Ramblings 5.21.07

Hello Friends!

Well...for the past few months I have been praying, and thinking, and even musing out loud to some people about what to do next. I don’t normally do this…but I am going to share part of a journal entry I made just last Tuesday. And there is a bunch more…if my letters are this long…you can imagine how long my journaling to Lord can get! Keep in mind…when I am journaling I am conversing with God.

“Right now I feel like I have the world before me. I can do whatever I want. I am nearly 25 years old, in my second year of teaching, and living in a foreign country. When I moved to Korea, You distinctly placed on my heart the number three. I knew I would be here three years. As I am heading into my third year teaching and as my decision month (December) is quickly approaching…I wonder what You have for me next. Am I to continue on in Korea? Am I to pursue teaching in an alternative environment? Am I to move back to the USA? Or am I to continue living overseas? I enjoy international life, but I also recognize the desire to work with behaviorally challenged kids. Also, after two years of teaching in the classroom, I recognize that I would enjoy administration. Do I pursue my maters in administration? And how does this all fit in with my hopes to be a wife and mother? Can I pursue these things and still leave room for that option if You so desire to bring my husband into my life in the next few years?”

I wrote this entry on Tuesdsay evening. The following morning, Pam (my roomie) sent me the link for Dolous Ministries (http://www.douloscorp.com/ )and told me that LeadTime was the program she had told me about. Long story short, through my roommate Pam, I was directed to check a program called LeadTime. It is a program where you basically get some Biblical training and be working with what I call “alternative” kids. So I checked it out during my first period prep. Check it out if you are curious. You get a better feel for the program if you read the LeadTime stuff and the Shelterwood stuff…the two programs work together. This program seems to be a great fit for me in many ways and just good life training! I am planning on applying for this program. Even if I don’t get accepted, God used finding this program to confirm I am to indeed leave Korea at the end of three years in order to pursue working with alternative kids. Even if I don’t get accepted, I now know that I am to pursue this route. I am also going to continue to look into other options…just to see what is out there.

On that note…I enjoy working with alternative (behaviorly challenged) kids. I need to pursue this dream of mine to see if it is an area where God can use the strengths of who He created me to be for His glory. Though I have gone to school to be a teacher, I do not necessarily have to teach them…I just like the idea of working with them in some compasity. I love the idea of group homes. That is another one of the things that I wonder if and I will ever do (be a house parent to a bunch of outcast kids). If you know of any good programs in working with these kids (be it a school environment or other)…I would love for you to share with me any information about those programs (perhaps a link to a web site). This is the route I know I want to pursue and sometimes even though you know which direction you are to go…you sort of don’t know where to start looking!

So…off discussion of the future…and on to things that are happening NOW! We are officially in our last month of school! Of the 5 classes I teach, three of them are Junior/Senior classes which means that I will be completely done teaching them on Friday of next week (June 1st). Juniors and Seniors take final exams and finish school about a week and a half before everyone else. My other two classes end June 13th.

This week is full of events! This week our girls soccer team is in Japan at Far East (soccer tournament). They have a really good team this year, so they raised the money to go to Japan for this tournament. I hope they do well. This Saturday is our school’s formal…the Spring Fling Banquet Thing. Sunday, Hillsongs is visiting Korea and I get to go up and enjoy worshiping with them. Monday is Memorial Day (No school!) and a group from the House and a few of the teachers from school are going to Everland (Korean Amusement Park). As you can see…I have a pretty fun weekend coming up. As a result, I think I will be tired on Tuesday, but it is worth it!

For the past few months now, I have been struggling with feeling tired. This is sort of a normal thing for me. I tend to go through periods of time where it seems like all I can do is think about sleep; it is constantly on my mind…it has to do with a sleeping disorder I have. Anyhow, sometimes it is worse than others. I am trying to figure out what determines when it is bad…and when it isn’t. Anyhow, long story, short. I started tutoring Laura and last time I tutored they sent me home with some vitamins (Laura’s mom is a P.E. teacher at Osan) because they have too many! I have been thinking I should start taking vitamins, but just haven’t. So I took this as God’s way of providing the vitamins and taking that excuse away from me. Anyhow, since I have started taking them, I have stopped feeling so tired. Literally, every day after lunch, all I could do is think about when I could go home and take a nap. It was making it hard to work at school in my planning times and to be a good teacher. Now I am very awake all day and am no longer thinking about sleep from lunch on! Praise the Lord! This may seem minor…but it can be a hard thing to deal with.

And I am going to stop here. Things are going great. God has me in Korea and I am enjoying the place He has brought me. I will be staying in Korea this summer. For the most part I am okay with this. When I have to listen to everyone’s travel plans for the summer and I have to hear about them seeing family; it does make me want to be able to go home for a few weeks…but for the most part… I know God has me in Korea for a reason this summer and I look forward to being here. In my next update, I will have to let you know what I am doing with my summer.

I have tons more in my head, but will save it for another time. Thanks to all of you who are so good about sending me updates about yourself every so often. It truly is a blessing to know is going on in your life as well.

Trusting in Him,
Amber