My teaching journey began as a child when I would dress up as Mother Goose and read to my siblings. In fact, my poor siblings were victims of my teaching game quite often, which is part of the reason my brother began calling me Rafiki - forever teasing me about being a wise old monkey. It's a nickname that stuck and even my students, whereupon learning my nickname, often called me Miss Rafiki. They say you play how you work, that was true for me at least, because no one was surprised that I wanted to go to school to become an English/Language Arts teacher. Immediately after receiving my teaching certificate in 2007 from Doane College I signed a contract to teach reading in a Title 1 school, where I focused my attention on giving failing readers keys to reading success, which was a major challenge considering most of my students came into my classroom reading below grade level and I did not have a curriculum - so I began creating one. Two years later I was married and then in 2010, I completed my Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction. After five years in the classroom, I found out I was expecting our first child. My husband and I decided that I would spend the first five years of our children's lives at home with them where my real education began! The opportunity to be at home with my girls opened the doors to pursue many teaching endeavors because teaching isn't just something I do, it's my calling! My first calling is to equip the two little people God put in my life to learn anything, anywhere, with or without me.