Just Us

There are so many thoughts I have as this school year comes to an end and I have been praying about the right words for all the feels, the frustrations, the relief, the continued anxiety, the pure exhaustion. So in honor of teacher appreciation week—here’s a short letter to all my fellow teachers that have persevered through an unprecedented time in education. ———————————— Dearest Teacher, Spray and wipe, wipe and spray. Stop for just a second. If I could be with you in person to say this, I would grab your worn hands and look you right in your tired eyes.  You have made it. You made it. There were days you were fully convinced you were not cut out for what would lie ahead in the 2020-2021 school year, but you actually made it. The school year is almost ready to tie up into a nice little bow and you will actually be able to say: It is finished.  If no one has told you lately—-I am SO freakin proud of YOU. Sincerely. You showed up each day whether in person, online, both or fli...

Social media the past several weeks has been absolutely exhausting.  Scrolling through facebook or the news, literally has made me want to chuck my phone across the room OR just sit and weep in total disbelief.  Why do I even get on it?  To be completely honest, I have felt nudged to delete in all together.  Honest.  However, at this time my sweet friend and I are leading a group of ladies in an online book study on prayer...which has been the opposite of my newsfeed.  PRAISE BE! Because of the wonderful accountability and encouragement I have found right now in this online group, I have remained connected. For now. And so I'm writing today, thinking maybe I will be brave enough to move this one from drafts to published.  This post is especially for my friends that believe in God and are seeking to follow Him, even if we often drag our feet or stray back and forth in zig-zag lines trying to.  But also for my friends that maybe don’t identify with ...

We are always waiting. Waiting for the next best thing. Waiting for the current circumstances to diminish for some much needed relief. Waiting for things to change so we can finally be "happy." Do you feel the wait? Do you sense the pause of our world right now, Waiting for something better, something we HOPE is coming? Do you feel it maybe a little extra this Christmas season? I do. The anticipation of HOPE building as wars rage around us. A silent enemy threatening the collapse of our healthcare systems A war of political opinions justifying and villainizing   The typing of a keyboard spewing hatred to strangers that disagree The war of wearing a cloth face covering or to not. A war of our words. But HOPE. It hints and glimpses a flicker in the lit candle as 2020 comes to a close, A light cutting into the darkness A pause, a mere breath in time  HOPE as a tiny light shines. And we wait and we wonder, Is this HOPE coming in the form of a needle and antibodies Or in a pol...

Everywhere we look there seems to be opinions and arguments dividing.  Friends that once met together over coffee now disagreeing on social media.  Distance.  Separation.  Not only the distance created by social distancing in efforts to minimize the spread of this terrible virus.  But friends and family creating distance between one another because of the strong stance they have taken on mask wearing, religion, politics, etc.  This side or that side.  You are wrong...I am right.  How can you possibly believe that?  All of this confusion, misinformation and division seems to be limiting our ability to really SEE each other and to show empathy.  We squint our eyes so that only our own perspective is in view.  We tune out another story or perspective if it doesn't fit into the lense we want to use to categorize our world right now. Empathy. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. So can we possibly push back agains...

*******I am writing from my own personal perspective.  I do not claim to be representing all teachers during this time. We all have had different experiences navigating education during a global pandemic. Some are struggling through far worse and some have been impacted very little.  As always, I write for my own processing and with hope of being an encouragement to someone else to keep fighting the good fight.   Be honest with yourself and others. Teaching is a different kind of hard right now.  It's okay if you're not okay.********* I have had this experience lately that has really started to bother me.  I am usually out walking or at the store getting groceries and I run into someone I haven't seen much since school has started.  They see me and immediately ask, "How are you? How's school?"  Their care and concern is obvious, as is the sweet kindness they are showing, knowing full well school must be a little different right now.  Their questio...

Dear Kim Reynolds, First, I want to sincerely thank our superintendent and all our local board members as well.  We are blessed to have a group of caring, thoughtful people making these difficult decisions.  They have been on the receiving end of so much feedback, positive and negative in regards to our district's return to learn plan and are still working weekly on revisions to keep students and staff safe.  Under immense pressure and very little guidance from you governor, they are trying to take into account all opinions, perspectives, and local guidance from health officials to make the best decision possible.  I also want to thank the Return To Learn teams that have been working countless hours to design possible plans(in person and virtual) to use in our district as the Covid situation is very fluid at this time.   I am so very grateful for your commitment to designing plans that will keep my own family, my students, my colleagues and our communi...

*This post is NOT coming from a heart motivated by a political agenda or with any hidden motives.  I am writing with sincere concern for the health and safety of my own children, my students, my colleagues and myself. Yesterday, the governor of Iowa released the "Reopening Guidance for Schools" document as a resource for administrators to safely open school districts.  As many teachers and parents alike, I have been anticipating the release of such information in order to plan for what the fall may look like for my classroom and for my own children.  Knowing full well how quickly things can change between now and the first day of school, I was still interested to see what safety guidance would be given to schools during this strange back to school season we are about to begin. Here are a few of the highlights taken from the document released yesterday.  Please forgive me if I have left out specific details, but this is the general overview of the guidance given to Io...