Lansing, Kansas, to Laramie, Wyoming—only 672 miles, but the hardest move my husband and I ever had to make. We’re a military couple, so we’re used to moving, but this time we had more than just us to think about. We had two school-age kids now, Aiden, 5, and Allison, who’d just turned 7. I worried about how they would adjust to a new town—especially a new school.
One morning shortly before the move, I asked my prayer group to pray for our family during our transition. For my second grader, I prayed for a teacher with a sense of humor to help lighten Allison’s often serious mood. For my tenderhearted and creative kindergartener, I asked for a wise teacher who would challenge Aiden and strengthen his desire for exploration.
We moved in the summer, and everything went smoothly. We settled in to our new community, made friends and went on family hikes in the rugged mountains outside Laramie. But as the first week of school drew near, my anxiety grew. One of my neighbors mentioned that the school posted the teacher assignments on the front doors of the main building a week before classes started. I could hardly wait.
The day came and I rushed to the school. “Looks like your son got the new teacher,” one of the other parents said, pointing to Aiden’s name. My heart sank. So much for a wise teacher—they probably stuck the new kids in some overflow classroom. I quickly jotted down both the kids’ teachers’ names on a scrap of paper and headed home.
Frustrated, I called my mom and shared my concerns. “I’m sure it’ll be all right,” she said. “What are the teachers’ names?”
I didn’t remember them off the top of my head. I pulled the scrap of paper from my pocket and read the names aloud for the first time.
“Allison’s teacher is Mrs. Witte and Aiden has…Mrs. Weisz.”
I realized it only then: witty and wise.
That’s just how they turned out too. Witte was a young, vivacious woman who always made the kids laugh. And Weisz was a former biologist who told me she’d become a teacher “to help kids learn to explore their world.”
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