This morning's post is dedicated to all of my teacher friends who feel battle-weary & worn as these final months of school are in full-swing...

 *Warning: although this post is long, the message inside is one that I sense many of us need to soak in. wink emoticon

For those of you who are weary and tired and burned out... I wanted to share a tiny bit of my story that will hopefully encourage you to keep going!

After 9 years of teaching, in May of last year I prayerfully decided to throw in the towel, hoisted up the red-flag of surrender and came to the stark realization that I was burned out and had lost my passion for teaching. I was exhausted and feeling unsettled in the very profession that I chose for myself. I taught 3rd grade for my first 4 years and then moved to a larger district closer to home after accepting a Library/Media Specialist position in a school district closer to home. Truthfully, I never laid awake at night dreaming of being a librarian, but I grew to love it over the past 5 years. But I missed the closeness of having my own classroom and I knew what a heavy load all my classroom teacher friends carried. I let go of my teaching dream to pursue being the library/media teacher, thinking all along that it was my "foot-in-the-door" that would eventually allow me to return back to the classroom. Try as I may, I guess you could say my foot got stuck in the door and I lost my *zeal* for teaching. Year by year, thoughts of returning to the traditional classroom slowly drifted away.

Fast-forward about 300 days... never discount the wild-card opportunities in life... Some of my biggest & most surprisingly unexpected blessings of my life have manifested themselves over the past year for in the form of the most unanticipated miracles! Last summer my love for photography quietly emerged from its chrysalis -- allowing me to capture glimpses of God through my camera's lens. Next came the overwhelmingly crystal-clear realization that God would allow me time and space that my battle-weary heart needed to pursue my own "ideals" ~ which ironically led to a dead-end. Dreamer BEWARE*** The public sector does not value their people like we're valued in the education field. And God was right there with me at that dead-end -- ready to redirect & re-route me right back to where I belong.

On November 17th of last year I received a phone call from my former school, offering me a classroom teaching contract effective the following day. I had 2 days to pull together the most important classroom I've ever been entrusted with. I didn't even think twice! Because I knew that my heart was being called back home. Talk about one crazy Year!! As ill-equipped as I felt, being tossed back into the frying pan of education, I've never felt so "at peace" in my heart-of-hearts, knowing that I'm right back where I belong.

So after just 12 weeks of being a first-year-teacher-with-ten-years-of-experience-to hold-up-my-belt... my "heART" for Teaching has been resuscitated! On a daily basis, I am charged with teaching, growing, motivating, redirecting, & inspiring the hearts, minds, confidence & imaginations of 22 freckle-faced, incredibly intuitive, unbelievably intelligent 8 & 9 year olds! grin emoticon And I believe, with absolute certainty, that I am, without a shadow of a doubt, right back where I belong. grin emoticon

Life's detours, as irritating as they seem when we first come upon them, help us appreciate the journey so much more.

Throughout this journey of stepping out in faith, I have gained a fresh but oh so real perspective of what my heart has been called to do. After 10 years of teaching I'm overjoyed to be experiencing again in a fresh, new way all that's at the heart of teaching.. Each new day presents so many priceless opportunities to experience the glitters of excitement emerge as their little eyes brighten and their freckle-faced giggles fill my cup to overflowing.

So when I read this quote earlier today, it reminded me how teaching is a sort of "butterfly-catch-and-release" from the heart. wink emoticon

To those of you who are tired and battle-weary, take heart! I pray that my journey encourages you as you walk steadfast into the final stretch of your year! We are entrusted with the most valued, important, overwhelmingly IMPORTANT job in the whole wide world! There truly is NO PLACE like HOME (aka: our classrooms!)

**Don't Give up, don't Give In... Heaven Knows I tried**

Fastforward

Fastforward 365 days... what a difference a year makes!
Teachers are well-known for their willingness to share, encourage one another and share our triumphs & our struggles.  Last summer God revealed to me  a unique way to rejuvenate my inner creativity! 

So here's how it happened...
Last summer, a friend urged me to find a place where I could share all of my photos-for-fun to an online gallery. And so I did!! I call it KrazyDandelion Photag'ery! (*If you'd like to visit my page, here's the link:https://www.facebook.com/KrazyDandelionPhotagery )

I already know what you're thinking... Photag-er-WhUT? << *can you tell, I made that word up?*

That's right-- you read that right....Photag'ery! Here's how it's pronounced:
Say: Fo (like in Fee-Fi-FO-fum)
Now say Taj (like in the taj mahal)
Now say ER, like in.... well... er.
Now say "Ree".
[Pho-tahj-er-REE]

Now I know by now that some of you are already on your phone, frantically goggling "Is photagery really a word?"
And Google, in about (0.32 seconds) with 1,570 results said, "nnnnope."

Even dictionary.com hasn't yet met the word Photagery. So, since I just made up the word, I also made up my own definition of the newest word in the universe:
Photagery: Noun.
1. Creativity infused Life photography centered occupation or business.
2. A calling to creative photography as art.
3. The art of creating photo-graphic goods or products.
>>and to that, I'm pretty sure I can safely add one final definition of the word I just made up:
4. Photagery: the art of staying up all night, and realizing that it's 4:36AM and you haven't been to bed yet, and you're still brainstorming creative ways to express your excitement at the real possibility that in opening oneself up to public scrutiny, after finally agreeing to let your dream to be induce and the selfless act of promoting the slight-possibility, that it just might actually go somewhere!

So here's how it happened...
In experimenting with my new camera, I soon realize that I have been entrusted with an incredible gift. A gift that sees through creative eyes. Eyes that allow me to discover & capture beauty in the most unexpected places. My dad's cancer journey left me with the most precious treasure... the gift of realizing that time is precious. Reminding myself to slow down allows me the ability to soak in sometimes unnoticed glimpses of God while everything in the world it seems to swirl swiftly around me. My dad's battle against cancer left me with a gift which encourages me to stop along the way, and to capture small, often mundane, off-the-beaten-path moments of life that are displayed to us on the canvas of God's beautiful creation...f I just. stop. long enough. and go slow enough to discover them!

God provides the moments ~ and the images ~ and oh, the beautiful colors!
I use my camera like a brush. A brush that loves to swoop up the colors and splash them onto the canvas of memory.

I have been blessed with the uncanny-knack of being able to capture the out-of-the-ordinary & see the unexpected. For in those quiet places, God allows me to see beauty amidst brokenness. It is through life's most painful times, that God has allowed me the privilege of being able to see & capture small, miss-it-and-it's-gone moments in life that can have lasting effects on people's memories. He has blessed me with the ability to be an encourager for others in the midst of chaos.

Every image has a story to tell. I've discovered that God wants to reveal himself to us through the most unexpected places, and if we're quiet enough... and still enough... and if we slow down enough, He'll show himself to us in the most incredible ways! It has been through images of wonder and beauty that God has blessed me with being able to discover glimpses of the unusual & the unexpected.

And by rediscovering some of my inner longings to express myself when I take off of my teacher-hat at the end of the day, I found a refreshing way to relax & express myself after a long day in the classroom.

I believe that God reveals the stories of our lives to us one. single. image. at. a. time. That's where the idea of sharing my love for Photag'ery with others came into being.