Monday, March 20, 2006

RETURN OF THE PRESCHOOL TEACHER

I'm back...in more ways than one.
First of all, obviously, I'm back to the blogs. It wasn't my intention to be away this long, but I've been busy doing different things. Now that things have settled down a little, I'll probably be able to do updates a little better.
I'm also back in my "other" career. I am a children's ministry director at our church, but it is, technically speaking, a volunteer gig. One of my paid jobs is on the church staff, assisting the pastor in assorted tasks from screening phone calls to filling the pulpit. My other job is as a preschool teacher for 4 year olds. It is a job I have not been able to do for nearly three months!
I won't belabor the details, but due to an error on the part of the government folks who check out backgrounds, my wife and I got "flagged." This was the most incredible, amazing, and potentially embarrassing development in our lives. After years of working with children (and raising three kids of our own), we were told that we could not report to the daycare. We had to go back and document and demonstrate why this government agency goofed (and we all know that the government never ever makes mistakes!).
It took three months. In the meantime, my class had substitute teachers and the assistant director took up the slack left by my wife (the director). But as we heard of difficulties, it was heart-wrenching knowing that we could not charge in to the rescue. It was frustrating to deal with the speculation of curious parents who kept wondering why we got "canned" by the government.
And suddenly, it was over! No apologies. No niceties. Click...we're back in. A simple change of code and all of a sudden, we're daycare teachers again (when people ask me why I was gone, I tell them I had a bad code(cold)!).
So I have returned to hugs and smiles from kids and parents alike. It is nice. There's no place like home ..... or daycare.....or any venue that fulfills our purpose.

1 comment:

  1. Glad to hear that!

    It must be an absolute joy for both you and your kids that you have now returned. As one former male preschool teacher to another, I really understand your happiness.

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