Mission Accomplished!

 Can you believe it?! It's September! It's the 9th month of the year already, which means there is only 4 months left of 2023. Wow! Time is moving quickly! As I go throughout the year, I'm learning to do more self-reflection and check-ins with myself 💚. I'm learning to check in and look at my progress, growth, boundaries, health (mental, physical, spiritual, emotional), and goals reached or in progress of being reached. At the beginning of this year, I set out on a mission to accomplish one of my goals. It's a goal that had to do with my career. It's a goal that I had thought about it before and didn't step out on faith and do until recently. When we think about what a mission is, we see it's an important assignment carried out for a particular purpose. It typically involves travel and the word mission is related to a journey, task, or charge. The mission that I just recently accomplished was an educational journey 😊. You see, there are different journeys we can take in our lives (travel, personal, spiritual, etc.). Each journey is beautiful and can have its share of lessons and challenges, but in the end, the reward is well worth it 👏. So today's mission I'm sharing about has to do with me adding on a certification as a teacher. I currently teach 6th grade English and Reading at my local middle school (how neat that I used to be a student there and now I get to give back as a teacher 😊!). As a teacher, your classroom has students who work at all different ability levels, which is okay. My goal as a teacher is to make sure that I can meet all my students where they are and then help them be as successful as possible 💙. In working as a teacher assistant and Reading instructor before teaching, I had a lot of experience working with students who had lower level abilities, but I didn't really have much knowledge and experience working with students who had higher level abilities. I was always used to breaking down information and making it simpler for my students. However, I wasn't used to leveling up the work and providing challenging tasks. I knew once I had higher level students in my future classes, I was going to need to have strategies to help them succeed as well. I want to see all my students succeed and grow into well-rounded individuals 😊. So, when the opportunity came along in the form of an email at the end of 2022 with information to receive a gifted education endorsement through Averett University online, I knew I needed to find out more! Now, in 2021, I completed my Master's degree online in Elementary Education through Grand Canyon University- praise God for that 👏!! In 2022, I had to finish up some teacher tests- praise God for helping me pass them 👏!! At the point that I saw the email about the gifted education certificate, I had been on a break from school. So, I reached out to Averett University that I was interested and attended one of their virtual informational sessions in December 2022. I liked what I heard, so I decided to apply to the program 😊. I was accepted and began the program in January! It would be five classes (one was an orientation) all online from January 2023 to August 2023. Since I was a student again, I taught my kids during the school day and did my school work in the evening at home. Was it easy to juggle both? Not at all! Did God help me? Oh yes! A lot happened between January- August! I had struggles and wins. I was able to share inspiring messages to my young adult outreach group I'm a part of and at my school's Founder's Day. In April, my beautiful great-aunt passed away, who I was close to 🙏. We talked every day and checked in with each other about our days💜. Whenever she asked me about school, she would always ask me how my "friends" were doing. In friends, she was referring to my students 😊. During that time, I also continued to miss my Mom and Dad and other family members no longer here that I couldn't share my journey with 🙏. I had several doctor's appointments for check-ups and routine exams in those months. Several brought the unknown and looked like results were not going to be good, but God always turned it around and the report ended up being good 👏. At one particular checkup, fibroids were found in my uterus, so I got a biopsy done in July. Thankfully, everything came back clear and no cancer was found there. Praise God! Even in being busy, I had to still make sure I was well taken care of. I did celebrate a new decade of life in June- Chapter 40 💚! I did get my cute and classy glasses in June also😉. I did get to enjoy my family and friends and have new experiences. I had to hold on to God's Word and my faith despite all the odds that seemed stacked up against me. I had to especially hold on to the Scripture Colossians 3:23 that reminds us to work with all of our heart as you work to God and not to man. I had to remember it was about God and what I knew He wanted to do in and through me 🙏. Well, on August 8th, I am pleased to announce that my mission was accomplished 🙌!! I crossed the finish line and completed my gifted program! Eight months of hard work paid off! To God be the glory 👏💕!! My official certificate came in the mail on the 1st day of school- August 28th. Not only that, I finished my program with a 4.0 GPA!!! God is so good 💕!!! Now, I feel better equipped to help my higher level students in my classes and encourage all my students to embrace challenge and step out their comfort zones. Now I do have one more surprise, but you'll have to stay tuned to a future blog post to find out what that is 😉. I pray you have been encouraged by my story. I want to encourage you not to give up on working towards your goals. All your goals matter, whether short-term or long-term. Keep taking the steps forward you need to. Remember every step forward counts. Keep going and you too will be able to say, "Mission accomplished!". I love you all and take care 💕!!!