My very first post...how exciting!

So as I sit here next to my son watching "Super Why" I am thinking to myself... Where do I begin? First of all this PBS show is awesome..if your child is a learning to read it is highly recommended!

Okay, well it has been 2 1/2 months since I lost my job as a "Personal Banker II". As I look back on it now it seems like it happened a year ago. When it happened it was one of the worst things that had ever happened in my whole life. I am not going to get involved in the logistics and details of what caused me to lose my job...anyone who knows me knows what happened and knows that I was definitely not treated fairly. However, I am working on putting all of that behind me. I am not going to say that I am completely healed from the effects of the blow I have felt to my self esteem, but each day it is getting easier. I still have a hard time seeing my customers out in public. Forteen years and 6 months is a long time to have invested in a job. You do build close relationships with your customers and some coworkers.

With all that being said, that is why I chose the name "The Opened Door". I truly believe that when one door closes another door opens. Immediately after April 21st, 2009, I had no idea what we would do financially, how we would be able to keep our children in private school and basically how I would ever be able to push forward. Of course, the element I left out of this whole situation was GOD. I'm not saying he wanted this to happen to me but I know that without him and my supportive mother and husband, I would have never been able to have pulled myself off of the floor and gotten to where I am now.

Once my 2 youngest children got out of school for summer I realized I couldn't sit around the house every day feeling sorry for myself. It was an extreme adjustment for them too. They had been used to going to an excellent private school where they also attended summer camp. Unfortunately, they weren't going to be attending this summer. They started missing their friends, teachers, activities and the routine. I knew I needed to step up to the plate and show them that it wouldn't be so bad being home with mom all the time. It wasn't their fault I lost my job and I wasn't going to make them suffer for one minute! Then came what were we going to do once school starts back up again in the fall? There wasn't any money in our budget now for private school. However, I vowed when my two youngest children were born that I would sacrifice just about anything to not put them into public school. Within weeks HOMESCHOOL thoughts started popping up all around me. Glen Beck did a segment on Fox about it. Our local newspaper did a segment about it on the front page of the Sunday paper, the only day we purchase each week. Then one day my husband asked me if I had thought about it. Why, yes! So I began to do research, research and more research. I talked to friends who already homeschooled their children. Before long, we realized this is what GOD has led me to do. I can't imagine anyone else being able to receive the enjoyment I feel watching my children learn a new concept, learn how to spell a new word, see the results of an experiment or just seeing their reaction to hearing me read them a story. Why would I want to share that with a teacher that doesn't care about my child the way I care about them?

In my next blog I will tell you about how I began to make my children's summer one they would never forget!