Since my original post about looking for a new community, I haven't really commented on what life will look life for us after we leave here in June. Truth be told, I think I've been avoiding blogging, so that I can avoid making any announcements. We've spent much of the last few months in the "we don't know anything" stage, and so there wasn't really anything to share. There are still a whole lot of question marks in our lives right now, and some of them are scary enough to think about without actually writing it out. But, considering we could use some prayer and we finally have some answers, I figured it was time to put it out there.
To be honest, I've been putting off the "announcement," itself, I think. There was a brief period where I was just excited that we know where we're going next, and I wasn't yet worried about the unknowns, but that time was very short. I'm the kind who doesn't like to share news until I have the answers to all of the inevitable questions, and so I'd rather wait. But, now that we've told our immediate family, and the information is starting to leak, I figured I'd better make it official. Even though we definitely don't have all of the answers.
We are officially moving to Texas--north of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. That's still weird for me to see in print. I'm starting to wonder how long it will take me to actually push the publish button on this post. Once it's out there for all the world to see, it will be real.
Strangely, I think I'm more scared of moving to Texas than I was of moving to Korea. When we moved here, there were so many things that were already figured out for us--housing, specific jobs, childcare, our house. Those things are still up in the air at this point. We still have our rental house in Stanwood, which on some days seems like a dark cloud looming over us. Most of the time, I can't see past the cloud, and so my mind stays stuck in what has to be done in Washington before we can make the transition to Texas.
Of course, before we can start in on the projects in Washington, we have to finish life here in Korea, and that isn't an easy task, either. We've started getting rid of things (which feels great for me!), but there are still many more things to pass off. And then there are the goodbyes, which I am truly dreading. Already I feel like I'm in way more conversations than I want to be that start with "I understand why you're leaving, but I'm sad to see you guys go..." And I just want to scream "No!!! It's not time to start goodbyes!"
But, before I end this post with the hard stuff, I want to take a minute to look at all of the good reasons why we're moving, and more specifically, why we're moving to Texas. I'm just going to write a list because that will make it easier for me to look at when I need these reminders in 3 months or 6 months or 18 months or whenever it may be.
(Not in any particular order)
1. We will be returning to the States, but because we're not returning to Washington, we won't expect everything to be the same. This means that the difficulty of our repatriation might fall a little more in line with our expectations. Maybe. We'll see.
2. The kids will get to continue in Christian education. This is both a positive and a negative for us at times, but it is something that Kennedy is really excited about. When she found out that she could not attend an international school in her passport country, she really wanted to be able to go to a Christian school (our public school stories probably did not help her with this!).
3. The adventure continues. We are able to repatriate, but we're still moving to a new "country," in Texas-speak. We have done almost as much research about moving to Texas as we did about moving to Korea. It should be interesting!
We are still lacking details--we don't know when we will have to be down there, but we know it will be sometime in July, and we're praying it's near the end. We're planning to do some work on our house and put it on the market when our renters move out at the end of June. Then, we'll load up a U-Haul and pray the Expedition makes it to Texas. We will probably end up spending a few months in an apartment while we wait for our house to sell and find a new one to buy.
As of right now, Eric will be starting a high school math lab, and I will be working in the high school office, but there's a good chance that Eric will end up teaching Geometry, and I will be teaching 9th grade English. We're really excited about those opportunities! We've spent a lot of time reading over the school's website with the kids, and we're excited to become a part of this new community!
These were just a few pictures from our trip to Guam last week; there are many, many more to come!
To be honest, I've been putting off the "announcement," itself, I think. There was a brief period where I was just excited that we know where we're going next, and I wasn't yet worried about the unknowns, but that time was very short. I'm the kind who doesn't like to share news until I have the answers to all of the inevitable questions, and so I'd rather wait. But, now that we've told our immediate family, and the information is starting to leak, I figured I'd better make it official. Even though we definitely don't have all of the answers.
We are officially moving to Texas--north of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. That's still weird for me to see in print. I'm starting to wonder how long it will take me to actually push the publish button on this post. Once it's out there for all the world to see, it will be real.
Strangely, I think I'm more scared of moving to Texas than I was of moving to Korea. When we moved here, there were so many things that were already figured out for us--housing, specific jobs, childcare, our house. Those things are still up in the air at this point. We still have our rental house in Stanwood, which on some days seems like a dark cloud looming over us. Most of the time, I can't see past the cloud, and so my mind stays stuck in what has to be done in Washington before we can make the transition to Texas.
Of course, before we can start in on the projects in Washington, we have to finish life here in Korea, and that isn't an easy task, either. We've started getting rid of things (which feels great for me!), but there are still many more things to pass off. And then there are the goodbyes, which I am truly dreading. Already I feel like I'm in way more conversations than I want to be that start with "I understand why you're leaving, but I'm sad to see you guys go..." And I just want to scream "No!!! It's not time to start goodbyes!"
But, before I end this post with the hard stuff, I want to take a minute to look at all of the good reasons why we're moving, and more specifically, why we're moving to Texas. I'm just going to write a list because that will make it easier for me to look at when I need these reminders in 3 months or 6 months or 18 months or whenever it may be.
(Not in any particular order)
1. We will be returning to the States, but because we're not returning to Washington, we won't expect everything to be the same. This means that the difficulty of our repatriation might fall a little more in line with our expectations. Maybe. We'll see.
2. The kids will get to continue in Christian education. This is both a positive and a negative for us at times, but it is something that Kennedy is really excited about. When she found out that she could not attend an international school in her passport country, she really wanted to be able to go to a Christian school (our public school stories probably did not help her with this!).
3. The adventure continues. We are able to repatriate, but we're still moving to a new "country," in Texas-speak. We have done almost as much research about moving to Texas as we did about moving to Korea. It should be interesting!
We are still lacking details--we don't know when we will have to be down there, but we know it will be sometime in July, and we're praying it's near the end. We're planning to do some work on our house and put it on the market when our renters move out at the end of June. Then, we'll load up a U-Haul and pray the Expedition makes it to Texas. We will probably end up spending a few months in an apartment while we wait for our house to sell and find a new one to buy.
As of right now, Eric will be starting a high school math lab, and I will be working in the high school office, but there's a good chance that Eric will end up teaching Geometry, and I will be teaching 9th grade English. We're really excited about those opportunities! We've spent a lot of time reading over the school's website with the kids, and we're excited to become a part of this new community!
These were just a few pictures from our trip to Guam last week; there are many, many more to come!
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