Friends and Neighbors: Becky Lowery

After teaching others' children for five years in the Kimball Public Schools, Becky Lowery made the decision to stay home and care for her own daughters, three-year-old Bri and Ele who is nine months old, while they are young.

"Teaching is something I'm passionate about," she said, "and if I'm passionate about something I enthusiastically dive into learning more about it, the more I learn the more confident I become in it and creative ideas continuously pop into my brain, the more creative ideas I share with my kiddos to meet their individual needs."

Lowery, who arrived in Kimball in the summer of 2009 with her husband Kyle, taught seventh and eighth grade reading, a high school remedial reading class, and many other miscellaneous classes while at the Kimball schools.

"I actually asked a lot of women around the community to give me their thoughts about staying at home verses returning to work – teachers, day care providers, friends, mothers of my students," Lowery said. "Their advice played a huge roll in my decision, but there are a few that stand out and one of them is my husband's."

Lowery's husband told her that she could always go back to teaching, but that she would never get back the first years of her children's lives.

"It was his support and encouragement that helped me set aside my career temporarily so I could soak up every second with our babies," she added.

When the young wife and mother decided to stay home a few years ago she spent time blogging, as "BecKyle – Soli Deo Gloria". Soli Deo Gloria latin for Give God the Glory.

"I write because I love it," explained Lowery, "It exists to share our lives and what God is doing in it. It's a small blog, but a big piece of me. Since Ele's birth, however, it's taken a back burner position in my life; a 9 month old and a 3 year old keep me pretty busy."

"My first year in Kimball was rough," Lowery said, "being so far from my friends and family made me lonely and I was doing everything in my power to leave. God kept closing every door I tried to open."

She became involved with the Kimball E-free church and said that it was her involvement with with the church and congregation that helped her settle into the community.

"I've grown so much since learning how to study the Bible and rightly apply it, and the friendships I've developed are pretty amazing!" she said "I am not at all the same person I was when I first moved here."

Lowery now stays busy at her church, taking part in the worship, music and other activities, such as helping with Operation Christmas Child during the pre-Christmas season each year.

She also is involved in various community activities, such as "Kimball Moms", and the Kimball Public Library's story hour for the younger children. She adds that she counts the women involved in these various groups as her friends.

Though she doesn't have a five year plan for her life at the moment she knows that God does and that she and her family will go wherever He leads them.