Birfday Bloggin'

Wow. I am 27 today! I would say the typical, "I don't feel like I'm X number of years," but I don't know what 27 is allegedly supposed to feel like.

A birthday, to me, has always seemed a good occasion to get a little retrospective, and also take a look at the future.

So what have the past 27 years brought me? So much learning, so many experiences. I have learned that...

• I am stronger than I once thought, especially when I lean on God to get through.
• People everywhere have a lot more in common than they like to think that they do.
• "Good" people are capable of "bad" things, and vice versa.
• Tucked within the folds of a hardship are blessings.
• The more I know, the more I want to know.
• Doing things that might be outside of my comfort zone have much more potential for growing me as a person.
• Just when I think my little heart can't take any more breaking, it tumbles into the most caring of hands.
• And, within the last year, I have finally, fully learned what it means to need the grace of Christ, and to joyfully surrender to it. (This last bit, the surrendering part, is a work in progress.)

So what do I see for myself in the future? If the last 4 weeks of substitute teaching have shown me anything, it is that the classroom is the place for me. It's not just that I am starting to develop a knack for "making the kids be good," but I am someone they listen to, and that they feel like they can talk to. This gives me hope that, when I get a class of my own, their little minds will willingly open, and I'll be able to saturate them with knowledge, and they'll be eager for more! The future may keep me here in my beloved Funkytown, or it may take me somewhere else. And for the first time in nearly a decade, that possibility doesn't petrify me. I hope for a job, and eventually, home ownership. I hope for travel, and serving others, and love.