Sweet Life in the City

This is a hard post for me to write. I am not completely sure why I have struggled to sit down and write down about some more changes coming to our life. Maybe because I am struggling with this decision. Struggling not because I don't fee like God is asking us to do this, just struggling because my selfish nature doesn't know if I have the courage to obey. We have decided to put our house on the market. We have an amazing house and those who walked with us during our search for a home and those that endured my endless complaints of living in that apartment probably think we are crazy. I had someone recently tell me as I was telling them the possibility of selling said to me, "But Kim, God gave you that house!" I 100% agreed with her. This house opened up at the perfect, most crucial time in our lives. We were going through a difficult time of God closing a door to plant the church and we were barely surviving living in the conditions and environment of the apartment. ...

It has been a bit chaotic around here the last few days. No, seriously our house has been hit by the plague of lice 😩😱. I understand that it is part of life. When your children go to school or are around other children there is always a chance that they will be affected. Knowing all of that, being an educator myself and knowing that it in no way reflects the cleanliness of a child afflicted by it, it still absolutely freaks me out and it makes me go into some crazy state of mind. The girls had their first case of lice within the first few months of us living in Chicago, but we have not have any issues since this weekend. I was aware that when we switched Chloe to public school the chances of getting lice were greatly increased, sure enough Saturday I discovered the nasty things and it has been extraction city going on in my house. I asked for prayer on FB. I was really vague because frankly I was not in a good place to tell the FB world the depths of my despair (okay maybe too dramat...

I have taken a few weeks to process the freedom of being done with school. I have taken an extra break as I process the freedom that came with the ending of this particular school year. I did write a post last week, but it was not very nice. I wrote mostly about why I feel so liberated. I focused a great deal on the freedom that has come with a situation that I dealt with my two years prior to this year and although all that I wrote was true, I did not want to risk offending anyone. I have also been processing the sadness that my time being over with my class from this year. Even tonight as I think about it being Sunday I still am having a bit of sadness knowing that I will not see my sweet kiddos anymore. Last Wednesday we finished our school year doing what we do best, having so much fun! We had a carnival day filled with games and other fun activities. As each student left my resolve to keep the tears in became harder and harder. It only got worse as the parents started crying as th...

It has been a busy week. I napped on Sunday and when I woke up my throat was hurting pretty bad. I felt like it was sinus drainage and treated it like sinus issues. Monday night we went to Samuel's 8th grade banquet. It was a nice evening despite the fact that there were people there that we didn't really want to see. There were no issues. We sat at a table with parents and teachers that love us and support us. I sat and watched my son interact with his friends and it made my heart happy to see him laugh and have a good time. Samuel got several awards at the banquet. He got a math award, physical education award, and the Christian character award. The character award made me so proud considering the year we have had. I cannot even imagine the conversations he heard at the beginning of the year considering the events that transpired before school started. I am thankful that he kept his integrity and character and that it was recognized. We got home Monday night and I needed to g...

Words cannot adequately describe how loved and encouraged I felt after my last post. So many reached out to me sharing their own struggles and giving words of encouragement. So many calls, texts, and messages crying with us and lifting us up during these difficult days. Many have asked how Chloe is doing. She is doing okay. She has made a few friends at her new school, but she has also run into a few difficulties. It is a daily struggle to make sure she is making good choices. It takes a complete change of mindset that there will probably always be struggles. Many have asked how she is doing, but it is a hard question to answer. Her struggles did not magically disappear because one situation has been resolved. We are waiting for insurance to be sorted before we take the next step, so I would ask that you continue to pray for us. We had a pretty busy week. I am trying to get the last minute lessons in for my class, making sure we have covered all they need for Kindergarten. I am gettin...

The last thirty-six hours or so have been rough. I have shared for the last 9 years about the struggles we have with Chloe. It is no secret that we have seen some dark days in regards to her behavior. We go through spurts were we do not have any major issues and then we have weeks were we are broken over how to help our daughter. We have been vigilant about Chloe these last few months, but I guess not vigilant enough. Our lives have been turned upside down. The atmosphere in our home has been one filled with heaviness and sadness. I knew it was effecting her. There were things at the house that revealed to me that she has slipped into some habits and compulsions. I started hearing about hostile relationships in the classroom and escalated behavior problems at school. Everything came to a head yesterday when I was informed that something happened that involved her and I was crushed. As I was dealing with that issue, Jeremy texted me that someone saw on FB that a parent posted something ...

For the first time in a long time I can finally blog a post that has good news in it! For the first time in a long time the weight on my heart and spirit has been lifted. It is finally May and Spring has finally decided to arrive here in Chicago. The actual Spring in the air has ushered in with it Spring to my heart. I had posted last week that I had two job interviews and had received offers to teach at both of those schools. I had also mentioned that I had hoped to maybe have one more interview. I got an email asking me to come in Wednesday to have that interview. I have to tell you that I had convinced myself that this probably wasn't going to go well. I mean I had had two successful interviews and 3 for 3 was pretty far fetching. This particular school is pretty big. It's fairly new compared to most Christian schools in the city and its teaching methods would be considered a little more cutting edge than other places I have taught. I loved the idea of working there because ...