Dreams

Growing up what was your dream?  I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a teacher.  As a little girl I would play school with my dolls, it was something I am positive God put in me when he created me (Psalms 139:13).  As I made my way through high school I worked toward that dream.  Unable to afford to go to a state university right out of college, I started taking classes at the local community college.  As life sometimes does, I veered of the path I once thought I would take and got married a month before my 19th birthday.  This didn't mean an end to my dream, only it would take a different journey to get there.  

I married a sailor and we planned on leaving the Navy life behind after 3 years and going back to college.  We planned on living and struggling if needed to finish our degrees.  A few months before the time came to get out of the Navy, I discovered I was pregnant with our first child. Together we decided that going back to school full-time and doing the "struggling college student" thing was not very responsible with a baby to take care of, so we continued down the path we were on.  When Ashley was 18 months old I went back and finished my Associates degree.  I graduated less than a month before our family packed up and moved to Guam.  

 I don't think that I ever gave up on my dream, but time passes, life goes on and going back to school didn't ever seem to work into life.  I tried to venture down that road a few times, but life, babies, moves and deployments made the timing never really work out.  In May of 2008 our family moved to Colorado and we were finally home.  Shawn began working at the Air Force Academy and for the first time in his Naval career had a flexibility that he'd never experienced before.  I had a perfect opportunity to finally finish that degree and see my dream to become a teacher come true, but as much as I wanted to do it, I was scared to death.  I talked about it, I said I was going to do it, but in reality could I really go to school, be a wife, a mom to two children and not fail?  Shawn wouldn't let my dream die and gave me the shove I needed to jump of the edge and dive in.  

So, in late August of 2008 I was sitting in my first class at Colorado Christian University.  I remember that first night of class, sitting there scared out of mind wondering what in the world I was doing in a college class.  Could I really do this?  Could I someday stand in front of a classroom of children and be a good teacher?  That night God gave me this verse, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians 1:6.  Holding onto that I started down a new path, one that would hopefully lead me to someday pouring myself into students and making a difference in their lives.

Over the next two and a half years there were many times that I wanted to give it.  I have always lived my life striving for excellence in all I do.  I believe that by doing so I bring glory to God in heaven.  Excellence is not being perfect.  Excellence does not mean you won't make mistakes.  Excellence is a goal in which we strive for, one in which we do not settle for average, yet shoot for the stars.  With the support of an amazing family and some just as amazing friends, I donned a cap and gown and received my Ba choler's degree in Early Childhood Education in May of 2010.  I completed the process for my teaching license when I had the honor to do my student teaching in a 3rd grade classroom.  Through that experience I was able to move from a student teacher to a teacher!   

I look back at the last 2 1/2 years of my life in awe.  I joke with that I did college on the 20 year plan, but in all reality I wouldn't have it any other way.  Through this journey I have learned....

• Even when we start to loose track of and even doubt the gifts, talents and dreams God had given us, HE never does!
• You are never to old to chase after the dreams and desires in your heart!
• If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything!  

• It is possible to go to school full-time, be a wife, a mother and be excellent at all those things!  (did I mention that my marriage is better than ever, my kids are alive and thriving and I graduated with a 3.997 GPA?)

Remember...... “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians 1:6