When is this baby gunna come out?

Oh, yes, that is me. When a student from my year 8 class (US 7th grade) presented it to me, I couldn't fight the urge to ask, "And who can I thank for the lovely portrait?" (while I did fight the urge to tell him that he misspelled a word one should never use, anyways). Jack admitted the deed and said, "It doesn't quite capture the delicacy of your beauty."

This among other memories has prompted me to pay homage to my time at Cherwell School before baby comes . . . any day now.

Many of you know about my schizophrenic work experience: a year teaching middle school in Knoxville, Tennessee; almost a year teaching high school in Dundee, Scotland; a year teaching high school in Abingdon, England; a year teaching ESL in Germany - all interspersed with stints at Starbucks. Thankfully, I'm a teacher, and it seems like every country in which we've lived has a host of jobs for teachers with expertise and experience a pulse.

I can't say I've always had a positive attitude about this constant change. We move a lot. A. lot. And each time we move, I hear the race official shoot the gun, and I'm off running to look for a job. Mostly, I have ended up loving each job once I settle in. But my previous teaching job in England ended up being a moment-by-moment lesson in survival. So much so that this more-than-ready-to-settle southern girl gave a resounding 'yes' when asked by my adventurous husband to uproot again and move to Germany for a year.

Then came Cherwell. Dave happens to work with the Head of the Cherwell English Department's partner. And they needed someone to fill a long-term sick leave, and fast. I was twelve weeks pregnant when they called me to come in for an interview. I shared this news first thing, and they said I could work as long as I would like. My first thought was that the job would probably be quite difficult if they were okay with me hobbling around the place. But we needed the money, so I took the post.

And it ended up being my favorite teaching post ever.

So, I'm now on maternity leave, and I do resonate with the image and words of this portrait, asking myself, "When is this baby gunna come out?" But I also look back at this last teaching experience, overwhelmingly grateful for its redemptive role in my life as a teacher. Maybe God does have a place for me in the public school after all. Did I just type that?

We are astonished and marvel that one so holy and dread should invite us into Thy banqueting house and cause love to be the banner over us. We cannot express the gratitude we feel, but look Thou on our hearts and read it there.

AW Tozer

"The Grace of God"

from Knowledge of the Holy