Grace Abounding

Before I update on the big events in our life, I would like to say a few words about running. I hate running. I used to love it. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact point in time when I started hating it, and that is when I began training for the Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon. Is it an accomplishment to finish a marathon? Yes. Is it worth it? For me, absolutely not (although I realize that it is for some). For about a week after I ran the race, I probably would have said that the experience was totally worth everything I had endured during the previous weeks of training, and as far as muscle aches and pains go, it probably was. However, I am still recovering from the emotional toll the training and the race itself took on me. I do not enjoy running anymore because it is something I feel like I have to do instead of something I do because I want to. While I was training for the marathon, I would run for hours at a time by myself because, well, that's what all of the training guides told me to do. Pretty quickly, my almost daily runs were becoming obligations, and the monotony of them was almost unbearable. Without even realizing it, I had become consumed by the compulsion to run. I thought that after running a marathon, all of this would go away and I could go back to doing average runs and regain my desire to run, but this just hasn't happened. After running 26 miles, I feel like I have to keep running absurdly long distances or I am just not doing enough. And so, I wake up early in the mornings or run late after a long day, not because I enjoy it but because this silly marathon has made me think that doing anything less is unacceptable. I want to love running again.

Aside from all of that, I accepted a job at Roosevelt Elementary on Thursday. I really could not be more excited about this opportunity. For the sake of being in community and doing ministry in Norman, I had really been hoping to obtain a job with Norman Public Schools. There are other great districts around, but I am very thankful to be teaching so close to home(!) and our church. The funny thing about this job is that I did NOT want it when the school called me for an interview (I had been looking for middle school positions). With every other job I had applied for, I had had to make phone calls or somehow follow up on my application. Roosevelt saw my application online and called me out of the blue. I almost declined the interview, but for some reason (God's direction) I decided to just go and get some interview experience. The night before I went in, Andrew figured out that he and his family know the principal there. He spoke very highly of her and made me feel much more relaxed about the upcoming interview. When I went in the school, I immediately felt welcome, and the questioning process went unbelievably well. As I heard more about the job, met many great people who work at Roosevelt, and looked around the school, I began to think that I really would love working there. So, when the principal called me this week to offer me the job, I accepted. I'll be teaching an autism classroom and probably only have 4-5 students to begin, although the program is expected to expand as the year continues. I feel that this is the perfect way to ease into my first year of teaching (if there is a way to do such a thing!) and am so excited about the school, my students, and the people with whom I will be working. All of that being said, if anyone wants to donate resources/toys which you aren't using to me or look for useful classroom items at garage sales, I wouldn't turn away the help. :-)

Also, we bought a house yesterday! If you had asked me about a week and a half ago if we were thinking of buying a house any time soon, I probably would have told you "not for awhile". However, we suddenly realized that the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers would be the perfect way to pay back the $8,000 of student loans remaining in our account. And as we also realized, the tax credit ended April 30th. So, we did what any crazy couple would do and looked at ten houses on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and made an offer on Wednesday night. We signed the papers to get the tax credit on Friday with about seven hours to spare. Looking back on the past week, I am still amazed at how God orchestrated it all. We have a friend at church who is a realtor who helped us with everything. She was so patient with our many questions, and I do not think we would have been able to find another realtor considering the time crunch we were facing. Also, the sellers were very gracious. They gave us our asking price, agreed to pay closing costs, and are leaving the refrigerator (which we requested in the contract). I'll try to post pictures when I can- I am not going to make a link to the real estate website because I'm sure the posting will be gone in a few days. Anyway, our home is in a quiet neighborhood in Norman. It has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms, which is definitely more than what we need now, but we are excited to have people over often and to hopefully raise kids in this house one day. The house was built in the 1970's but the exterior has been well-maintained, and nearly everything on the interior was completely redone in 2008. We close June 1st. Despite the time restraints we faced, I do not feel like we just "settled" because we want a house. We knew that this might not work out, and we were okay with that. But, we absolutely love this house, and obviously the whole situation was meant to be!

As if that isn't enough for a week, Andrew sold his car this morning (finally). His 2002 Grand Am had been sitting idly in our driveway for months now, so Andrew decided to relist it on Craig's List and got over 30 hits on it since yesterday! Anyway, some guy came by this morning and paid cash for it, so we are very relieved to have it off our hands. I guess the timing just wasn't right for selling it before. Andrew had posted it on Craig's List awhile back, and no one was interested. Now, I am so glad that we sold it when we did because we would have spent that money to pay off student loans and now we can use it for a down payment on our house AND have our loans paid off.

There have been so many times this week when I have felt like I am just living in a dream. God has been so gracious, and I have been constantly humbled by this grace because I am so undeserving of any of the amazing blessings He has given us. I always like to control things, and this week God just caused everything to fall into place exactly as He had planned, which is far better than any plan I could have imagined or tried to take control of myself. To Him be the glory forever!