Episode 133 -- Leisa Lee -- Sweet Hope

This guest is strong in her faith in God and the center of her story is that she is a believer who has God involved in every aspect of her life and the opportunities she embraces. She grew up moving quite a bit and that impacted so much of who she became. Meet Leisa Lee. She is a wife, mom, grandmother and an educator. One of her phrases to her kids is “don’t get too wrapped up in your disappointments.” There is power in that statement. She got interested in education, specifically special education and began to prepare for her future. We talk about her life teaching where her children went to school where she taught and then came the day that they graduated--truly leaving her with a gap. We talk about empty nest and her struggle of processing what was next for her and the advice she can pass on to those who might be feeling similar feelings as the milestones are celebrated. Leisa went into special education—she says it is the sweetest punctuation to her career. She works with young adults to become more independent and be life ready as she helps connect them to their high school population.We talk about the timing when she decided to go back to work and how the transition and how to let some of the perfection go as everybody pulls together. Her husband Scott, helped her let her superwoman tendencies go and set a good example at the sae time. She talks about real parenting and discipline and the being a parent who was very much involved in her kid's school life too. Young parents are going to want to hear about some of the choices her family made to eliminate some of the drama. Kids are living without margins and that is something she felt that she could provide. "You can’t discipline or motivate multiple kids the same way." As Leisa experienced empty nest, she says that looking for grateful and thankful for what she sees their kids doing solves much of the longing because that is exactly what she prayed for as a young parent. Her advice is to find the good and find the chances to be together and celebrate.Listening to Leisa talk about her youngest daughter going to school in New York and stepping back and letting her 22 year old daughter leave Alabama and go to school so far away drops some jewels. It is a step of letting go and to live in faith and not hold her child back. We discuss living in margins in this episode. To find the space to do what you need and find rest along the path.Leisa is extremely compassionate and that permeates her existence daily. You’ll hear the framework she functioned in within her job. She paused the standards and looked at what needed to come out of her students and looked at how she satisfies the state and teaches the people in her room. They worked on a continuum and made a list of what the special education students need. She spends precious time teaching money skills, laundry skills, shopping skills, cooking skills and so much more. Leisa was met with great success and you will hear fabulous stories of the systems she’s created with variety, movement and adult interaction. You’ll be so impressed by the examples of what is happening through programming and extra efforts in the self contained classrooms. It is encouraging to hear the abilities of these students who are trained properly.In this episode we talk about burnout when it is hard to be passionate and fully invested in a career that involves so much service and one on one people interaction. In times of burnout, Leisa says that it is key to rest. The song “STOMP” is used by permission of artist Donica Knight and Jim Huff

Music "STOMP" used by permission of artist Donica Knight Holdman and Jim Huff