A new house, A new Town, A new turn in our relationship

They say marriage is a journey. Well my whole life has been a journey. Sometimes I wonder how I got to the place I'm in now. You know when you really look back on your lifes twist and turns. Each one really playing a role in who you are today. I have been feeling a lot of that lately. Why am I living in Shreveport Louisiana. I could outline my path and give credit to those people who deserve credit for helping me reach my so many positive milestones. And, ... I could give credit to those people who helped me learn from bad mistakes.

I am going to start with today and today alone. Because as Ekhart Tole says ; Yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a mystery, you only have today. That is not a direct quote it has been a few months since I've read his life changing book. It sounds a lot like the quote from the movie Kong fu Panda. Anyway, this is something I have been trying to work on. making each day count, because it is all I really have.

Today I kissed my husband good bye about 6:40 this morning, half asleep. I think I should start getting up with him. I miss him while he's away. Or maybe, I just don't like being alone with so much work to be done in the house. It's so much better when he is here to distract me from the things I need to do. Then I secretly allowed our dog on the bed. This is a big NO NO in Ben's eyes. So the dog, here on out known as Hank. Hank got his name from Hank the Cow Dog. The children's series originated from Texas, also our favorite state. But, Hank is a bird dog not a cow dog. He should have been named Crawfish and called mud for short, because he really is a mudd bug. He get's muddy every chance he gets. It's insane. Well then, I got out of bed about 8:30 because the mail man came, and I have to get up everyday for that event because Hank thinks our house is being robbed. Why does anybody think it's a good idea to have a mailbox attached to your house instead of on the street. I thought it was cool, until Hank thought it was very uncool.

Then, I took Hank to play at Doggie Daycare, because I need to and currently should be studdying for my upcomming test this Saturday. I am about to spend the rest of my day or at least until about 3pm studying for the PRAXIS test. Which is a test to prove my competency once again as a teacher. I mean it's good to make sure teachers are competent. But I have a teachers licence in Texas, Tennessee, and Georgia. For some reason this doesn't prove me to be competent in Louisiana.

This is where I am going to share my very frustrating story about how hard it is to become a teacher in a new state without any connections.

So, back in May when Ben first told me we would be moving to Shreveport I begin the paperwork for Caddo and Bossier Parish School Board. I sent in certified transcripts, 3 letters of recommendation , I had my previous school board fill out paperwork on my competency and length of time worked in their district, copies of the test I took in Texas to become a Highly Qualified Texas educator, as well as the 100 hours of documented continued professional development hours, my diploma, my licenses in the other states, and who knows what else. Then about a month later, I received a letter from Mr. Charles Lowder the elementary Personnel Administrator of the office of certified personnel office in Caddo Parish School Board. This letter stated very simply, Thank you for your interest in our parish and for your COMPLETED paperwork. Then he ENCOURAGED me to contact principals and schedule interviews. That's it!
I did just that, I went on 4 interviews here in town, and the school that had my favorite position available called me back and offered me a job teaching third grade at their school. WOW, things were really looking up for me. I then started receiving letters letting me know about summer training classes and how to obtain free classroom supplies. I was very excited, and so was my future principal. Then, I know this is getting long, but this is the good part, Mr. Charles Lowder called me and said, I'm sorry dear you are not qualified to teach that position. You have to take the first part of the PRAXIS series for the state of LA. But you can teach Pre-k , Kindergarten or at a school that is not Title I. (Because they don't need highly qualified teachers????) I asked him why he sent me a letter that said I was free to look for a job... anyway.. This is getting too long. Basically he took the job away from me with no explanation to his wrong doing and then $210 later I am scheduled to take their test. This includes the $115 I had to pay for last minute registration because, I was not aware of the test, nor that I needed to take it.

I am now also going to have to spend half my day trying to find a job again.

But except for this one set back, I am REALLY enjoying our new town, our new house, and my new married life.