His Light is Shining

No big huge exciting news to tell. We're just busy living our daily lives. But even in the mundane stuff of life, I can always see God's light shining bright! The good news is that I (Chandra) am LOVING my new job. Even though one year olds are not necessarily my first age group that I most like working with, I must say that this job is awesome! I love my new school, my boss, my co-worker and the curriculum. God totally answered prayers and I even got the perfect hours, too! Jay asked if I could ask my boss for more hours. I said, "Well, I'm not sure if I can ask for that, because I just started working there and I want the earlier hours, but the other teacher in my classroom has been there longer and is working the earlier hours." Then I went on to say, "I really don't see any way possible that it would happen unless that other teacher were to quit." That was on a Tuesday night that we had that conversation. On Wednesday night I asked a ladies' prayer group that I had joined to please pray about my job situation. On Thursday at work this other teacher said to me, "Did you know that I turned in my two-week's notice to quit on Tuesday?" I was quite flabbergasted at how God had answered my prayer before I had even prayed it. It's not that I'm happy about someone quitting, but it just all seemed so right. In fact, this other teacher was extremely unhappy in her job. So, she felt it was for the best. And it turns out that the other new, young teacher who they hired to take her place, is awesome! I've been praying, too, that I could work with someone who would feel like a real team member. It's amazing how well I work with Kati. We both have similar ideas and styles. And, yet, we have just have enough differences, too, that we complement each other. I had to laugh the other day because just when I almost opened my mouth to tell Kati something I thought we should do, she walked over and started doing that very thing. It's like we read each other's minds. And the kids are already responding to our good comradery.

On the home front, we are trying to decide how to best help Penny adjust to so many huge changes involved with become a high school student. There are definitely harder classes and new social dynamics to face in such a big school (larger than the population of the town where I went to H.S.). It's a big culture shock for her mom, as well. I'm not used to facing security guards questioning me as to why I want to park in the visitor's parking lot and feeling like I have to prove that I really do need to meet with Penny's counselor and not wanting to get a ticket for not having a permit to park in the other huge lots. One of the things we did to try and help us understand her better and to know how to best parent her during this important stage in life, was to attend a class. It was hosted by the Adoption Exchange. It's an organization helping post-adoptive families here in Colorado. We learned a lot about trauma and brain development. We know that this time in Penny's life is a tough one to try and figure out her identity. She's going through a stage of both bonding closer with me and yet feeling completely embarrassed for having her friends see me, especially since we don't look alike. So, I just keep trying to love on my "Jekyll and Hyde" personality of my daughter.

The big thing I took away from in the class was that spending time with your child is the best way to heal their trauma and make them feel safe and well-adjusted. We've definitely been plenty of that. So, thankful that my hours are now ideal for spending that time with her. We're also even considering attending another church, if it would help Penny to find some new friends, especially those who lead her closer to the Lord. So, will you please pray with us during this time of transition?

I've been spending tons of time doing LOTS of personal tutoring for trying to help Penny with her homework. It's a lot of bonding time over trying to explain things like consecutive integers, double conversions in algebra and the functions of organelles in cells. But, I convinced her yesterday after school that we both needed to take a break. So, we went out to Dairy Queen for peanut buster bars and then went to see the CSU flower gardens before it possibly freezes over this weekend. They are right across from the original old Fort Collins H.S. building, so we went in a took a look at the building now that it's been bought and renovated into an arts building for CSU. We went to a free museum exhibit inside that was rather "unique" and then we did a little window shopping at a beautiful consignment shop in an old house. After a dinner of terriyaki chicken we rounded off the night by playing Uno on Mom and Dad's bed. It was really a nice, relaxing afternoon free of stress.





Last weekend we got to meet another family who I had only known through their blogs and FB before. It was so fun meeting them in person. They are another family from Colorado who has an adopted daughter, from Vietnam. And now they feel God has called them to take a world tour with their daughters for one year. The husband can work from abroad. So, they'll be spending time in Europe and Asia and I can't wait to follow their journey, especially when they stay in Thailand for a few months. We were so blessed to meet them just before they left on their new adventure. We met at a Fall Festival held at our church, which was a fund raiser for Lutheran Family Services, who helps place foster children in adoptive homes.




Well, I need to wrap this up so that I can ready to go off to my little group of believers and a few seekers of truth at a small Japanese congregation here in Fort Collins. I help out with the worship team there. We just meet once per month. But, I pray that God will use us to glorify Him and shine His light and love on others so that they might know Him better. Jesus, please shine through me, today!