And the blog begins...

I can’t believe it’s already February! I hope everyone is having a wonderful 2009!

Some of you I see on a daily basis, others I haven’t talked to in months. But I wanted to take a few minutes to update all of you on what is happening in my life right now. 2009 has definitely been an exciting, crazy year for me, and it’s only the second month.

About a month ago, God starting working in my heart concerning taking a year off from my current teaching position. As I started praying and researching and considering options, I felt led to the UK, for various reasons. I applied with an organization that pairs up foreign-trained teachers with public schools throughout the UK. Within 48 hours of applying, the organization had contacted my references, and within two weeks, I had a phone interview lined up. Last week, during an inservice day at school, I went out to my car, in the middle of a snow storm, and had my phone interview, which they recorded to then share with the schools. At this point, I am waiting to hear from schools who may be interested in me, and I need to begin applying for my visa. It’s all very exciting and scary and out of my normal comfort zone. But as this all started happening, I found myself praying the lyrics by Downhere, “Here I am, Lord send me; all of my life, I make an offering!” I have no clue what the Lord has in store for me this next year, but I ask for you to join me in prayer as I wait to see where He’s going to take me.

As I was looking online at schools around the world and various options, one of the reasons I leaned towards the UK is because of their healthcare. I have been battling health issues for the past couple months, and know that to leave my current doctors, I would want to be going someplace that can provide decent healthcare. For the past year and a half, I have had about ten sinus infections (that’s a lot in an 18 month period!) This past summer, I was finally referred to an ENT for a CT scan of my sinuses to determine whether surgery would be the right answer. At the time, I was told surgery wasn’t the right path. In October, I got another sinus infection, along with mono, and it took what seemed like forever to recover. During winter break, I finally felt like I was getting back to normal, and two weeks ago I got another sinus infection. I went to the doctor two weeks ago and they took a sinus culture to figure out which antibiotic to treat it with. Turns out the staph infection growing in my sinuses is resistant to all but one oral antibiotic (which I’m now on). As best as I can understand, hopefully this current medicine will kill the infection, and hopefully it won’t come back. But, if I get another infection in the next couple of months, it might end up being resistant to ALL oral antibiotics, and we’ll then have to face other courses of treatment.

As excited as I am about this coming year and the possibility of moving across the pond to reach the young people of the UK, I am also wondering if it’s the smartest decision to leave my current doctors. My ideal situation would be that this current medicine would once and for all kill the infection and I can move to England with a good bill of health. But I also know that God’s plans are not our own and I am praying that God’s will be done in all of this and that He makes His path clear to me.

I’m praying for each of you and pray that this coming year is full of excitement and adventure. I feel blessed to have each and every one of you in my life!