exhausted.

It's 9:21 on a school night and the only reason I'm still awake is because I started doing my laundry earlier, didn't have time to dry it due to a birthday gig I needed to attend and then realized that it would be at least 24 hours before I would be home again to throw my clothes in the dryer if I didn't stay up to do it tonight.  So here I am, redeeming my time before I venture to the laundry room to collect my dry clothes and turn my lights off for good. 

For the sake of time and to also avoid writing another update exclusively about my job, I've got 3 updates to share:

(And since I spend the majority of my time and energy teaching, my first update of the evening is of course, about my job)

I have been teaching for 6 1/2 months and only have 3 1/2 months to go before I wrap up my very first 'year' as a licensed teacher.   It's been ultra challenging (especially lately) but beautifully rewarding.  I am still amazed that I have the capacity to learn and teach Science.  And even after really hard days, I breath a sigh of relief when I remind myself that I am out of grad school and working.  Getting paid to do hard things is really different than paying thousands of dollars to do hard things.   Part of the sweetness of it all comes directly from how challenging it was to get here.   Difficulty breeds perspective.

Difficulty also has a way of bringing me to memorable points of surrender and causing me to be far more reliant on God than I would ever choose to be.  Part of the challenge of post-college life is the lack of Christian community that I have.  So, out of a desire to spend more time in the Word of God and to increase the positive relationships in my life, I joined a Bible study on prayer at my church.  I have been praying that God would bring some older, wiser women into my life who had the capacity and desire to speak into my life and care for me.   While I am not certain that God has answered that prayer directly just yet, I know that I am taking steps to move towards wise women.  There is something deeply important about intentionally being in fellowship with people who are also choosing to spend time in the Bible.  

There is also something deeply important about making time to rest!  As of late this is something that I have not been very good at.   In order to make time for the responsibility of my job, working out , friends, lesson preparation and life tasks, I have been sleeping way less than I should be.   Thankfully, I am approaching spring break and will be heading out of town for the week.   Normally I don't need to go anywhere to feel rested, but this time around this trip is just what the doctor ordered.   I have created a routine of such intense productivity that I don't trust myself to stay home and not feel pressured to get numerous things done each day I'm off.   I am already planning on eating lots, sleeping even more and reading as many books as time allows.   In the mean time, I am praying that I will start sleeping more and doing less so that I can make it to spring break without collapsing in tears of exhaustion.  I'll let you know how it goes :)