I wanted to write for a minute about why I work I the public schools. I have a degree in business and accounting and could work at an accounting firm or a bank, make more money than I am making now, and have a lot less stress and not have to deal with children or the behaviors that come with them. However, after my little boy went to school, I started looking for a job in the school system so that I could have the same work schedule as the kid's school schedule. We lived in a different town than we are in now, and when I went for an interview I didn't get a job at all. I started that year off working in a church preschool. After Thanksgiving I was called and asked if I wanted a job working in a severe and profound high school special education room. This is something that I had never considered, but I decided to give it a try and I found out that I love special needs.
Fast forward to a few years later and I now work in an elementary school with children with learning disabilities. Most of these kids need extra help in the classroom to do their work and some need remediation in a pull out setting. I feel like the kids I help are the ones who are most in need of a teacher to teach them, and this is where I come in. This is also a great place to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We have so many children who have terrible home lives, and I get to show these kids a little kindness. We have some who need a listening ear, and I get to do that too. When their peers or even classroom teachers don't understand the way they are I get to step in and help and this lets the children know that someone cares. While most people run away from the needy students that struggle academically as well as socially I am attracted to them. I can't really explain it, but I feel a connection to the struggling student when we achieve our little goals. I don't get paid much, but that is ok. Life is not about how much money you make, it is about the impact you have on other people's lives, and I am in the perfect place to make that impact.
On to homemade cream of chicken soup.
Yes I will use canned soup, especially if I am in a hurry, but homemade soup is cheap and much tastier. It is not a thick as canned so take that into consideration if you are putting it in a casserole. All I do is make a basic white sauce. I take three tbsp. of butter and melt it in a pan with five tbsp. of flour. Stir this around and add two cups of milk. Cook this until the sauce it thick and bubbly. You need to continue to stir it because the milk can burn. I then add two chicken bullion cubes, or you could add the powder or the paste. whatever you have on hand. I buy the bullion from SAMs and it lasts me forever. That is it and it is easy. If I am doing a big batch cooking I will double or triple this recipe to go in all of the dishes that need cream soup.
