OOHH and By the WAY!

Yes...and by the way DARIEN IS my hometown!

I grew up in Darien, CT for 20 years and attended the Darien Public Schools from Kindergarten all the way through my high school graduation at Darien High School!

AND...

Now I will be beginning my teaching career there!

So, YES, Darien is my HOMETOWN!

(This is for those who think Stamford, CT is my hometown...! You know who you are!)

Anyways, in all seriousness, I am truly excited and privileged to be working as a teacher with the school district I attended my whole life and I look forward to ALL of the new opportunities it will bring in the future!

Thanks to ALL of you who have supported me in this decision and your listening ears!

So....which is it?

I have finally made a DECISION on which job!

After hours of sleeplessness, phone conversations, emails, research, meetings, careful consideration, more research and reflection...I have made a commitment to work with Darien Public Schools in Darien, CT!

I will be hired as a Special Education Teacher (who has the ability to work with ages 3-21 and grades K-12) by the Darien Public School District. For the coming 2009-2010 school year I will be working at Holmes Elementary School with seven 4th grade students who receive special education services in and out of the regular education classroom setting.

I am so thrilled to have this opportunity and I look forward to what God has in store for me in this coming first year of teaching and beyond!

AND...for now, I may return to normal sleep patterns (well...hopefully!)

A Good Can of Worms!

So Monday came....and there was a job offer in Greenwich Public Schools.

I was SUPER excited and ready for the school year to start!

Then...Tuesday came along...

I had another interview with Darien Public Schools. (I was not thinking this one was going to go well so I just went and did it.)

Well...it went GREAT!

So...I got a call three hours later saying, "Hi Heidi, we were very very impressed with you today so we would like to set up more interviews."

Wednesday morning arrived and I received a call...for another interview (Interview number 7) to occur on Thursday.

Thursday came and I had the interview. This one went even better..and the principal said, "Heidi I had a wonderful time meeting with you and I am sure we will be seeing a whole lot more of you and we will be keeping you around."

So I am guessing this means that I will probably be receiving a phone call sometime after July 4th weekend....maybe....perhaps....with another OFFER for a job....SO I will keep you posted!

I came home from that interview, wrote my follow up letters and heard back from the principal in the same day saying she was very pleased and would be in communication with me soon after speaking with the rest of the team.

WELL...I DO believe I have opened a whole new can of worms....GOOD WORMS that is!
I may even have a choice in this whole job thing! God is Good!

So then Thursday afternoon came around and I received another call. A call from another school in upstate CT that I applied to and received a notice in the mail saying they would contact me within a couple weeks if I were to be considered...well those 5 weeks passed and nothing so I just let that one go....well MORE WORMS!

I have an interview set up with this Autism school for the week of the 13th~

You know...just in case!

More news to come shortly!

The Tour is OVER!

For the last few months I have been hard at work in finding work.

I have spent hours filling out 30 step job applications, perfecting my resume, communicating with professors for letters of recommendation, writing long essays for applications, perfecting my portfolio, emailing, phone calling, snail mailing, networking, and of course MORE phone calling and emailing!

On top of all of those items, I have spent challenging times journeying through the complicated steps to earn my teaching certificate in Connecticut. Before I could attempt this project I had spent hours working on getting the official paperwork for my Illinois certificate and endorsements as well as the paper work for my official diploma and transcripts from college.

Everyone of these items has been nothing but complicated...but I am getting closer to the finish line. This finish line will allow me to begin the next chapter in my life....MY CAREER...that I have waited so long to begin!

I received a call this past Monday for a job offer at a middle school for a special education teaching position. When the principal called he said, "Heidi, welcome, your tour is over. Your tour of the many interviews is OVER!" I thought: Oh boy what does that mean....I have no job....or I HAVE a job! The principal continued, "So welcome to Eastern!"

I just about lost my pants! I have WAITED and prayed for this day to arrive for a VERY VERY LONG time! It has ARRIVED! I truly believe that God is doing incredible things and they are ALL in His PERFECT TIMING.

I remember a couple weeks ago when I told my dad that I felt I was in a famine in finding job or even finding hope in a possible job. Praise God for His perfect timing!

Now for the hard part....DECISION TIME!
More to come on this exciting news!

Graduation Day....I MADE IT!

This Saturday, May 16th was my college graduation! I had the pleasure of spending this wonderful milestone and celebration with all of my family present in Palos Heights, Illinois.

Friday evening we attended my Honors Convocation Ceremony where I received High Honors from the College's President. At this ceremony I received my golden cord, which I had worked for four long years to receive! I also received my Trinity Christian College Alumni Medallion. Both of these items were also worn with my graduation gown on Saturday's Graduation Ceremony.

Whitney was able to get a video of me receiving my diploma during Saturday's graduation ceremony as well!

A few hours later, after a lovely time with friends, faculty, and family at a reception following the ceremony, we packed our Suburban and my car full of my entire apartment and four years worth of STUFF! We just BARELY fit it all! Everything was packed like sardines! Thanks to Dad who is the ultimate car packer!

I am truly amazed at God's work in my life and I continually praise Him for allowing me to complete all 13 weeks of my student teaching! I honestly doubted that this would ever be completely finished and God gave me the daily strength to meet this huge goal of mine. AND then of course GRADUATION DAY! I praise God for these wonderful milestones in my life!

I thank you all for your continued support, encouraging words, and prayers. They are so appreciated and a huge part of what keeps me journeying forward on this road. More updates soon to come. I apologize this one came so late, it's been a crazy time in my life finishing teaching.... but I am officially a TEACHER! I actually said my Teacher Vows to Trinity Christian College on Wednesday, May, 13th at my commissioning teachers luncheon and I passed my final teacher's certification test in the state of Illinois about a month ago. Now I just need to file the paper work with the state in July!

Always full of Hope in Christ,
Heidi

Surprised

Heidi had her first meeting with Dr. Mancini, head of heart transplant at NY Presbyterian, Columbia hospital Friday April 3rd. It was a straightforward time, and at the end of the doctor taking a medial history, and examining Heidi, she made the comment, "well, I am not sure why my colleagues sent you to me, but I don't think you will need to come back for a while."She scratched her head, we scratched ours, and went away with goofy grins on our faces! While she admitted that Heidi had concerning heart failure, she felt that currently, the best way to proceed was to maximize Heidi's medicines, and watch her carefully for changes. She also indicated, that we had already jumped through most of the hoops necessary to get on the transplant list, and that Heidi has type A positive blood, and the ability to receive either a pediatric or adult size heart. This means that obtaining an appropriate heart, when Heidi's needs to be replaced, should not be too arduous. We thank God for this good news, and Heidi is busy finishing up student teaching, and looking for a job.

Prayer requests:

A continuing heart of trust and praise of our God.

Energy and wisdom in finishing up student teaching.

Energy and discernment in applying for jobs.

Wisdom for how to manage her many medications and side effects of medicines, and the symptoms of heart failure.

A good outcome in the current medical work up for why Heidi has a lot of calcium in her blood.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms..." Eph. 1:17-20

MAY WE HUMBLY KNOW HIS POWER IN OUR LIVES, MAY WE LIVE IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS, AND REJOICE IN THE RESURRECTION.
Kim Gropp

While I'm Waiting

Today is my 22nd Birthday! God has given me 8,030 days of life. Each one of these days has been a wonderful gift and I praise Him today for this gift!

My mother came to Chicago for the weekend to visit and celebrate my birthday and we had a wonderful time with each other!

Over the weekend I watched a great movie titled: Fireproof. It was the second time viewing it and I loved it just the same! One particular song in the movie really touched me this weekend. This song is titled "While I am Waiting" by John Waller. The lyrics are as follows...

"While I am Waiting"

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord


I have discovered through my teaching that God's purpose and plan for my life right now is to WORSHIP, SERVE, SEEK HIM, and WAIT PATIENTLY on His perfect timing. I couldn't think of a better way to serve God and worship God than with my Student Teaching! God has called me to serve these students and I worship Him and praise Him for this wonderful blessing in my life!

Though no one knows just what, where, when, or how I will receive a heart transplant...this song gives me so much comfort, a promise, and word of encouragement from the Lord that He has his hand on every detail of my life including my health. So just as the song says, I am waiting patiently on the Lord and while I do this I will worship, serve, seek, and praise Him.

Whatever you are waiting on the Lord for today, wait patiently and while your waiting join me in worshiping, serving, and seeking Him daily.

This song has had a very meaningful impact on me and I hope you take the take the time to listen and watch this video clip! If you would like to hear the song "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller go to this address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7TSGptd3Y or youtube it yourself!

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." Psalm 130:5-6

Blessings on your day!
Heidi