanting to make a difference in the many arenas I find myself in, but I have learned that Micah 6:8, short and simple, is the wisest course of action. As long as I heed his word to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with Him, He is accomplishing his purposes. Sometimes what I say and do is a part of that, but often I am just called to be there, praying and…