Gifts

It is our uniqueness that gives freshness and vitality to a relationship.
~Dr. James Dobson

God has shown you His grace in giving you different gifts...So be good servants and use your gifts to serve each other.
~1 Peter 4:10

I went for years unsure of what my "special gift" was. I tried teaching for twelve years(basically because most of the women in my family were teachers of some sort), but never felt like that was my true calling. I became a mother and LOVE being a mom and wife. That job kept me very busy for many years (especially because when I had Nicholas, I had three children under the age of four)- until they started school. Then I had all this empty time in my day while they were away. I can only do laundry and clean house for so long before I feel crazy. I did volunteer at the school for a while until a snobby you-know-what stabbed me in the back and sent me running with my tail between my legs. So I began writing. I had always loved to write stories and poetry as a child. I would spend hours and hours in my room filling notebooks with little stories (chapters and all).

One story stands out in my memory about a girl who had just moved to a beach town. She met a girl on her street and they became friends. They had all kinds of adventures by the beach. Looking back I can see how that story paralleled my life. My family had just moved to another state in an older neighborhood and I was longing for my old neighborhood friends. I guess I took refuge in writing out my fantasies.

Isn't it funny how it took me nearly forty years to find my true calling? Andrew worries about his true calling, or talent as he calls it, and thanks to his teacher he is now doubting his capabilities. Hopefully Andrew can look at me and realize that sometimes it takes a very long time to figure that out. God speaks when He knows you are ready to hear Him.

What would you do?

Need advice:

What would you do if your child's teacher told him his at-home project was "pitiful and not worthy of turning in" when you know he tried his very best to draw a picture of a former president on his own? What if this very same child has an IQ of 138 and has been reading since he was 3, but his handwriting and drawing skills are not the best? Yeah...that's what I thought you would say.

I'm so sick of keeping my mouth shut and biting my tongue, but I will attempt to do this for the rest of the year, but once school is out, I can't wait to tell you all we have had to put up with this year from this teacher-who-gets-parents-to-grade-her-test-papers.