Faithful

Since I'm at home sick, I'm bored out of my mind. I want desperately to get out of this house because I have cabin fever. Since my breakfast has successfully stayed in my stomach, if I have the energy later I'm thinking of going to Barnes and Noble and browsing some books. Or something. I just need out of this house.

A few posts back, I wrote about how I had a bad night where I cried myself to sleep because of all the stress in my life. However, I should really learn not to worry so much because if I only trust God to do His job, my life would be so less complicated.

Last week at work, my boss approached me about picking up some extra hours for the next month or so. One of our teachers in the 18-24 month room just had knee replacement surgery and she's down for at least a month, if not longer. However, this leaves them short a teacher and with our having 14 kids and a 1:7 ratio, they needed a second person in there. I had subbed in there last Thursday and Friday and apparently my boss liked what she saw. We have this star chart where we get stars for going above and beyond our job duties, getting compliments from parents, etc etc. Last week, I went from having three stars on Monday to having at least seven or eight on Friday. For every five stars, you get some kind of reward. I was shocked to have gotten so many last week but after talking to my boss, it made me feel great about how I'm doing.

I walked into this job with no teaching experienece and no education experience. I've baby-sat and I've been a nanny, but I have never taught. However, under the guidance of both of the directors and the amazing teachers at my school, I'm flourishing. I love love love what I'm doing and I love getting up everyday and actually looking forward to going to work.

This temporary increase in hours could be permanent if rumors can be trusted. Apparently my boss is impressed with how Holly (the other teacher in the room) and I have handled this transition and they think all the moving around and bending and sitting on the floor will be hard for the regular teacher so they're thinking of moving her to a room where she won't have to put her knee under so much stress. For at least the next month, I'm picking up 40 hours a week (technically I'm at work for 45 but I get an hour a day for lunch) instead of my normal 30.

This is where being faithful comes in. I should have known to trust God that He would work everything out. When I finally stopped crying over it and started praying, this opportunity presented itself. It's going to take care of all and I mean all of my bills (including my student loan payments!) and still given me a little bit extra every month. How much better can that get?

Don't get me wrong-I'm still aiming to get all of my loans consolidated into one payment instead of the current two (and eventually three once my Perkins loan kicks into repayment) but even so, I know I can handle it. I still need to be careful of my spending but as I sat and made a budget last night and matched it against what I earn, I realized I'm going to be okay. What an incredible feeling.

Things are going to be okay. I now know that and need to start trusting that everything is going to work itself out.

Things I'm grateful for today: (hopeful to be a new trend with every post)
1. The fact that my breakfast stayed in my stomach
2. Amazing friends and family who call to check on me
3. A boss who calls to see how I'm feeling after being out for two days
4. A new hope for our country
5. My faith, which continues to grow everyday