Identity: Who am I anyways? (Part 1)

Wow! I can't believe that on Saturday I will have been living in Washington for three months! It really does seem quite unreal to me! These three months have been a huge learning time for me in so many different ways. 

Just learning the new curriculum and being ready to teach from it has been huge. The spelling curriculum and grammar curriculum are really very rigorous... plus being prepared to teach Bible (the students always have excellent questions so I need to make sure I'm as ready as possible), immersing myself into ancient Egypt for the history curriculum (which is fascinating but time-consuming), figuring out how to incorporate the geography with history and add on the other skills, science and finding time for it and how to make it interactive (the students just have workbooks... no textbooks), and the math curriculum is brand new to the school, which means we are meeting about it, talking it over, and spending a lot of time preparing to teach it. But I love it. I love learning all of these new things and really gaining more of an appreciation for the world God has created and placed me in. It truly is awe-inspiring to study these things and then exhilarating to turn around and teach them to a group of children! 

But I haven't just been learning about the school and the curriculum. I've also been learning about the geography of Washington, specifically of Seattle. I've been amazed to realize that I have already started to get my bearings as far as where things are and in which general direction I need to go to get places. Now don't get me wrong, the street names are still EXTREMELY confusing! They all seem to be numbers with directions tacked on the beginning and end. Apparently that means something but I haven't figured that out yet. You can have a 128th St. N, and NE 128th St, and a NE 128th Pl. all meet in one intersection... talk about confusing! But overall, I feel like I'm getting the hang of where things are at and where the major Washington landmarks are located.

I think I'm finally starting to remember more names at church. It's really is difficult when I only see them once a week. I'm thankful for a ladies fellowship that one of the teachers invited me to with ladies from her church. We'll be reading through a book. And the ladies at my church are starting a monthly get together as well with talk of starting a Bible study as well. I'm so thankful. I have just been so hungry for good Christian fellowship where we are able to be a part of each other's lives and to spend time speaking truth into one another's lives. Sunday's are good for the beginnings of that, but Christian fellowship is meant to go so much further than the door of the church!

(To be continued)

Roots

Roots. The part of the plant that collects water and nutrients from the soil around and transports these life-giving things up to the rest of the plant. A plant cannot have life without healthy roots. And people cannot live a full life without putting out little rootlets into their surroundings. But they are hard to put out! It really takes a lot of work! ...especially for an introvert like myself. But little by little I can see my circle expanding.

School
I'm a learning more and more names and matching them to more and more faces. Providence is really a tight knit little community. But not at all clique-ish, which is wonderful. The teachers and other staff and reached out and plucked me off of my lonely little path and have done so much to make sure that I feel welcomed and included. A couple of the other teachers invited me to a Bible study that meets on Tuesday nights. I attended with them last night and met several other ladies who have beautiful souls... it is so good to know and SEE God's remnant meeting together!
Parents have also been so welcoming. It's especially nice when I meet another parent who doesn't even have a student in my class and they say, "Oh! So you're the Miss Wesner that we've been looking forward to meeting!" or "Oh! You're HER! We're so excited that you're here!" or "We've heard so much about you! We're so thankful that you are a part of Providence!" This has happened so many times over the past weeks and it has been such a blessing.

Today one mom came into my classroom after school to talk to me. Her husband actually just took a teaching job at Providence as well, and the whole family just moved to Seattle from California. Anyways, she had home-schooled all of her kids before the moved here, and so my heart just really reaches out to her son who is in my class. He has so many of home-school traits that I can identify with! Most of all he has had trouble adjusting to the structure of being in a classroom and having to sit and remain seated, to have good listening posture, raising his hand, standing to answer... all those little things that you simply do not have to do when you home-school! Anyways, she came in to talk to me this afternoon and she told me how much her son is just loving school every day. She told me that he is always talking about "My teacher this" or "My teacher that". And then she said,

"It must be so special to be 'my teacher' to 17 different children! You are the light in their little lives right now! I can just see it in my son's face or hear it when he talks about you and what you all are doing in class." 

And it dawned on me... I really am their teacher! And we ARE having a wonderful time in class! And I DO love being the "my teacher" in their sentences. This really is a one of a kind profession and I feel so blessed to be called to it! Thanking the Lord for equipping me and giving me the education I needed to have this job! 

How has God equipped you... and when have you last been thankful 

for the gifts and skills God gave you? 

When have you been full of joy because of the gifts God gave you?

I know for me it has been far too long. And it is absolutely shameful that I have not given thanks more recently or more often for the gifts which God has so lovingly and thoughtfully imparted onto my person.

Church

Church has been good. I have really been enjoying some good fellowship with the ladies there. I do wish it was more often than just Sundays though. I miss the mid-week meetings. And I feel as if I am not really truly a part of the lives of the people there. I know that it is difficult to have a meeting in the mid-week but I still miss it. For one, we rent the building on Sundays, and don't have in the rest of the week. For another thing, so many people travel from such a distance (I learned this past Sunday that one couple travels 45 MILES!) that it is really hard to meet in the middle of the week, especially when you take the Seattle traffic into consideration. 

So that is an item for prayer if you are praying. I long for some good, deep, meaningful fellowship times with like-minded believers. Pray that there would be perhaps a Bible study or something that would allow me to get to know some of these other believers better than Sunday fellowship allows. Thank you! :)

Roommates

It's an interesting thing living with other people... so many different personalities, so many different backgrounds and life stories, so many different convictions, preferences, and ways of doing things. And so many different types of friends! I have met friends of each of my roommates now, and I realized... a person really is very much like his/her friends. Not only do friends often share interests, but also a sense of humor, a similarity in the way they look at life, and lots and lots of common experiences. 

Other areas that my roots are growing outward

I'm actually finding it much more difficult to put rootlets in other areas besides school, church, and roommates. But I'm trying! I've been visiting the Saturday Farmer's Market (love that place), and am slowly expanding the map in my head. I'm using the GPS less and less and have a better and better idea of where things are at. I'm enjoying trying out the Northwest way of doing things. I guess the hardest part of putting little rootlets out in areas other than church, school, and roommates is that I really just hate doing things by myself! There are so many things that I would love to just go and do, but quite honestly, I can't seem to make myself go and do them by myself. I have also caught myself talking to myself a lot... and I mean A LOT! It's getting a little out of control. I need a good friend to talk to.

So if you're taking requests, this is request Number 2: Please, please pray that God will send a good friend for me. Someone that I share interests, convictions, the same love for the Lord, and a sense of humor with. Someone that I can just call up for a coffee date to chat and spend an evening with. Someone that will go with me on these crazy little adventures that I want to go on, and someone who I can join on their adventures. I know this is a tall order and that a good friend like this is hard to find. But our God is not intimidated by tall orders. Actually, now that I come to think of it, this really isn't a tall order at all for him! After all, He did speak the world into existence! He can bring a friend across my path. So please pray with me!

Hope this little update gives you an idea of what's going on here. I would LOVE to hear from you! Missing all my Midwestern friends so much!