Adventures and Close Calls in Cars

It's been a while since my last post. October has been an odd month for me. I had a week off while everyone else was in school. It was so nice to sleep in! I had the week off b/c my school was on Fall Break, and I am on their schedule, not the campus one.
Since I knew I was going to have a week off, I went w/ my friend Morgan to her home for a weekend. We had a fun time but getting there was quite the task. We had just gotten onto 75N...and we ran into a traffic jam. Thinking it was a minor thing, we waited. Three hours later, we're still stuck in traffic but we'd inched along the highway. It took another 1/2 an hour for us to get really going on the highway. Because Morgan was taking other people home, we decided to not turn around and keep going. We made it to the gas station where we dropped off one of the girls. Back onto the highway getting closer to Morgan's home. Not even 5 minutes on the highway...and Morgan's car breaks down. The amazing thing was that we were in the left lane and were easily able to get to the side of the road on the right. Morgan quickly called her parents (who were sleeping), and they drove the 45 minute drive to get us. We couldn't find her AAA card, so her parents called and took care of arranging a tow truck to come. While we were waiting, a police man (aparently THE policeman from the area) came up to check on us. It was a bit scary as it was late at night and there were 3 girls in the car in a badly lit area on the highway. Morgan's parents were such a wonderful sight to see after our unusually long trip.
Another odd thing about October is that I had another driving first. This one was quite scary as I hdryoplaned last week on the way to school. Kentucky has been under a drought watch/warning for a while and we finally got some rain. I have to drive a backroads, curvy highway to get to my school. Being that it had been so long since it had rained and (as I learned afterwards) oil rising out of the asphalt is really bad in this state. I will admit that I was driving a little too fast for the conditions. I went to brake for a curve and must have pushed my brake a little too roughly. The car began to slide and my brain went blank as too what to do. I kept pushing the brake which caused my car to actually turn a circle. The circle caused me to cross onto the opposite lane where I stopped. I was facing in the correct direct but I was stopped in the curve. I was fortunate to have a nearby place to get turned back around. As I began driving, about 15 feet later I saw an oncoming truck. I can't even begin to express how God worked in time that morning. The road is pretty well traveled and no one was around me when I hydro-planed.
I've started to teach more often. This week I am doing a unit on the 1920s. I am teaching both general U.S. History classes that I have been with since the beginning of the semester. I enjoy it on the whole but for me it's been getting to know the kids and faculty that I have enjoyed the most. I've been feeling like the Lord has been preparing me for what is next. And although I have no concrete plans to work in a school...this semester being in the schools in the role of the teacher has forced me to see myself as an authority figure. I'm learning how to balance being nice w/ firmness when I'm teaching and wanting students to respect me and each other. Little by little the Lord is leading me into adulthood. He helped me survive getting a shot by myself (something I don't do well with) and also has opened some possibilities of where I'm going to live after this semester. He is opening a job possibility as well.
I'm starting to look forward to where I am going and what I am doing, although I'm not sure what exactly that is yet. :) My large focus is on student teaching. There are several things I have to do outside of teaching lessons for my portfolio. The portfolio is connected to receiving my diploma. So it is an important endevor as well.
How have you all been? How has the Lord been working in your life lately? Is there something you want prayer for?

Getting Caught Up in the Details

I must confess, that I struggled with reading "The Scaret Letter". It wasn't that I didn't understand it but, I felt like Hawthrowne's attention to minute detail was excrutiatingly painful. Once I got past the paragraphs talking about one single piece of furniture...I was able to see the book for what it was. A story that looked at shame from a public and private point of view.
Lately, I've felt like I've been getting caught up in the minute details of my life. That as much as I try to focus on the big picture...I just can't seem to get past the details. And maybe it's because the details don't seem minute to me. They seem large and slightly overbearing. The reality that I need to figure out where I'm going to live, not to mention some form of employment before December (would be preferable anyway). Those two things have been the details I've been obsessing with since coming back to KY. However, while all this keeps taking my attention...I have a responsibility to give my best to my kids at school. And truth be told...they haven't seen my best yet. They know that I know their names and care about them. They know that I've graded the majority of their work. But do they know I've given them my best?
I don't know why staying on focus has been so hard for me this semester. I keep drifting back to myself and my concerns. It comes down to me not fully trusting God and lacking the faith that he will take care of me. I know that there is a balance to trust and faith...God does expect some work on my end too.
Despite my distraction, God keeps working. He has let me know in so many different ways, that I'm not alone, even when it feels like it's just me. He truly has been leading me and preparing me to embrace being a college grad in the world. Not so protected. Not so community bonded. More responsibility. More bills. More money management.