Facing the Unknowns

There are exactly three knowns in our life right now:

1. I am jobless as of yesterday*
2. We are homeless in exactly one week from today**
3. Brad still has a good job

Besides those three things, everything else is unknown. So to answer all the questions these knowns might bring up- the response is the same to all of them: I DON'T KNOW.

No, I don't know where we are going to live next. No, I don't know where I will be teaching come fall. No, I don't know what we want to do with our lives. We have ideas but right now, we seem to be stuck in this unknown stage.

This all goes back to December when I realized it was time for me to move on. I was looking internationally, but it didn't pan out. Still, Brad and I came to the realization God had a plan for us and it might not be here in Arizona. Six months later, we still aren't sure what that plan is. 

Some call it crazy and insane, but I call it a leap of faith. Yes, I am leaving a good job but after 3 years, I feel like this chapter has run its course and it's time for me to move on. Where or what is still being figured out. We'll keep everyone posted once we know more, but for now, my standard response is "I don't know." And that is okay. [takes deep, calming, shove-the-panic-back-down breath]

As Helen Keller, once said, "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

Footnotes for our concerned mothers:

*Don't forget teachers get paid through the summer

**We have friends taking us in so we won't be living in our car (yet).

Two More.

There are two more days of school left. Two more drives through the desert. Two more days with my students. Two more days to pack up my classroom. And then, I'm closing the chapter at this school. Onto the next teaching adventure!

I can't believe it - when I look back, I think about how incredibly slow some school days went, how I didn't think I would survive until the end of the day (much less, the week). Yet here I am, three whole years later. I'm sad to be leaving my school, but I know it's time to move on. Crazy how it's all come down to two. more. days.

While I am certain wherever I end up, I will love those students just as much - learn from them just as much - be frustrated by them just as much - be silly and dance with them just as much, this will always be my first job. And these kids will always give me nightmares hold a special place in my heart! I know I'll wonder about how they are doing and where they ended up, especially the ones I fed and clothed. But I've learned that is the nature of my job - you pour your heart and soul into 29 kids for 180 days and then send them off to the next thing, hoping they will remember the most important of your lessons.

It's not easy to know how much of an impact you have as a teacher, but one student in particular is making sure I know it before I leave. This girl was in my very first class, back when "fake it 'til you make it" was how I survived. I must have done something right that year because she's hung around since then (I affectionately call her my stalker). She still comes in to help set up my room in the mornings and most afternoons, I return from dismissal to find messages from her on the board. Only two more days of that too. Did someone say bittersweet?

ps. If we are being technical, and I know some of you like to be, it's only one and a half more days. Not quite as nice to type but if you're being technical...one. and. a. half.

DM 2007, still going strong!

Dance Marathon 2007.

I can still remember doing the morale dance with the hundreds of other awesome ISU'ers in the Memorial Union my freshman year. But the only person I was paying any attention to was my morale captain, Brad.

I'd always find Brad on the stage to watch him during the dance - especially during this splice of the seven minute mash-up song:

"I'm the one who wants to be with you 
Deep inside I hope you feel it too  
Waited on a line of greens and blues  
Just to be the next to be with you"

Yup, I had a major crush - even though he thought my name was Emily. Good thing we were able to work past that!

Three years later, we performed that same morale dance at our wedding. We both always say the only thing we would change about our wedding day is tell someone to film our first dance in its entirety. People thought we were dancing to Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight" - psych!

Today we celebrated our third wedding anniversary - and yes, of course, we did the morale dance in our living room. That's how we roll! Our apologies to the lady who lives below us.

Summer is close!

Ah, abandoning the luxury of a bed, sink, and flushing toilet all for the pleasure of sleeping on the ground, filling dish tubs with water in attempt to warm it by dinner, and squatting in the woods. One of our favorite things to do! Summer must be near because camping season has arrived!

Brad and I went out for the first time this past weekend to escape work and the city. This was also the first time we drove my Elantra camping, since we sold the Jeep last fall. Packing all our gear, plus two dogs, into the car really made me miss that spacious Jeep. FYI, Cleo makes a good navigator on trips. You know, in case you ever need one. Athena, not so much. Lindsey either.

 

Another sign summer is close - I started working on my Chaco's tan line. We were hiking on some trails and a friend asked me about my shoes. I realized I have had this same pair of sandals for 7 years now - since freshmen year of college! They have been literally around the world with me - pretty sure if they could talk, these sandals would be singing Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere." But you'd never guess from how they look - and I still pull them out for any adventure-ing we are doing. Best $90 I ever spent on footwear! You should probably go get a pair.





ps. only 7 more days of school left in the year.
pps. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To Mom

To the amazing women in our lives...

...the two who are always on the sidelines, looking out for us...

...no matter how crazy our ideas about where and what we should do in our lives get, these two never waver in their support...

 ...or guidance - teaching us everything we needed to know in life, like: how to wash dishes by hand, living out the golden rule, how to do your own laundry, the supreme importance of family...

...and raising us with the most important thing they could have given us: our faith...

Thank you.

Happy Mother's Day!!!