I'm a Teacher?!

 Today, I started working as the 7th grade English teacher at my kids' school. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all, but I'm so excited (and exhausted). A couple weeks ago, I mentioned to the vice-principal that I am all registered to substitute teach for the school district. She tried to convince me to come work as a Teacher Assistant there full time, but I told her I just couldn't do Tuesdays and Thursdays with my schedule. She messaged me that evening saying that if I wanted to work just Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they would hire me because they really needed the help. So the next morning, I went in for an official "interview" where they told me I would be working with Upper School and helping out the teachers. I was a bit shocked how it all fell together and during my interview, the principal noticed on my resume that I have a minor in English. She asked if I had ever considered teaching English, and I said something like, "Well, yeah, a little. It would kind of be like a fun dream job." Then she asked what grades I would like to teach, and I told her how much I enjoy middle school age students. She looked at the vice-principal with a look like, "Are you kidding me?" and then told me they might have something opening up soon. I was confused because I knew they had already hired all their teachers for the school year. The next week, I started working on Monday as a T.A. The head English teacher asked if I could sub her class that Thursday afternoon. I checked with the VP to make sure that was okay since I wasn't planning on working Thursdays, but that I actually could work in the afternoons. About an hour or so later, the principal came to find me and offer me a teaching job to teach two seventh grade English classes. The current teacher needed to cut back and was asking for someone to take over those two classes. I really couldn't believe it! The principal and I both felt like the Lord had prepared and placed me where I needed to be, but I told her I would discuss it with PC and pray about it. Of course, I just couldn't deny the feeling that this was what I should be doing. It felt like the Lord had wrapped up a present with a little bow and said, "Here you go. This is what you need to do." So I jumped in and took the position. 

This was the sunrise this morning:

I thought it very fitting to remember the dawn of a new adventure for me.

However, this is an accurate portrayal of how I felt at the end of the first day. 

Edit: I've now been teaching for three months, and I really do love it! The stress of figuring things out and feeling like I have no idea what I am doing have been overwhelming at times. I often feel like I've taken on more than I should. But I love being at the school with my four younger kids. I love having 56 "other" kids. They are amazing, and I'm learning so much. I absolutely love teaching them English and working with the other English teachers at the school. They are inspiring and a wonderful support system. I love the mission of the school, to teach the values of our Founding Fathers and instill those values in our students. It is wonderful to be a part of it all (and pretty cool that we are one of the only schools still doing in person learning through all this COVID-19 mess).