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The last time I blogged was in August of this year. I shared some of the struggles I had faced the spring before and how the summer of 2023 was my shortest summer break ever. I talked about how I had worked on a few small house projects over my four week break and had just taken life a little more slowly than other summers. On August 1st, I jumped back into work, excited for the 2023-2024 school year. August and September went well. We had new leadership in Central Office, a few new team members in my department, and some focused strategic growth-planning. It was shaping up to be a great first quarter. And then came October. On the morning of Monday, October 2nd, I was standing at my computer typing a report when I got a casual text message from my mom, "I'm gonna run up to the ER at KU Med." Mom had been having some significant back pain for a few weeks and had pushed through the pain for a little while to get through September. We were just coming off of Homecoming week and basketball wasn't starting yet, so she felt like it might be a good time to go try to figure out what was going on with her. Little did we know that this trip to the Emergency Room would change our lives forever. Mom was admitted to the hospital that night and in a whirlwind two weeks, had several tests and procedures done to finally reveal that she was facing Stage 4 Neuroendocrine cancer throughout her body. They sent her home with hospice on Wednesday, October 18th, and on Friday, October 20th, she went to be with Jesus. 18 days. Over the course of 18 days, we went from thinking she had a kidney stone or something similar, to planning a Celebration of Life for our amazing wife, Mom, and Grams. It has now been just over two months since we lost Mom. We have heard stories of her love and generosity from so many people. We have created a hashtag in her honor to share these stories with others: #thankyoujeaniestephens. We completed a (hilarious) bucket list of items that Mom had created for us to do, following her passing. We have navigated a wonderful visitation and funeral with over 800 people in attendance. I will share more about her service in a future blog post. I don't think I've processed it fully yet. We have gained another daughter, who will be with us until May (thanks to Mom's dream of hosting an exchange student). We made it through Thanksgiving, leaning into the memories, the love of family, and the comfort of Jesus. And this week, we celebrated our first Christmas without her here. We used paper goods from her house, handed out the stocking stuffers to the grandkids that she had already purchased (#thankyoujeaniestephens), and shared memories through the entire evening. I know she would have been proud.
In Philippians 4, the Apostle Paul says that there is a "peace that passes understanding". I have always heard this phrase and believed it to be true. But over this last two months, I have felt it in a way that is truly indescribable. Losing my mom has changed me to the core, and yet -- the Lord has sustained me day in and day out, wrapping His arms around me and giving me hope for the future. God is still good, friends. He is still here and He is still good.
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This has been a year of transition. As you might remember, I have officially left the classroom and am now serving as our school district's Director of Special Services. This new position comes with some new responsibilities and of course much excitement! Since working on some of my new duties and trying to be very prepared to go into the new school year, I have realized that if I'm going to continue to be the best wife, mom, Christian, and educator that I can be, there will need to be some more changes taking place over the next year. And so...here is my second big announcement for 2018. Besides leaving my classroom, I'm also going to put the camera down in the near future.
I have been able to be a part of so many new marriages and family events.
I have spent time with people at the very beginning of their lives and with family members nearing the end of life. I have captured photos for friends and family members who are preparing for deployment or getting ready to announce a pregnancy. It has been such an honor for me to be included in these experiences. But now...it's time to slow down a bit on the home-front as I learn my new position at school. Of course, I still have some sessions and weddings scheduled for this fall and I still have some friends out there with gift cards waiting to be used, so the camera won't be put away for good...but I won't be scheduling anymore full sessions at this time. I will still have a fall mini-session to kind of close out the year and I might still do some sports' photos or other mini-sessions here and there, but I need to take a step back and focus on the family, the farmhouse, and my new responsibilities. I am beyond thankful to all of those clients who have chosen me to capture their memories through the years. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Feeling bittersweet at the farmhouse, Hannah ❤️🏡❤️ It's been just over a month since I blogged on the last day of school. I had big summer plans for the blog. I would share the continuation of our decluttering journey. I would post about our garden. I would showcase our farmhouse projects with everyone, as we finally marked some of the items off the list that we've been putting off all school year. I would finally get those items finished that we had been procrastinating on. And I will say...we have made progress.
I am so excited and looking forward to my new position for the 2018-2019 school year.
I have thoughts and dreams and a vision for what the Special Education department will look like in the future. However, there are still some responsibilities lingering from last school year and I would like to take care of these things before going back to school in August. This is a time of transition and I need to be proactive in my planning and preparing. I need to be intentional in my learning and my personal summer professional development. I need to be "vision-minded" as I close out last school year and look forward to next year. I want to be able to start fresh in August and to offer a fresh start for my staff members and students. And to do that...the groundwork must be laid now. This summer. This last Friday was my predecessor's final day. He's now retired and already enjoying life in Galveston, Texas. (Congratulations, Fred!) We took him out to eat on Friday and then I went back to school and starting moving my personal belongings down to my new office. When I walked out of the building that day, I vowed to not come back until July 9th...taking this week to relax and enjoy my family. Taking this week to watch our town's annual 4th of July parade, to shoot off fireworks, to get some projects completed around the house, to go to the lake, and to just spend time with Mr. Farmhouse and the girls. There is still much to be done...on the farmhouse and in my new office, but those things can wait. Happy "Stop Week" from the Farmhouse, friends. ❤️🏡❤️ This is a big one, folks. This post will be unlike any post I've ever written. Yesterday, a student asked me about the situation and I decided it was probably time to let the cat out of the bag. My colleagues and my family, along with some friends, already know my big news. However, I feel like posting it on the blog makes it public knowledge and that can only mean one thing... This is really happening. After thirteen years as a teacher of one kind or another, I'll be leaving the classroom.
I wanted to be the reason that a student with special needs felt successful in the general education classroom. When my former students were asked later in life who their favorite teacher was...I wanted to make that list. I wanted my kiddos to look back on their time with Mrs. Newkirk as their teacher and say, "She played a small part of who I am today." I'm hopeful that I've been able to make a difference like this in the lives of kids and families over the last thirteen years. However, the Lord has also given me a passion for people with special needs. My parents opened up a group home for adults with disabilities when I was in upper-elementary school. What started out as four adult women with various needs living with us in our home from then until my high school years has now grown to three separate group homes in our small town, where we provide housing and community habilitation services for twelve ladies. Growing up in the group home led me to pursue a double-major in college...elementary education and special education. In fact, I started my career in the special education classroom and only transitioned into the general education classroom because of a series of crazy events that I believe the Lord orchestrated to give me general education experience, to allow me to meet and work with some of my very best friends in the world, and to give me an opportunity to touch the lives of many children over the last ten years. Almost nine years ago, I graduated with my masters degree in Education Administration. My plan was to continue teaching for several years and then hopefully find an elementary principal's job to finish out my career...but not for a looooooong while. And then, a few years ago, my principal (a mentor and friend to me) said, "Have you ever thought about going into special education administration?"  Well, I hadn't really considered that and honestly didn't even want to think about going back to school. (Okay, in the interest of full disclosure...I didn't want to think about PAYING to go back to school.) However, the administrative team encouraged me to not dismiss the idea immediately, but instead to call and see what classes I would need to fulfill the requirements necessary for a job in special education administration. So in April of 2016, I called. And I needed two classes. Two. I needed one class that was offered only a 45-minute drive away, over three weekends that next summer. Three weekends that were open on our family calendar. I also needed an internship class that I could do right there in my home district with the Director of Special Services. And we could pay for them both in cash. No more student loans. That seemed easy enough. So I signed up, thinking it would be good to have options for my very distant future. I finished up the class over the summer of 2016 and finished the internship in the spring of 2017. Fast-forward to this past August...the beginning of this school year. Our superintendent calls me into his office to tell me that our current Director of Special Services is retiring at the end of the year and he would like me to be ready to present to the school board about the possibility of stepping into that position for the next school year. WHAT!?! Like NEXT YEAR!?! His idea was that I could be trained during this school year...to shadow our current director, to prepare to take that role the following August. Long story short, Mr. Farmhouse and I prayed about it. A host of family and friends prayed about it with us and for us. We had lots and lots of conversation about it. I talked for hours about the possibility to my current teaching partner. I contacted friends of mine who are special education directors for support and answers to my questions. I presented to the board. They offered me the job. And I accepted. I believe that I will be able to use my leadership skills, my passion for education, and my knowledge and experience working with my students and the adults in our group home with special needs in this new role. I believe that this is just another place that God can use me to make a difference in the lives of children and families. There are things about this transition that will not be easy.
With any transition, there will be some sorrow...some difficulty. But there will also be joy, excitement, reflection, and new ideas. I am so thankful to be able to stay in my current district. I've grown so much as an educator and met so many people who are near and dear to my heart. I'm grateful to my principal for pushing me to go back to school, our superintendent for encouraging me to move forward, our school board for giving me this opportunity, our current special education director for training me, my mentor special education director from my alma mater, my colleagues (current and former) for believing in me, the two fourth grade teachers in my building that make up the other half of our team for offering so much encouragement this year, my teaching partner for all of his support through the years...especially this year, my friends, my family...our parents, grandparents, and siblings, my dear Mr. Farmhouse and our three sweet girls. I'm grateful for my students & their parents through all of my teaching years. For the life lessons that I have learned standing in front of that classroom. For the opportunities to grow and develop into the educator I am today. I'm just so very grateful. Life will be different here in the farmhouse in just a few short months. For now though, I'm going to enjoy the time I have left this year with my darling third graders...shaping young minds. Laughing with them and cheering with them. Helping them along and making sure to let them know how much they help me along, too.
January 9th marked our six-month anniversary of our "first night sleeping at the farmhouse". Six months. In some ways, it feels like that was ages ago...and in some ways, it feels like yesterday. Over the snow days (and ice day and really cold wind-chill day) that we had off of school last week, I really reminisced about our time here at the farmhouse so far. I started looking through some of my old blog posts and Instagram photos. One of my most favorite memories for the rest of my life will be from 9:00 at night on the first Saturday night that we slept here. Our minister and his wife came out and prayed over the farmhouse. You can read about it in my blog post from that day...Bless this Mess. Since that warm July night, we have enjoyed family movie nights cuddled in the living room, mornings on the front porch reading our books, pick-up games of basketball out to the north of the house, friends over to BBQ, softball practice out in the yard, and for Thanksgiving we hosted our first TWO family dinners out here. We experienced our first farmhouse Christmas with the girls. We have painted and decorated, Added an upstairs bathroom, Tore down a barn, Added a chicken coop, Purged belongings, Purchased furniture. It has been quite the journey and I know we are nowhere near "finished".
Today was day #5 of my school year, but day #1 for the girls. This year, I have a third grader and a fifth grader. How. Did. That. Happen???
This year, Claire Bear decided to join Harlee and attend school at the alma mater of Mr. Farmhouse and I. We knew this would happen eventually. We wanted them to become Adrian Blackhawks eventually. But here we are. Here I am. I drop them off at 6:30 a.m. to various family members and I drive out of town. I arrive at school by myself. I get ready for my day. I teach. After school, no children come into my room to tell me about their day. Nobody asks me for snacks. Nobody complains that I'm taking too long or that they're ready to go. I do what I need to do in the peace and quiet. Too peaceful and too quiet. I miss them. I'm so excited for what they are going to do this year. The ways they'll grow. The things they'll learn. The relationships they'll build. This is a year of many firsts. Things are changing at the farmhouse and I'm trying hard to embrace it. To enjoy the transitions and embrace the subtle differences that I'm seeing every day in the girls. The truth is though...sometimes I'd like to just have them back in kindergarten, sticking their little heads in my classroom door making the sign for "I love you". Have a great school year, my sweet girls. You're my most favorite 8 & 10 year olds in the whole wide world. Oh yeah, and Mattie, you're my favorite 3 year old in the whole wide world, too. P.S. My mom bought them matching friendship necklaces to help Claire make the transition. "Best" "Buds" "Forever" Be still my heart. ❤️🏡❤️ |
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