amanda hann

amanda hann

wife to the tall guy.

            soon-to-be-momma.​  

investor of the future generation.

crazy in love with my Lolapup.

  ​Everyone of us spends some, if not all, of our childhood years

dreaming about what we want to be when we grow up.

We share. We dream (hopefully big).

And all too often we let other people crush them, doubt us,

and create ways to make us wonder if we really can do “it.”

Then, we reach this time in our lives when we’re unstoppable.

We believe in who we are and who we want to become.

To this day, from those early days when I was a child dreaming of

what I wanted to be when I grew up, I knew what it would be.

Today, I found my “it.”
I am a teacher.

I believe I will be a teacher for life,
whether it’s behind the brick and mortar or not...

my mission in life is to teach.

To teach what?

That’s the part that makes me alive. Not knowing the plan He has for me,

I try to allow God to show me who sits in my audience.

I want to teach whomever my path crosses.

What I love most about teaching is the fact that while I teach,

I learn. I grow.

Just as much as the learner himself.

That’s the power in my purpose.  

​No one ever finds their "it" without someone or something influencing them.

When I think about influence,

I can’t help thinking of the people who have played such a role in my journey.

The circumstances, both positive and negative,

that have shaped me into the person I am full of the passion I’ve made my own.

Consider Mrs. Simpson...

She was my first grade teacher.

She's a huge influence in who I am as a person and the educator I've become.

Cliché, I know, everyone says their first grade teacher made a difference.

For me it's truth.

It was first grade visitation day...

My mom had recently been admitted to the hospital for a gall bladder surgery.

Knowing there was no chance of my mom taking me, my Grandpa stepped up & took me.

Nervous because first grade was monumental.

Even more nervous, and slightly embarrassed,

because my Grandpa was taking me when it should have been with my mom.

Everyone else had a parent with them except me.

But Mrs. Simpson celebrated my Grandpa being present with me

all the while assuring me it was extra special.

At that moment, I knew first grade would be okay.

She taught me valuable lessons.

She taught me how to make any child learn: love them first.

Every day I remind myself that any child can learn.

However, before learning happens, love does.

Influence is powerful.

My prayer each day is that I allow others to influence me in positive ways

And use the negative experiences as a catalyst for change.

Lucky for me, there have been people in my life who have modeled this for me and 

challenged me to bring my best

To influence others and circumstances in positive ways.

Whether in my personal life or professional life,

​I believe whole-heartedly God created me to love children.

Creating desires in my heart to have my very own children,

I have used the last ten years of my life to make a difference in the lives of other children.

No matter what my professional path looks like, at the core, will always be children first.

Whether working one-on-one in the classroom teaching kids to read,

or now working with their teachers to help them become more effective with their instruction;

my core focus is the health of the whole child.

​Year after year, I wondered what God’s plan for me would be.

He’d given me so much...

A steady job that allowed me to go to work each day. Loving what I did.

Influencing and impacting in ways I would have never dreamt imaginable.

He allowed me to cross paths with an amazing young man, Adam,

who has taught me so much about the person I want to be.

I had it all.
a job. a husband. a pup. a house. a car to drive.

Yet, I felt like life was missing something..

All I ever wanted to be was a mom.

And for some reason, God wasn’t letting that happen.
For years, my husband had cautiously waited for the right time.
When “our” right time was here, nothing happened. Months came and months went.
Frustrated by disappointment, I became bitter.
Like many women’s stories, I realized I wasn’t alone.
However, that didn’t make it feel any better.
I’d get annoyed when I wanted to celebrate the joys of others.
While in my heart I was happy for them, if I were really honest,
every time I heard someone’s news, a part of me would ache.
Selfishly ache. 

No matter how much I’d pray that desire to go away. It wouldn’t.
A cycle of praying it away, followed by hearing other’s news resulting in angry, bitter feelings.
I remember vividly the day I came home from work saying,
“Adam, If one more person tells me they’re having a baby…”
It was at that moment I realized I needed an attitude and a heart check.
It was then I decided not to pray away the desire, but to pray for patience.
Needless to say, the patiently waiting part was the hardest.
However, I needed to trust God’s timing and not worry about my own.

Today, excitedly I can share within less than five months,
not only will God fill the desire of my heart, He’ll put in my hands
the little boy He’s blessed us with.

Knowing I always wanted to be a mother, I believe His plan for me.
Though frustrated and annoyed along the way.
It prepared me to be the mother I am about to become.
Freaked out & feeling totally incompetent to the do the job that lies before me,
I have never been more excited to begin a journey.

This adventure is about to rock our world.
With ten years of experience caring for other people’s children
it's taught me so much about who He created me to be at my core...
a mother.

​As any mother would hope, it is her children she'll have the greatest impact on.
I hope the same for my little man as he enters the world.
My heart has been created for loving the little people we call our children.
Often times we forget that the little people we raise
will one day become the big people who will run the world.
I think we forget that the people that matter the most are the ones with
the innocent hearts and the big eyes looking up at us as role models.
Whether we realize it or not,
they’re constantly watching our every move,
hanging on every word,
striving to be just like the “big” people in their lives.

To me, that responsibility is greater than any other I could ever have.
This is what I was made for.

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twitter: @countingon