Reflections on the New Job...SO FAR!!! :-)

As I posted previously, I am taking a year leave of absence from the teaching in the SBCSC and one of the things that I am doing during that leave is working as the Children's Minister at Living Stones Church. I started the job full-time on September 7th (although I have been doing it part-time since March) and I really LOVE it!!

*I LOVE that I have a job that is very flexible...If Anna is sick, I don't have to worry about calling a sub, writing lesson plans, etc. If I need to run an errand or pick something up that is needed for the job, I can just run and get it without waiting until the end of the school day. I can also do some of my work from home which allows me more time with Anna.
*I LOVE that I get to work with 3 other great people every day who were already friends long before we ever started working together.
*I LOVE that I have a super cool office where I can keep my stuff and am in the process of making it "look like me."
*I LOVE that I get to work with 90+ of the best volunteers and 200 of the best kids in the world.
*I LOVE that I get to work with a volunteer team of 7 people who help me plan and figure out how we are going to reach the 11, 814 children that live on the South Side of South Bend. LSC Conservation Officers Rock!!
*I LOVE that I am actually getting paid to do ministry. Given the church background that I grew up in, I never thought that it was an option for me because of the view that particular tradition has on the role of women in the church. (As a disclaimer, I am not interested in bashing the church tradition I grew up in, nor am I interested in getting into any kind of debate on the role of women.)
*I LOVE that I have a break from the stresses of teaching in the public schools...high stakes testing, lack of funding, union issues, etc. (Not that there aren't unique stresses that come with working in Children's Ministry.)
*I LOVE that Anna gets to come to work with me on Sundays and that I have a direct role in what is happening with her spiritual development at church.
*I LOVE that I get to use my skills and educational background in a new and creative way!!
*I LOVE that I have more time to devote to not only the Children's Ministry, but also the Junior High Youth Ministry. It is pretty cool to work with kids from birth through 8th grade. :-)

That is a lot of LOVE going on! However, there are a couple of unique challenges as well. Probably the biggest thing for me so far has been getting used to not working in a school environment where there were 60-70 employees and 400 kids milling around. With the exception of Sundays, that is not the case with this new job. There are 4 people (including me) who work at the office during the week...soon to be 5. As I said before, I love these people and working with them but it is a big change. We all have our own offices and things to do so it can get a little lonely at times. In fact, the other day I was at the office by myself for a while in the afternoon because the others were at various meetings, etc. After a while, I was hoping that the UPS man or someone would stop by just so I could have another human to talk to. :-) However, I am certain that anyone who goes from a school setting to an office setting has similar experiences. I am sure that, in time, I will probably grow to LOVE this part of the job as well!! :-)

I have been asked if I miss teaching. My answer is that I definitely miss all my friends, co-workers and students, but that I do not miss the actual teaching part. That alone tells me that I made the right decision. It just confirms for me that I needed a break from all the stresses of teaching and needed to jump into something that I LOVE!!