Monday, October 24, 2011

The Desire

I know this really isn't my designated "poor Marcie can't have a baby" blog, but its about my life, so I get to talk about it here.

The desire to be a mom is constant.  I long to hold a baby in my arms.  The term "baby" is fluid though...an infant.  A two-year old.  A seven-year-old.  I can picture myself sitting on the floor of our apartment, tickling a baby's tummy, giggles filling the room.  I can picture myself with a kindergartener, teaching him or her how to tie shoes.  Poorly, according to my mother.  I can picture myself hand-in-hand with a second grader walking along a deer trail in the woods, looking for colorful leaves, acorns, and signs of other wildlife, answering all the "Why, mama?" type questions I'm able to.

I can see all those things.

But the issue is that I don't always picture the same child.  Sometimes I see a little girl with dark, bouncy curls, Ryan's brown eyes, and a joyful spirit making rivers with stolen spoons in the sanbox in the back yard.

Other times, I picture us with a boy with dark skin, and a crown of tight, black curls having a hard time sitting still during the sermon at church, but singing every praise song and hymn with the most beautiful, angelic voice.

I don't necessarily know how the road to parenthood will "end."  I don't know how we're going to get there.  I don't know if our next round of fertility treatments is going to work.  I don't know if God is going to lay it on our hearts to bring a child into our family through the miracle of adoption.

All I know is that the desire to be a parent weighs heavily on my heart.  Its a desire I never thought I'd have, or that I'd long to have fulfilled... 

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Possibilities

I have taught for a while now.  This is what...the beginning of my 8th year of teaching.

I've had 7 groups of my OWN kids, and one group of two entire grade levels at a school.  I've never had a group of children who have so...deeply CHANGED me.  My 16 kids this year have reached their dirty, sticky little fingers down into my soul and touched me in a way I never thought possible. 

I just...I think God brought them into my life at this exact time because they're what I needed.  They're teaching me patience.  I kind of lost my patience with a student today, and my voice got louder, and they looked at me like I was nuts.  While I am nuts, I think in past years I tended to YELL more when I needed attention.  I don't do that this year.  I find myself down on my knees talking to a student about a behavior rather than towering over them, and lowering my voice when I need to get attention or have a discussion with a child.  My students taught me that.

I've learned to be positive.  I put the positivity in my voice.  I get excited about what kids are learning and what I'm teaching.  I want my students to leave my classroom loving school.  My kiddos give me that desire.

Like any situation in life, I bond more with some children than others.  Adults do that, too.  I've bonded more with some colleagues than others.  I love them all, but I like some of them more than others. :)  My students are absolutely amazing, and I am blessed to have them in my life.  I hope that *I* am a blessing in theirs.  I hope that they are able to look back as adults and remember me as someone who made an impact in their lives.  A POSITIVE impact.  I hope they know that they are loved, and that I see the individual gifts and talents that each of them have.