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A more accurate title for this blog post might be “One Duck.” When I wrote No Ducks, we literally had no answers or details figured out regarding our move to Houston. We have since figured out one of those ducks…I got a job!
A few weeks ago, after already applying to 48 positions within the greater Houston area schools (assistant, substitute, and teaching), I happened upon a 49th job opening within Houston ISD (independent school district). I applied through a non-profit that works only in Houston and Denver, implementing a program which serves to close the achievement gap in math and reading in the inner cities’ most failing schools. I passed through three phases of screening, then had a phone interview, and finally a Skype interview with this organization. The Friday before last (August 3rd) I was offered and accepted a position teaching/reteaching high school math to small classes of students, and was told to wait to hear from Houston ISD regarding paperwork, etc.
Fast forward to last Tuesday. I still hadn’t heard from HISD about my paperwork, but I did receive an email from my direct supervisor at the high school with the information for the mandatory in-service/orientation beginning the very next day! Over the next several hours, there was a flurry of emails back and forth to figure out what I would do since I was still in Indiana. She extended me grace and allowed me to start the following Monday (yesterday) to give me time to get down here to Houston. The issue was, Blaise and I had to be in Dallas on Friday and Saturday for a conference with Every Village, so I had to leave right away in order to drive down in time for the conference and still have my car here for work this week.
I left the next morning (last Wednesday) at 6:45, and began the 18-hour drive to Houston. I think I cried most of the way to the Illinois state line, then again at a McDonald’s in Missouri, somewhere through the middle of Arkansas, and at the hotel in Carthage, Texas that night. I was exhausted, I had not been able to see and say goodbye to my parents, brother, and family, and I felt exceptionally alone in the world.
Thursday morning, Blaise and I both got up around the same time: him at 4:45 in Indiana and me at 4:45 in Texas. He caught his flight to Houston and I began the last, three-hour leg of my drive. By 9:00 am I was sitting in the Every Village office exhausted, but very thankful that I was finally with the Every Village team. By 10:40, Blaise had landed at IAH and we were there to pick him up.
Can we say that our schedule was CRAZY?!?
Fast forward to yesterday. I filled out paperwork for my job, and I’m now just waiting for them to process it and contact me for the fingerprinting process. Blaise and I met with the Every Village team again to talk through our move, the training schedule, and support raising before Blaise headed back to Indiana. Now, I am here in Houston staying with very kind, very welcoming people who feel incredibly like family, and Blaise is in Indiana working, tying up loose ends, and making plans for his move next month.
Yes, it’s going to be a difficult month with us separated once again, me adjusting to an entirely new city, and him coordinating the move of our camper 1,080 miles; however, we definitely feel God’s assurances that this is right where He wants us right now. We have both been thrust into areas that are far beyond our comfort zones and we both have to rely entirely on God for provision. We have been reminded that although the sudden move was a shocker to us, it was not a surprise to God. We have also been reminded that we are not called to be comfortable in this life. We just aren’t.
This morning I was reading through Psalm 31 and really allowing it to saturate my mind and heart. Two things struck me…
Verse 3:
Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Verse 8:
You have not handed me over to the enemy
but have set my feet in a spacious place.
This is all for His name and His glory, so as difficult as it has been and will be, it’s not about me. I have to surrender myself to Him and allow Him to lead…and God’s hand is on us through this. I really do feel that because I’m now here with the Every Village team, an amazing church family, and several friends I made on previous trips to South Sudan, I feel that I have been placed in a “spacious” place among many loving arms; that I am here with an incredible network of support.
So, one week ago a duck fell into place and our lives changed literally overnight. We made the next leap of faith, and now we’re waiting in eager expectation of what God will do through this and how He will grow us.
Here are some pictures from the drive down…
