You, Me & JP: What a difference a year can make!

A year ago this month I made a decision that would kick start a chain of events that would change the course of my life...

Even though I had spent four and half years earning a Bachelor's Degree in elementary education and, at that point, had almost finished my Master's Degree in education (which is now complete btw ... yay!) I decided to put in my 30 day resignation notice to the public school where I taught the week before Thanksgiving break. As many may know, even the right decisions are hard to make and scary, which was also true of this one. On one hand it was an easy decision because I was SO over worked and SO stressed that I had been in the ER with unevenly dilated pupils. (Did I mention that I was also finishing my Master's Degree at that time? ... So I was attending two classes a week 50 minutes from home/work.) It was affecting my health, my marriage, and many friendships suffered as well. Teaching encompasses so many things OTHER than actually teaching that I cannot (and will not, for fear of boring you to death) even scratch the surface of my soap box that is the public school system. And on the other hand it was a hard decision because I loved my class and the teaching part of teaching. It was also extremely hard because it was the middle of the school year. Yep, I quit mid year. I have never been so nervous going in the principal's office to tell her this.... but when I told her that I already had thought of all of the ramifications of this decision and although it weighed heavy on my heart, I still had to do it. She had nothing to say which made for an extremely awkward silence... which I broke by just standing up and walking out of her office.

Fast forward to a week later and unbeknownst to Brandon and I at the time... we got pregnant!!! And so the chain reaction began. The lesson that I learned here can best be summed up with something a professor told me when I was confiding her about my dilemma of quitting teaching. "Shaunna, you will be surprised at how many doors will open when your life is in balance." Balance was something that I completely lacked at that time in my life. And so it is true. Once I began trying to balance time for God, my marriage, myself, and my friends... things began to happen that we had always wanted but in the back of my mind feared would never happen. We got pregnant, I completed my Master's Degree, I've been able to stay home while pregnant and continue to stay home with little man... and we are happy.

One year ago ... Meadville for Thanksgiving.