My new favorite song

Alright maybe you've heard this song before but maybe not. It's my new favorite. The video is sweet. It reminds me of me and my husband. :)
It's called "Someday" by Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors. Here's a link to their facebook site. Oh, don't forget to go down and pause or mute my playlist!

Mystery

I'm awake and it's 1:30am. I should be sleeping but I'm restless. Also, my husband just got me Sara Groves' new album. I can listen to her music and just let it sink in like a good book. It's incredible to me how music can speak to our hearts and how God uses it to speak truth to us. It can encourage. It can bring our attention back to God. It can make us stop long enough to think and really pray. Tonight, I've listened to one song over and over. It's called, "Mystery."

"I see my faith before me. It's always there before me.

And I can no more own it than I can own the road that I'm on.

I don't know where it leads me. I don't know where it leads me.

Peace and Resurrection. Suffering and Dejection. I don't know.

And my body's tired from trying to bring You here.

And my brow is furrowed trying to see things clear.

So I'll turn my back to the black

And fall.

And wait for the Mystery to rise up and meet me."

This is how I feel. I'll keep waiting. I'll keep giving over all this unknown to Him.

New Update!

I figure I owe everyone out there an update. :) Sorry I have checked out of blogging for a while. We've been unpacking, applying for jobs, and swimming. We have both been applying for several jobs and have wondered and wondered why we couldn't seem to get any of them. I was able to get an interview for a job that I really wanted as a bilingual Kindergarten teacher a couple weeks ago. It went great and the principal called me and said they really wanted me to work there and thought I'd be a great fit. However, they were having a problem with my Texas certification. She worked with the district office for about a week trying to figure something out but it came down to the fact that in NC there is no such thing as bilingual ed. certification so I technically couldn't take the job. I could take the test here in September but they couldn't hire me now. The principal was so kind and encouraging and said for me to please stay in touch and let her know if I get certified later on. After that I was pretty discouraged and started applying for every Spanish job I could find. I found out that was the only area that I would be allowed to teach. So, still time went by and we heard nothing. We started feeling worried and were being to freak out a bit. If we didn't find a job by the end of the month, we couldn't pay the rent. We just kept remembering that God had called us here and that He has continually provided for us....even though we didn't see ANY signs of it yet. God did lead us to a special verse though. We started reading Habakkuk. Habakkuk had a lot of issues that He brought before the LORD. He didn't understand what was happening and he certainly didn't understand God's timing. However, God was so good to respond this way:

"For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." - Habakkuk 2:3

We committed to trust the LORD no matter what His timing. At the end of Habakkuk, he says, "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the LORD, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on my high places."

Well, fast forward to last Sunday. We have been attending a church here that is super close to where we live. It's incredible really because we know that God perfectly led us to it. There are several families that have adopted and many of those are trans-racial adoptions. Also, there are many families like ours, that have the husband attending Southwestern. There seems to be a real community there and we really like that. So, anyway, we went to a worship/prayer/communion service last Sunday night. We decided to ask for prayer for employment and for Isabel as she starts Kindergarten. At first I felt funny to ask since we had only visited the church 2 or 3 times...but I really just felt so comfortable there. They all came over and prayed for us and it was so encouraging. We left with a sense of hope. We left knowing that God would indeed provide. I love that about God's people. I love that we have each other to remind one another of God's faithfulness and goodness, to spur us on in our faith. So, the very next day, we anticipated something...we just waited knowing that somehow or another one of us was going to get a job. Finally, at 8:45pm, I got a call from a principal of a local high school. He wanted to interview me for a Spanish teaching position. We took a deep breath and relaxed. No, I didn't have the job yet and I hadn't even interviewed yet but we knew.

So, I went for the interview on Wednesday. I got mixed up and went to the other Ninth Grade Campus but they didn't mind and they actually were still interviewing another candidate. The principal told me it would probably be another 30minutes because that lady had car trouble and arrived late. I decided to just sit and write some notes about what I would do as a Spanish teacher. I wrote down some prayers and that 30minutes actually turned out to be perfect because it helped me relax and prepare for the longest interview of my life. Seriously. I was called into their office to interview with the principal and asst. principal. They were both really nice but they wasted no time in asking me every question you can imagine. I answered all their questions and when the last question came, I was so relieved. They thanked me for coming and said that they hoped to let me know as soon as possible about the position. I walked out really having no idea how the interview went. I just wanted to sit in my car and not think for a while. Haha. So, I headed home to relax.

On Thursday, one of my references called me to tell me that she received a call from the school about me. She said they seemed very excited about me and she just knew that would hire me. I still didn't hear anything all day but then this morning, around 9am, I received a call from the principal and he said he was happy to offer me the position of Spanish teacher at their school! Yay!!!

So, this is all new for me. I have taught elementary school for the past 7 years! I know God is stretching me and planning something way better than I could have planned. I'm excited about this opportunity but nervous too! We are just so so thankful that God has provided a full-time job for me so that Brian can go to school full-time. I start sometime next week (when the district processes me as a new hire). Brian and Isabel both start school the week after that.

Thank you all for your prayers! We are so so grateful. It's late now but tomorrow I'm going to post about some exciting news about our house that we have been trying to sell.

I got my Texas teaching certificate!

Guess what?? I got my Texas teaching certificate yesterday! I'm so excited. This has been a REALLY long process. I originally applied for this back in April. There are many steps to take and actually I'm still not completely finished. My certificate is a one year certificate. That means I have a year to take the required tests. I'll take those in September to get my Standard 5 year certificate. I am so relieved though to actually have a certificate here so now I can apply for all the job openings that I have seen. This weekend I have been completing applications. They are super long (the last one I did was 27 pages) but it's worth it to get a job! So, pray that God would provide a great school for me to work at it and for Isabel to attend too.

I'll keep you all posted!!

Jazz Jazz

We miss you Jasmine Judy Hunt.

Jasmine was my cat that I got in college in Boone. During my senior year, I was at my condo alone during Spring Break because I still had to student teach. It was a nice day in the spring and I went out to get my mail. While I was out a cute black cat found me and started following me. She was super affectionate and I assumed that she belonged to somebody in the condo complex. I refused to let her in the condo because I knew I would love her and want to keep her. After a while I had to go outside to get something from my car and there she was still at my door. I finally let her in and she followed me all around the house. She sat on my lap and just stared at me like, "Okay, this is my new place." I decided to go back outside and see if I could find her owners. Of course, the cat followed me as I went to all the neighbors' doors. No one had seen the cat before and nobody wanted it. I let her stay the night and made a make shift litter box. I put signs up everywhere to see if anyone would claim her. No one ever claimed her. My roommate got back and said that the cat could not stay in the apartment so I took Jasmine home. She rode in the back of my Integra the whole way and was as sweet as can be. My grandparents and mom were totally fine with her staying. I went back to school to finish up the year. While I was gone, my mom took Jasmine to the vet....to find out that she was pregnant! So, that summer, Jasmine had several baby kittens and we gave them all away to friends and family. That fall, I got engaged. The next spring, I got married. Of course, Jasmine came with me. She was always the sweetest most affectionate cat. Isabel has loved having her and loved dressing her up. She's such a good sport.

As we planned our move to Texas, we took Jasmine to the vet for all her checkup. They said she was healthy and ready for the big trip. We loaded up the car and plopped Jasmine in the carrier in the front seat. She rode along pretty happily and curious. When we got to the very far edge of NC in the mountains we stopped at an awesome rest area in Clyde. It was beautiful. We knew we should let the cat out for some fresh air. Brian's mom had even packed a little leash for us. So, Isabel got to hold on to Jasmine with the leash while I got our lunch out of the car. Of course, the cat was nervous with all the cars but we knew she was on the leash and I had tightened so she couldn't slip it off. I picked her up and carried her over to the picnic table. As I sat her down, Isabel held the leash. I turned around to get the food out of the cooler. Then, I heard Isabel yell, "Mommy, help me!!" I turned around and Jasmine was trying to run off into the woods. Isabel was holding onto her with all her might. The second that I got to her, Jasmine's collar snapped. She ran up into the woods. She was afraid and wouldn't come down. I was afraid to go towards her because I didn't want to scare her off further into the woods. About that time, two guys from a family came over and offered to help. They went up on either side of her to hopefully get her to come back down. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. She ran further into the woods and up the mountain. Then, Brian and his dad arrived. They both went in to find her. They searched and searched for over an hour. She was gone. We waited and waited and prayed that she'd show up. We looked in every possible place. She was gone. We knew we had to leave because sometimes cats come back and sometimes they just don't. We knew we had to make it to Memphis before too late.

Isabel and I got back into the car in tears. We cried through most of Tennessee. We didn't want to leave her there but we didn't know what else to do. We called my grandma and she tried encouraging us. She said that a nice family would probably find her and keep her and that family must have needed a pet to love. We are choosing to believe that's what happened. It's still sad not to have her here with us. It's strange how a pet becomes part of your family.

We miss you Jazz Jazz.

Tuesday's Update

I’m writing this from my mother-in-law’s house. Today was crazy. Well, this past week has been crazy. I still can’t believe we’re leaving on Thursday. That it’s not a vacation and that we won’t be living in our house again. Tonight, the finality of it all started to sink in. I guess that’s what happens when all of the furniture from your house gets squashed into a Budget rental truck. It’s been difficult for me to pack. Yes, I’m just all around a procrastinator when it comes to packing but I think subconsciously I just kept putting it off because I knew that the more I packed up our stuff the less and less our home would look like home. In my mind, I thought we would be staying the night there tonight and maybe tomorrow night. I don’t know why I thought that because you have to pack up your beds too! Thankfully my family came to the rescue. All of my family came over after work to help load up the truck and pack and they even cleaned up too. I don’t know how it would have gotten accomplished without them. I would still be sitting there with my planner personality trying to fit everything exactly by size into boxes and writing up a list of how to pack it all. Thank the Lord that they came and just started putting everything in boxes and bags and carrying it out. That was the only way that it was gonna get done…by just doing it. So for tonight I just want to say thank you to them. For being my family, for loving me and Isabel and Brian, and for doing whatever they could to help us. I probably shouldn’t type anymore because then I’ll just start thinking about how I’m going to miss them and then I’ll probably start to cry and then I’ll never finish this entry. Besides, tomorrow is a FULL day and I should get my rest since I’m driving 10 hours to Memphis on Thursday!

Part 1: The Apartment

I need to share what all has been happening with our move to Texas. I love sharing these kinds of things because it's all about how faithful God is. He is so so much more faithful that we could imagine and I just love Him for it.

Well, you all know that we planned to move without knowing where to live, how to rent or sell our house, no specific jobs offered, etc. All of it appeared daunting....just like when we first started the adoption process. No one but God could have come up with the money we needed at the perfect time. So, of course, all glory goes to Him for what I'm gonna share with you.

Our Apartment

We had been researching apartments in the southwestern part of Fort Worth, close to the Seminary. They connected us with a lady that would help us search for the right place to live. After lots of researching we made a decision and found an apartment that we thought would fit us perfectly. It's 2 bedrooms with an extra loft bedroom upstairs and additional attic space that can be converted to a little office. It's close to Brian's school, they have a pool and playground, it's next door to a nice park, it's in the right price range, and the bedrooms are a good size. So, Brian called the person that our Apartment P.I. told us to ask for. She wasn't there so he left her a message. Later that day, someone else from the apartments called back. She said they didn't have anything available now that would work for us. She said we could probably get on a waitlist for possible availability in August, but there would be no certainty. Of course, Brian hung up discouraged. We knew we would have to go back to the drawing board and pray again about the right place. That night we just prayed that God would provide what we need. The very next day, Brian received another call. This time it was from the lady that he originally left a message for. She was calling to say that the apartment that we wanted was available as of that day. The people that lived there turned in their notice to leave. She said we were at the top of the list to request it and it was our's if we wanted to start the paperwork. As Brian talked more with her, they both realized they are both believers. She shared that it was actually the Youth Pastor at her church that was living there and moving out because his family wanted to move back to their home state. She said, "I don't know if you're interested in a Youth Pastor position, but when you get here, maybe we could talk about it. I'm on the hiring committee." Craziness. Anyway, so she worked out EVERYTHING perfectly for us and God just gave us so much favor with her. It was amazing.

Tomorrow I'll share about how God has provided for the other steps too!