Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Mr. and Mrs. Burke

Since school has started, the blog gets moved to the bottom of the totem pole of priorities. My days once again are consumed by grading, uploading assignments, scheduling makeup work, and trying to manage a room full of 15 year olds.

But one thing is different this year.

I'm not doing it alone.

Evan is with me.

My talented husband became a full time teacher about 3 days before school started. Yep, talk about adding some crazy to our lives. I remember how big of a stress ball I was that first year, so I've been even more amazed at how Evan has handled the work load, the stress, the hectic-ever-changing schedules, and the kids.

He's done fantastic. Somehow this job combines everything he's good at in one. He honestly might be better than me at classroom management. After two weeks of school, kids were coming to my room telling me they "loooooved" my husband. "He's so funny, Mrs. Burke!" "He's my favorite!" I know in the back of their little heads they're thinking, "why weren't you fun like him?!"

I love working with Evan. We get to drive to work together. He now understands all the situations I talk about, my frustrations, funny moments, etc. I love walking into his room during snack (between 2nd and 3rd period) and just talking about our mornings. I love having him come to my room and pray for me before a parent conference. I love that he comes in to say hi to me during lunch since I eat with the ladies in the work room.

And the best part?! We haven't gotten tired of each other! While I knew we loved each other and that we were best friends, I had a tiny fear that we wouldn't love each other so much if we were together all the time.

Having Evan at Liberty has actually made me like the job more. For the past two years, I'd been frustrated that school took up so much time... that it took me away from my family. Now, even though we're there so much, we're doing it together. It's not frustrating anymore. I get more time with my husband than ever before. Plus, we get the same breaks! Hello, summer!!

What is crazy, is that this was NOT our plan. We had moved to Keller, fully intending on spending a significant amount of time with Evan in the youth pastor role at a church. God surprised us big time. As insane as that last week of August was with the full time job offer, talking with the church about the change in plans, and then focusing all our energy on Liberty-- it all felt right. We weren't panicked. We prayed and discussed the pros and cons, but I think we both knew right away that God's hand was all over this.

 As I look at the boxes that fill my apartment again after only 5 months, I have my theories about why God took us on this seeming circuitous path. We needed to try something new. We needed to move away. We needed time to asses our passions, our priorities, and think about the future. I needed to learn to let go of control and trust God's plan.

And now we're ready to be back in Denton. Working together. At Liberty. As teachers. Married to each other.

I so wish God would give you previews of your life sometimes. I think Evan and I would have bust out laughing if we had known this was the plan. That's why God is so, so good. He knows better than us.