The Wait of My Life

I grew up in a military family.   Both of my parents were alcoholics and there was a lot of abuse between parents that I will not get into.   I saw a lot of things as a child that showed me how I did not want to be as an adult.

When I was nine years old, my parents divorced and I never saw my father again.  I lived with my mother in San Antonio – which was a life of poverty, welfare, food stamps, etc.   During this time I was shuffled between foster homes, children’s shelters and a very broken mother.  I definitely could have chosen the wrong path during those years where drugs and alcohol were readily available.  I see now that G-d was taking care of me by placing a fear in me.  Someone was praying for me.

Even though we seemed to have nothing – no car, worn out clothes and shoes, rationed food, and moving from one slum apartment to another, I know that G-d was still providing me with enough – no more, no less.  I thank G-d to this day for enough.

At the age of fifteen I was accepted in to the Methodist Home in Waco, Texas, thanks to a referral from a church in San Antonio.  When I arrived at the Methodist Home, I was 5’ 5” and weighed 105 pounds due to the lack of nutrition.  I remember asking for a second glass of milk and I couldn’t believe it when I was told I could have all the milk I wanted. Now I had food, clothes, shelter, and the promise that they would send me to college. 

When the time came, I enrolled at McMurry College in Abilene, Texas.  I went to college because I felt that I had no other place to go and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. 

My grades were low and I was not really interested in school.   There came a time when I was placed on scholastic probation and I was convinced that I was going to lose my scholarship, so I decided to join the Navy.    After speaking with the recruiter about all of the opportunities available to me if I joined the Navy – like the halo dive, I was excited about signing up.

I took the physical; picked the basic training station and I picked signalman school because I wanted to be on a ship.  I was told I would leave basic training with an extra stripe because of my college credits.  The recruiter said we had to go to Dallas for me to be sworn in, and he would pick me up at 2:00 A.M. on a Friday morning.  I sat on the steps of the dorm that Friday from 2:00 AM until 9:00 AM – 7 hours.  The recruiter never came.  At 10:00 AM, I got a call from the Methodist Home, letting me know that my scholarship had come in.

The recruiter called me right after I hung up with the Methodist Home.  I told him about the scholarship coming through and he told me that this was the first time in his career that he had overslept and he felt that G-d had put his hand on the alarm clock and that I was not supposed to be in the Navy.  He did not pursue me any further even though he knew I was ready to be sworn in.

I still could have made the decision to join the Navy, but I began to question if the recruiter was right – did all this happen for a reason.  I started to think about what I wanted to do with my life and what did I really enjoy.   During the summers I worked at youth camps and I realized that I liked helping and working with children.  It was then that I decided to become a teacher. 

I went back to college and majored in elementary education with a minor in biology.  Before I decided what I wanted to do with my life, I wasn’t interested in my classes and lacked focus.   Once I decided to teach, I made the Dean’s list and I graduated – seven years after I left high school thanks to the patience of G-d and the same folks at the Methodist Home who let me drink all the milk I wanted.

I applied for a job with the Abilene Independent School District in mid-summer.  G-d is good and He has a sense of humor too. I did not like Math.  I only took Business Math in High School and a couple of Math classes in college.   I did get an interview at Jane Long Elementary but because I had applied so late, the only teaching position available was for – (you guessed it), 6^th grade Math. I was honest and I told my background in Math and that I really didn’t like Math, but I was blessed and was given the job of teaching 6^th grade Math and 5^th and 6^th grade Physical Education, or P.E.

G-d is good and I was asked to be the first full time P.E. teacher for the school.   I did not have much of a childhood so G-d gave me seven years of teaching P. E. where I got to play with the kids. 

I had some health problems so I stepped out of P. E. and right into an interview with the new principal and I was hired as a 5^th grade teacher and taught Math for the remaining of my 32 years at Jane Long Elementary School.  I had built a reputation of being one of the best 5^th grade math teachers in the district.  All thanks to Hashem.

My first year of teaching, I met Lonnie Hale who is closer than a brother to me.  He led me to meet George Brock the “Chuck Norris” of Noahide, and during this journey of 35 years, I was led to the truth of the Torah and Emuna.   I made a declaration before a Bet Din of Rabbis to accept the 7 laws of Noah at the Noahide Nation conference in Dallas, Texas on July 3, 2011.

It would take a book to fill in all the holes in my story where I see G-d’s watchful eyes and hands guiding me.  I thank Hashem that I met Rabbi Lazer Brody.  I have read many of the Garden books and have many of the CDs.  I know through Emuna that everything comes from G-d for a reason and is for the best.   The world is a better place because Rabbi Shalom Arush and Rabbi Brody are in it.  I love the Jewish people and I love Israel and I look forward to Messiah and the day when the whole world is Israel.