This past semester has been one I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
When I walked into the preschool classroom at Zion Lutheran School in St. Charles, Missouri, something deep inside me stirred. It felt familiar, sacred even. And then it hit me, this wasn’t just a full circle moment. It was a three-circle moment!
I attended Zion Lutheran Preschool in Belleville, Illinois when I was four years old. Those early memories…learning, singing, being loved and cared for in a faith-filled space were the very beginning of my story. Years later, my very first contracted teaching position after graduating college was teaching half-day preschool at that same Zion Lutheran School in my birth church in Belleville. That classroom was where I learned who I was as an educator, where my calling first took shape.
And now, thirty years later, I found myself teaching half-day preschool again at Zion Lutheran School. This time in St. Charles, MO. This time at Mini Me’s school. This time at a church that has become an incredible home for my family of three. God’s timing is never accidental, and this moment was no exception.
When I heard that a teacher friend was in need of a long-term substitute, I felt something I had never felt before. There was no debate. No list of pros and cons. No second-guessing. I felt called…clearly, unmistakably called to step in. The Holy Spirit was working inside of me, nudging me forward. There was only one answer my heart could give.
Yes.
I won’t pretend it was easy. It wasn’t. There were sacrifices…real ones. I no longer had the opportunity to pray with my Moms in Prayer group or meet with my morning Bible study. My energy tank was empty most days, leaving no fuel left for workouts at the YMCA. Our household felt it too with less prepared meals, a little more chaos, a little less order.
But oh, how the sacrifices paled in comparison to the blessings.
When I say yes to something, I’m all in. One hundred percent. And I gave this job everything I had. In return, I was given a class of littles who loved stories. Truly loved them. If they could have spent the entire day listening to books and eating snack, they would have been perfectly content.
So I answered that love with books…lots of them. High-quality, beautiful picture books and some repetitive texts. Some I remembered sharing with kindergarten students I taught years ago like “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “Mrs. Wishy Washy.” Some I had once read aloud to my own Mini Me when she was in preschool. And a few that were brand new to me like “The Gingerbread Girl.” Every story felt like a gift.
And of course, the reading consultant in me couldn’t help herself. I modeled comprehension strategies while reading. I taught them how to make predictions, how to wonder, how to notice new vocabulary. I stretched them gently, intentionally and they rose to the challenge! The growth these littles made in such a short amount of time was incredible.
The greatest blessing of all was teaching them about Jesus and showing them His love every single day. Attending chapel each week. Praying together. Helping them learn letters and sounds using Open Court Reading and alphabet sound cards. And wow, the instruction stuck! They remembered. They applied it. They grew.
One of the sweetest blessings in this adventure was how much Mini Me loved having her Noteworthy Mommy at school. She beamed with pride every single morning. She and her BFF would often help me set up the classroom, straightening chairs, setting out materials, doing the important “teacher work” before the day began. Watching her move through her school day knowing I was on campus was pure joy. She loved having me there, and I will treasure those moments forever.
This position, which was meant to be temporary, ended up being extended longer than originally planned. And honestly, it felt exactly right. Like God saying, “Stay a little longer. There’s still more for you here.”
This semester stretched me. It exhausted me. It blessed me beyond measure. And as I look back, I can say with full confidence this wasn’t just a job. It was a calling revisited. A circle completed. A reminder that God isn’t finished with us yet, and sometimes He brings us back to where it all began, not to repeat the past, but to show us how much we’ve grown.
Noteworthy Mommy 