Happy Birthday James!

Today my son turns 35.  Time has flown by so quickly.  I posted on his Facebook page that I have loved him since before he was born and that is true.  Sometimes our journey has been rocky yet my love for my child has been abiding and strong.

He is an accomplished adult who is also the father of our grandson, Ronan.  He works hard and is well respected in his career and among his peers.  I admire the adult he has become knowing the journey he has taken throughout his life. 

Here is a photo of the two of us together when he was just a little boy.  I cherish those memories and hope we are able to make many more as we move through this phase of our lives. 

So Happy Birthday to my wonderful, talented and accomplished son!  May you have a long and wonderful life, surrounded by people who love you!

Photo Credit: RPM

Here we are today.  This photo was taken by my grandson, Ronan. 

"Life gets mighty precious when there is less of it to waste"
Bonnie Raitt 

A Walk of Faith

It has been one of those days.  Today I found out that my position at the college where I work will be eliminated by the end of May this year.  This is frightening for me because I am an older worker but not close to being able to retire.  I am trying really hard to look at this as a walk of faith for me.

I know that God will provide for my husband and me but it is so hard to rest in those promises right now.  My mind is spinning with possibilities.  What will I do?  How will we make it?  My job is the source of our health insurance coverage and that is scary.

In talking to friends here where I work I have been told unofficially that a place will be found for me.  I am highly trained and have taken on every learning opportunity that has been presented to me.  My employer also paid for my doctorate (I was fortunate to graduate debt free).  Why would they want to get rid of someone they invested so much money in?

So I have to just wait, and listen to the voice of God.  Knowing that what is coming, although it will be new, will also be a wonderful opportunity for me.

I am asking for your prayers if you are reading this post.  Also, I will let you know the outcome.

"I am no longer a slave to fear.  I am a child of God"  -  Bethany Music 

Back in the Saddle...

For the past two semesters at work I have been taking on new responsibilities.  Last semester I accepted an assignment as a course developer for one of the online psychology courses at the college where I work.  This semester I was asked to be the course mentor for the same course. 

A course mentor is someone who interacts with the faculty for an online course.  If the faculty run into problems with the course construction or internal workings of the curriculum they will do a report about the issue.  It is my job to respond to those issues, either clarifying the problem or possibly fixing an issue that was not found as part of the course development. 

After I took the position of course mentor I found out I also had to take an online course where I get certified to be a course mentor.  All right, I have taught online courses for the last few semesters at the college where I work.  I also took many online courses as part of my doctoral program.  I wrote many papers and journal entries during my studies about my love/hate relationship with online learning. 

So I started this course last week.  It goes for six weeks and has all the attributes of an online course; discussion board posts and responses, homework and assignments with deadlines and quizzes.  Yikes!  I have forgotten the pressure you experience in an online course keeping everything straight and trying to fit all the work in with your other responsibilities.  Did I mention deadlines?  I'm sure I did.  There are lots of deadlines. 

In my work as a college professor and course developer I had forgotten what it is like to be a student.  This course is bringing back all the memories, good and bad (remember love/hate relationship)?  It's fun to challenge myself and learn new things but I hardly seem to finish one session and have to move onto the next.  I am doing this while working a full time job, teaching two online classes and still working as a course mentor for a class.  (Also being Grandma to my grandson).

Although I am totally stressed usually at some point during the week, overall I am loving it.  It reminds me that this is what my students are experiencing.  I have a greater appreciation for what they are going through as they navigate my classes.