Back from the North

This week, my sister, my mom, Cael and I went to Wisconsin to do some house hunting.  Cael and I didn't have school due to the Nebraska District's Lutheran Teachers' Conference, so it was a good time to go.  We stopped in Marshalltown, IA on the way up and back, since we have family there.  From Arapahoe, it's the half-way point, so I'm guessing they'll have a lot more traffic from this side of the family.  We arrived at our hotel Wednesday afternoon, and had supper at our favorite place (so far).  It was dark when we finished, but we still managed to find the house that we were going to start with in the morning.
Thursday morning, we met the realtor and started looking at possible homes.  The first few were not good.  I was thinking we were in for a repeat of August, when Allen and I looked and found absolutely nothing.  We found a house in the town where Cael's school and our church is.  It was at the top of our list until the Friday afternoon when we looked at the last house on the list.  Jackpot!  We will hopefully be bidding on Monday.  We're praying everything goes well.
Thursday night we had supper at my principal's home.  Cael got to play with his buddy again, and they both were super excited.  We had a nice time visiting.
Friday morning, I went to my new school to meet everyone, just so I wouldn't be going in "cold" in January.  Of course I'll be cold, but at least the kids will know who I am. :)
We got back today not too long after lunch.  It's good to be back, but I am excited to start something new.

Flag Football fall 2012

Cael's team won their first game on Saturday!

Cael's birthday pictures

 I usually try to take Cael's pictures around his birthday.  Last year was at Chadron State Park, this time was in Nebraska City during the Apple Jack Festival.  I think they turned out ok! :)  I'll put more on from the festival and his football game.

Labor Day weekend

Allen came back for Labor Day weekend, so we took the opportunity to introduce Cael to the Sea of Red- aka Memorial Stadium.  It was hot, but a great day for a Nebraska win.  I'm not sure Cael wants to go back too soon, since the game was long, and he couldn't change the channel.  He does, however, want a Husker room when we get our new house.  That's our boy. 

Time for an update

Well, it looks like we'll be in Wisconsin in January! Don't worry, we'll bleed Husker red forever, and we won't become Cheese Heads.  I can't promise we won't start talking with a weird accent, though.  We've been busy this month, and it will continue for a while, I'm afraid.  Allen, Cael, and I went to Wisconsin to check everything out.  Sorry, no pics.  I have no idea what I was thinking.  But I'm sure I will have plenty after the new year.  Probably pictures of snow.  I told my students this last week.  The freshmen were bummed, the seniors were sad I wouldn't be there for their last semester, the juniors were sad I wouldn't be there for their last year, but the sophomores are taking it the hardest.  At least one kid is claiming he's moving to Wisconsin with me.  At least I know they'll miss me.  Allen and I are just happy for a fresh start for our family.  While we were in Minneapolis during our last night, I was looking online at the Green Bay newspaper classifieds to get a feel for what Allen could be looking for in a job.  I found an incredible... no... THE job for Allen.  It's working for Goodwill Ind. as a Financial Wellness Coach.  For those of you who know Allen, this is PERFECT for him.  Education. Finance.  He lives for this stuff. When he worked for Thrivent, he was reprimanded for teaching about the financial products too much.  He loves teaching people about handling their money wisely. He sent in his resume, and out of 150 applications, he's in the top 15 that will be interviewed.  To quote a friend,  "Your Will be done, Lord, but pretty please???"  So now we're just waiting for an interview date.  PLUS, Allen could be getting out sooner than Christmas.  Thanksgiving, in fact.  Maybe sooner.  If he lands this job, we're hoping sooner.  He could be in Winsconsin before Cael and I.
By the way, Cael is ok with the whole moving thing.  For now, at least.  While we were there, my principal invited us to supper.  He has a son who is 6 and in 1st grade as well.  Cael and Ryan are now buddies, and can't wait to be in the same class together.
We're going to be in a great area for hunting and fishing, which Allen is stoked about.  Lots of trails for me to run on.  We're going to have to get Allen's hip fixed so he can run as well.  We saw something we've never seen before.  They have snowmobile crossing signs in town.  Never seen that before.  I'm sure we'll see lots more.

Long distance call

Yesterday I helped a wondeful family, the Olivers, load their belongings into an ABF trailer so they can move to Wisconsin.  Chuck has a call to the Lutheran High School in Milwaukee.  I'm very sad to see them go, however we might end up closer to them than we thought.
Right now I'm deliberating a call to a small high school in Wisconsin.  I put my name on the call list just to see what doors, if any, God would open up in that area.  I figured there would be no way I was getting a call this year, since it's so close to school starting.  And that's when God opened the door.  I received an email from the new principal on Monday last week.  I called him on Tuesday, had a phone interview that night, and by Friday, I was told that I officially will be receiving call papers.  Talk about a whirlwind!  Next weekend 9-12th, our family will head north to check out the whole situation.  If we go, it would probably be at semester.   Moving to Wisconsin in winter - not my idea of a great time, but it is what it is.  Allen and I are looking forward to the possibility of a fresh start after his medical discharge, which, by the way, we still have no idea when that will happen.  It might be December, it might be February or March, it might be June.  Who knows?  Yea.  Anyway, please keep our family in your prayers as we deliberate this call.

Boys. Snakes. Mud. Yep.

We went out to the Seim farm today with Robin.  Her brother, Jeff (one of my former students), is home for the summer from college.  Jeff is a zoology major and has a plethora of critters that his parents just looooove.  (not really). He was in the process of tanning a beaver hide, but took time to entertain Cael with his ball python and took him "hand fishing" in a pond that was really low.  This is Dr. Squeeze.  I sense a ball python in our future. 

 This is what little boys should look like - muddy and a big smile.