Why yes?

As we started to drive away on Saturday, I finally had a chance to pull out my journal and start writing out my thoughts. Until I have a chance to write, all my thoughts just swirl around in my head like a jumbled mess. (Which is precisely why I avoid talking to people and most definitely don't call anyone). But writing truly does help me make sense of things or at least connect the dots. 

I decided to listen to my son and stop finding every reason NOT to do this and write out all the reasons why I SHOULD. I wrote at the top of the page, WHY YES. 

• I can work in full-time ministry as a teacher with the ultimate goal of leading children to Christ and teaching them how to live their life for him. (Honestly, I could probably stop right there. I mean, isn't that enough?)
• I can work for a mission organization built on FAITH.
• My classroom would overlook a beautiful pond of calm, still water.
• I could start and end my workdays (during my planning time) looking out over a quiet pond, an environment that feeds my soul. 
• I can teach Spanish in a fun, creative way, along with other electives I might enjoy or be knowledgeable in. 
• I can teach science in light of a Creator and right in the middle of 100 acres of nature.
• We can take field trips to enhance learning. 
• I can work with a small group rather than a class of 22 students and have one-on-one time to work with each of them. 
• I can teach creatively again.
• The focus is on the whole child, not just academics. When we meet the needs of the whole child, academics automatically improves. 
• We get to do activities together outside of the classroom schedule each week, getting to form a relationship with each child OUTSIDE of school. 
• There is a daily read-aloud time. I love doing read alouds, and I can read Christian series books that I used to read with David. 
• Students start the day with servant leadership/chapel.
• We're all one team working together to disciple and mold each child into a leader for the future. 
• I can use my knowledge, training, and experience working with kids from hard places. 
• Mike would be so much happier and more fulfilled.
• Mike would be closer to his mom and not feel so guilty about his brother having to carry most of that burden to help her.
• I have a really good, close relationship with Chrissy that has deepened spiritually over the last few months.
• Mike can help Matt take his business to a new level and keep him from having to turn away so much work. 
• Hearing comments like: "New Song needs you, Rachelle." "If you come to New Song, we'll be jumping up and down." "You would be such an answer to prayer." "I love your missional heart."
• I'd be joining God where He is already at work, calling people with just the right gifts to use at just the right time. 
• I'd have a chance to multiply my experience with and impact on Juan David and Julian by working with children from hard places.
• Though I completely shocked people when I brought up this possibility to them, they responded with overwhelming support and prayer.
• My own son told me, "The writing is on the wall, Mom. You just have to read it."
• I want to be around people just like Bob and Lisa, passionately and sacrificially following their calling.
• It's a chance to care for the widows and the orphans, the single moms and the fatherless.
• I'm NOT tapping into my ministry potential right now.
• It's a chance to think "maximum impact" with my time each day.
• Teaching board/card games is just one way they teach social skills there, and Mike and I have always been big at playing games as a couple and a family. 
• I'd be closer to my mother-in-law and have a chance to build a real relationship with her.
• I'd be closer to my sweet niece who I bonded with over a school project two years ago, who also just accepted Christ over the last year. 
• Mike could be part of his nephews' lives.
• The timing is right, with both my boys now adults.
• I get to be at the forefront of helping a ministry rise to the next level by narrowing their mission/vision and helping guide them move toward accreditation. 
• The whole year is not spent thinking about and prepping for a test. 
• I've come to realize that I can sacrifice everything, including my time, my health, my family, and my sanity in public school right now, and it still will not be considered enough. I will always fall short because of their new evaluation system. 
• Now I have a chance to teach with eternal purpose, to make an eternal impact.

I'm sure there are even more reasons, but that's the gist of what went through my mind that day.