I began my experience with Holy Cross as a parent. I was looking for a preschool for my youngest daughter. From the first phone call, Holy Cross was the most welcoming, warm place. I knew she would be in good hands as soon as I met the administrator and the staff. While our younger daughter was completing preschool, my husband and I talked frequently about moving our oldest to Holy Cross. We knew we wanted her to experience the same family community and solid education that her sister was already experiencing. Our older daughter moved to Holy Cross during her third grade year. Even before she began, the students and teachers let her know, through words and actions, that she was a part of the community. Little by little, our family was becoming a part of a much bigger family. The next year, through God’s prompting, I knew I wanted to be a daily part of this community, working to provide other students with the same love, guidance, and foundation my kids were receiving. While I have a Master’s of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and have worked in both the educational and the health care fields as a speech pathologist, I am also a certified teacher. This is my twelfth year of teaching at Holy Cross. For eight years, I was a first grade teacher. This will be my fourth year as the middle school Language Arts teacher. I am grateful to share my love for reading and writing with middle schoolers. Also, I am able to share my love for teaching reading and writing with my colleagues by coordinating Foundations and Frameworks and Writer’s Stylus at HCCA. I enjoyed helping first graders take their first steps into elementary school. Now, I have the privilege of guiding our older students as they find their voice in writing. It is exciting to work with them as they write and revise. One of my favorite things to hear is, “That was easy! I thought it was going to be hard,” as they write about one of their passions. I get to hear about the things that they are interested in and encourage them to communicate their enthusiasm through a variety of genres. My girls have graduated from Holy Cross with so many teachers and staff members pouring into their educational and spiritual foundations. One is currently a senior at Texas A&M and completing her student teaching. And the other is a senior at Burleson High School. They continue to come back home to Holy Cross to work, to volunteer, and to visit. My husband of twenty eight years, Matt, continues to be actively involved in our school as a teacher husband though we’ve graduated out of our roles as Holy Cross parents.-