Archive for March, 2007
Life Lessons
Dear Baby,
It’s kind of hard to explain what I do now, but basically I work with a lot of teachers. This means I am in a lot of classrooms, which causes me to reflect on the time I spent as a teacher. I will probably be a teacher again, too, because I really do enjoy it. Anyway, I wanted to share with you the life lessons I learned when I took my first teaching job. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I started midyear (which is a rough thing when you are a teacher) in 7th grade (which is a rough age to teach when you are a teacher) in a classroom where I was the minority. Your Grandma K. even came to stay with me for a little while, just to get me on my feet because I was having such a difficult time. That first year lasted 80 days (from February 1 to the end of the year). Around day 20 I started panicking, thinking I had spent the last 4 years in college getting a degree to do something I hated. Well, I don’t remember exactly what I taught that first 80 days, but I will never forget what I was taught that first 80 days. I learned that the moment when you think you can’t go on is usually the moment things turn around. I learned that respect is learned and then earned. I learned that our life circumstances influence and change us, but we cannot give them the power to define us. I learned that each of us has the power to influence others. I learned that perseverance is everything. And, just so you know, by the end of the year, I loved it. I signed my contract and taught at that very school, that very grade level for 2 more years. My hope is that you will find something you love. And I will come and stay with you if it is very hard at first, just to get you on your feet.
Love,
Mama
A Gift for You
Dear Baby,
Tonight we got a special card and gift for you from Bobby and Kelly. It was so cute I had to share it!
Love,
Mama
Card
Your First Pair of Shoes!
Prayer
Dear Baby,
I pray for you every day, and I realized that there is a pattern to my prayers. I always ask God to bless you with a clear calling on your life – no matter what the calling is (Will you be a lawyer? An actor/actress? A teacher? A social worker? A business person?) so that you will always know what you are meant to do, I pray that you will never know a time of separation from Him and I ask that He would keep you from any unnecessary suffering. So, that’s my prayer for you, today and everyday. I believe in prayer as a life-changing, path-altering, miracle-creating communication. Someday I will teach you to pray.
Love,
Mama
This hangs in your room… Just a reminder.
Words
Dear Baby,
Words are a very powerful thing. I was in a teacher’s classroom today, and there was a poster on the wall that said this:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
-Marianne Williamson from A Return to Love
When I read it, I thought of you. I hope you always have the courage to be who you are. I believe there is greatness in that. It makes you a natural leader in the forward motion of society. When each of us is who we were intended to be, we send a message to others to do the same.
Love,
Mama
Some People You Should Meet…
Dear Baby,
There are a lot of people we want you to meet. I’ll introduce them slowly! First, you should know Kelly and Bobby. We have a great time together, and we spend a lot of time with them. You will know them very well, too, no doubt! They are just a lot of fun. We travel with them a lot and we always find our way into hilarious situations! Here are a couple of pictures of them.
Love,
Mama
Bobby and Kelly at our Wedding (I told you they are funny!)
Bobby and Kelly in the Airport before one of our Vacations!
What You Might Look Like
Dear Baby,
Today I was thinking about what you might look like. Will you be blond as a child like me? Will you have your dad’s brown eyes? I thought I’d take a look at some of our baby pictures for some ideas!
Love,
Mama
Dad
Dad
Mama
Mama
Dad meets Mama
Dear Baby,
I was just thinking you might want to know how all this came to be. I met your dad when we were in college at NAU in Flagstaff. He is an amazing man. My favorite things about him are that he is unashamedly honest and very, very funny in a nonchalant way. Also, he’s very intelligent and gives of himself without hesitation. Anyway, Dad and I were assigned to work together one summer, and we connected instantly. We were already friends, so that made it even more fun. So we dated for a while, and then I graduated (I am 2.5 years older than your dad). The week of my graduation he asked me to marry him. I said yes. Dad spent the next year finishing college while I took my first teaching job (which will most likely be a topic revisited later in this blog), and then we got married in Tucson. Most of your extended family was there. It was a wonderful celebration. Then, we settled here in Phoenix. We’ve been married for just over 4 years, and about 2 months before our 5th Anniversary, we’ll meet you! One wish I have for you is that you will find a soul mate with whom you can spend your life. It makes everything great even greater and everything tragic less so.
Love,
Mama
Mom and Dad in 2000 at NAU
Our Wedding Day — December 28, 2002
Suspend Judgment… Grace Happens.
Dear Baby,
One time, your grandma (K) said something to me that I have never forgotten. She said, “Suspend Judgment… Grace Happens.” If I could get that printed on a bumper sticker, I would. I think it might be the most valuable advice I’ve ever been given. If we can muster up the courage to suspend judgment of others, grace can take hold and save us a lot of internal anger and unnecessary angst. Grace is this amazing, amazing notion that it is possible to be given that which we really don’t deserve. The band Relient K says that the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair (because it is so undeserved – in a wonderful way). I think that’s very interesting. If we show grace in our dealings with others, I believe grace finds it way back to us. Here’s the song if you want to listen:
[audio:http://www.ablogformybaby.com/audio/bemyescape.mp3]Love,
Mama
Turbo and Zoom
Dear Baby,
We have two special household members we’d like you to meet. Our kitties, Turbo and Zoom, are very special to us (although everybody tells us that as soon as you come we’ll be asking each other, “What Kitties?”). Turbo found us at our apartment, which is where we lived for the first 10 months we were married. Zoom found us almost 2 years later when he followed one of my students to school as a kitten. We think you’ll like them. They are very nice kitties, and very soft to pet. You’ll love them!
Love,
Mama
Our Kitties, Turbo and Zoom
Turbo
Zoom
