Monday, June 21, 2010

Goodbye CJACS


Today was my last day at Central Jersey Arts Charter School. I was a teacher there for four years, and even though it was tough at times, I believe my experiences there have made me a stronger, better teacher.

Here's to the good time, guys! I'm gonna miss you!!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Coming full circle


Wow.

It's hard to believe it's been five years since we moved to New Jersey. Ethan was starting first grade, Nathan was starting graduate school, and my sister Rachel had just graduated from high school. And here we are - Ethan's graduating from fifth grade tomorrow, Nathan's been out of grad school for two years now, and Rachel just graduated from Texas Tech! It sounds so cliche, but time really does fly.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, the last few years here in Jersey have been rough. Only seeing family once a year or so, and the fact that NJ is so friggin' expensive. I don't know how anyone survives up here. We love living in Maplewood, and I have to admit, I love our little apartment, but something had to change in our circumstances, we all knew that.

So it seems that this opportunity to teach in Japan came at just the right time in our lives. It's been a long process, and now it's only a little over a month until I fly to Sapporo (Nate and Ethan are coming two weeks after me). I'm nervous, I have a stack of books on Japan that I have yet to read, and stacks or boxes around me that need packing. But I know that God's going to help us through this, just like He's helped us this far.

And did I mention that my sister's coming to help us move all our stuff back to Texas, the same thing she did five years ago when we moved here. See, it's all coming full circle.

The picture above is of us when we had just moved to NJ. Look how short my hair is!!