Under Contract

Wednesday we got locked in for our interest rate, and officially got under contract. So if everything goes according to plan we'll be closing at the end of May or beginning of June. And we'll get the tax credit, which is a great feeling, gotta say. I think our house inspection will be next Tuesday, and I think that's the last big hurdle before closing. It's kind of crazy to do all (or most) of this long distance, but somehow it's working out, and our realtor has been awesome. If you're moving to the Nashville area I would definitely recommend her.

So I'll tell you more of the house story. Back in March we put a bid on a house that was in foreclosure. It didn't have an agent at the time, and hadn't had one since last December. About a week after we made the bid they finally found an agent for the house, so we were asked to sign an agreement that we knew there were multiple offers on the house (more than ten!), and to make our best and highest offer. We raised our offer significantly and hoped for the best. A month later we still hadn't heard anything. I went back to Nashville specifically to see Leslie before she headed to Thailand, but managed a little house hunting without Michael while I was there. We'd been doing our homework and keeping track of our favorite houses online (try mlsfinder if you're a control freak like me). I told my agent which houses I wanted to see, and she set it all up. In the week before I went to Nashville three of our favorite houses were put under contract. This was really discouraging and enough to make me think this would never work out. The day of house hunting my dad went with me and we saw about seven houses. Which was exhausting. Only three of them seemed like viable options. I talked to Michael on the phone and we decided to put an offer on one that he liked a lot, but I felt really weird about. We offered $5,000 less than the asking price. Everyone said we would get it. Who won't come down $5,000? I was still feeling uncomfortable about it and prayed about it alot. He came back with a counteroffer, asking us to pay closing costs. We didn't feel comfortable giving up that much more cash, when we're already putting 20% down (and moving, probably buying a car, etc.) so we said no. He refused to come down! I felt huge relief. We immediately moved on to our next favorite house (and actually the one I preferred). We made an offer, then had to sign an acknowledgment that it had multiple offers on it. This felt eerily similar to the last time, and we were preparing ourselves not to get any house at all and to move in with my parents for a while. But last Thursday my realtor called and said they had accepted our offer. And since then it's just signing papers and getting interest rates locked in and setting up inspectors. I forgot to mention that I found a four leaf clover in the back yard of this house, and I also found a four leaf clover the day before I was offered the job. It just felt like a little promise from God. Of course, if all of this falls through, I'll have to rethink what kind of promise it was, but all the same, it's awesome to feel God moving in our lives and in our plans. So that's mostly the whole story of the house hunt. Or at least the highlights.

We're very busy. Four weeks until graduation weekend. I'm busy finalizing details of class trip. We're packing. There's a lot going on. My sleep patters tell me I'm stressed. You could probably have told me that just by reading this post. But God is good, and I'm trying to remember His promises to take care of me. Also, keep Michael in your prayers too, he hasn't found a job yet, but I know that God hasn't forgotten about him. It is frustrating though, because it seems like everything else has fallen into place, and being the planners that we are, we like to know what to expect. Still, it's feeling right, and being right with God is a very good place to be.

Well...

I was offered the job last Friday. I'm hesitant to say much before I sign the contract, but I'm really excited about it. It's going to be a big challenge, but I feel like I'm ready for a new challenge. Teaching has certainly been difficult and rewarding in many ways, but I certainly don't feel like it's my passion. So here's to change and to all the pieces falling into place.

Goings on

It shouldn't be humanly possible to sleep as much as I have been lately. Between 10 and 12 hours a night. And I still wake up groggy and force myself not to take naps during the day, or go to bed at 8:30, which is when I want to go to bed. I hope it has more to do with my medication than my mental state. I've been slowly reducing the dosage on my antidepressant, and would like to go down a little more, but I'm afraid of impending doom if I go too low. Where is the line? The balance? I wish I knew. And also, I wish I knew whether last winter's disaster was just caused by the perfect storm of small contributing factors or whether this is something I should expect in my life. A few years of relative okay and then a year of horrendous disappointments? I guess there's only one way to find out. And having anxiety attacks about it in the meantime probably won't help. Okay, it definitely won't help.

So besides the enormous amounts of sleep, we started having pre-session meetings this week with our new principal. I like him. He's punctual, a quality I probably over-value in people. He's also into building staff relationships and he's fairly blunt. I like that. Also, he wants to pay me more. I like that. He came to me and said he was confused by my contract. I told him in the nicest way possible that I didn't think it was fair, but that I like working here, and that there are a lot of injustices in the world. He said that just because life isn't fait doesn't mean we shouldn't try to correct it. So to make a long story short, I may be making a lot more money this year. I'm excited about that.

Also, I agreed to teach one section of Business Math this year. Because I have lost my mind. And Michael's and my schedules overlap this year, so I can't have any breakdowns because he won't be able to sub for me. So here's hoping that last winter's difficulties will stay in last winter and not infect this one. Because as nice as it is to have a husband who is willing to teach for you when you can't get out of bed, it's even nicer if he doesn't have to do that for you.

And to assist in that, I painted my office a light green. The plummy-mauve was killing me. It wasn't enough that it was cold and gray outside, I had to have a dreary hole to work in? No more! Light green-a color that exists in nature, that might brighten my mood on some dark days. That's the hope, at least.

A couple weeks ago I got bored, so we made a trip down south and saw first Michael's family, then spent a day at camp and remembered how good it is to be with best friends, then spent a few days with my family. The house that I was dreaming about sold, so I'll have to find a new house to dream about, I guess. We're still tentatively planning to move to Nashville after this school year. Of course we want to follow God's plan, so we're planning with hope that this is God's plan.

Students arrive next Friday. Registration on Sunday. School starts Monday. The nightmares have begun. It's the initial plunge that's painful. By October I should be fine.

I finished four books this week. But no lesson plans.

quarter

You know how when you have a dollar and then you spend a quarter-like for a gumball or something, the rest of your 75 cents just seems to get lost. Maybe you get a candy bar or lose a quarter through a hole in your pocket. Then your dollar's gone. I'm trying not to believe that turning 25 is like that.

Despite that sneaking suspicion, I had a really good birthday. Michael had a quiz in his Junior Bible class where all the questions were about me. If they got a question right they got to bring me a rose. So I got 25 roses from my students. Then Michael gave me five to grow on. The art teacher said that Michael must be the sweetest husband ever. I pretty much agree. Especially since he doesn't really care about birthdays-but he knows I do, so he always tries to make it special for me. So other than that I got a lot of books. Which, of course, I liked. We went out to eat with some friends then watched Charlie Wilson's War, which I thought was well done. By the time I got home I was too tired to have ice cream cake.

Did I mention that I'm on the highest dose of antidepressant that they give and it makes me reeeaaallly tired? Yeah. I'm working through that.

In other news, they finally delivered our luggage on Monday morning, around 3:30. So far, everything seems to be where it should be. That was a good birthday present-just to have all my stuff. I didn't want to lose all of my clothes twice in one year.

My new favorite thing is when Pounce comes up to me and pushes her little wet nose into my face and licks me. She's been very sweet since we came back. She missed me.

My grandma was released into hospice care, and the doctors said it could take up to 2-3 weeks for her to die, but it could be any time really. So that's a little stressful, we're all trying to figure out when we should be there and feeling guilty about not being there. But we can't just stop our lives indefinitely. So I'm trying not to live in fear. God is good.

I think a change will do you good.

So it's official (I think). I'll start teaching Junior English two weeks from today. Shockingly, with more time to prepare than between when I got hired for Home Ec and when I started teaching. I'm excited and nervous. But I guess if all else fails, we'll read out loud a lot.

Have you ever heard of Garrison Keiller? He has this radio show, among other things, and the highlight (at least for me) is The News from Lake Wobegon. In one episode that my family used to have on tape, he talks about this woman who went to Alaska. The people in these Alaskan towns ask her if she knows how to do something, and although she doesn't she always says yes. And then she does it. And then she learns whether it's something she can actually do or not. That's pretty much how I feel right now. Sure, I'll teach. We'll find out later whether or not I can do it well or not. Next they'll probably ask me to teach calculus. I'm pretty sure it's a big no for that.

Kind of ironic that last year I lived in a place where no one knew how to speak correct English and this year I'm going to try to teach it.