Oh Month 10. Well, to be fair, basically Months 8-10! I’ve not been telling the full truth, and the time has come to confess.
I have to say, this is not the post I thought I was going to be writing. Remember when I wrote But They’re NEVER Going to Get Me to Wear North Face ? Always a popular one. Well, I thought this one would be But They’re NEVER Going to Get Me to Wear a Sombrero.
Let me back it up and explain. It all started on February 22. I know because I’ve been writing this post in my mind ever since that day. Also, it was my first iced coffee of the year. It started out like any normal day. I put on my pencil skirt and my pointy pumps and clocked into my office at 8AM (okay, maybe 8:05). At noon, I received the typical,”OMW!” email from Kevin, announcing that he was leaving to pick me up for lunch. It was during our 5 minute commute home that he shared the news. He had just found out that, yet again, his department was going to be cut. My first reaction was to be absolutely livid. It had been less than 6 months since we moved to Colorado since the regional office was closed in Minnesota. Because we had moved during the middle of the school year, it had been difficult for me to find a teaching job. So I wasn’t too thrilled with them in the first place. And now this??
That reaction lasted about 5 minutes. We decided we deserved some Starbucks and immediately started dreaming over iced lattes about what this could mean for us. Kevin had the opportunity to take another job within the same company. I’m so proud of my husband, and he has friends in high places who would definitely make room for him in another department. But we couldn’t help but feel that the company had already fooled us once, and we might as well cut our losses. But wait, were they really losses? The company had paid for us to relocate, including all the expenses involved with the selling of our home in Minnesota. Our apartment lease is up in July. If Kevin was laid off, at that point we’d be free to do literally whatever we wanted!
My wrath soon turned to rampant daydreaming and fervent prayer. It had been really difficult for me to leave my life and ministry at the school in the Dominican Republic to marry Kevin James last June. We always talked about the fact that, if the opportunity arose, we’d love a chance to do ministry or serve overseas together. And it definitely seemed like God was slamming and opening doors left and right!
So we kept it hush-hush for a while. It was too hard for us explain to everyone around us what was going on when we didn’t even really know. Let’s be real, I told Kristy… and a few others, but I just couldn’t quite keep something so huge to myself! Sapo. I ate a lot of Nutella and started researching some international schools. We started with Spanish-speaking countries, because, hey, yo hablo Español! I still had some contacts from my explorations back in 2008, and soon we found something we thought would be a good fit for both of us. I also stopped looking for jobs in the Denver area since I didn’t know if we’d be around after July.
On March 22, we celebrated our decision to move to Mexico for 2+ years with a Date Night at La Sandia. We had accepted positions at a Christian school there and were constantly discussing how we’d put everything in storage or if we’d be able to bring Boyd. We canceled our expensive gym membership and started tring to save money any way we could since our salaries would soon be slashed – including by cutting back on the Diet Coke!
But it wasn’t long after that when things kind of started falling apart. Kevin’s bosses were all laid off or left the department for another position. All of a sudden, Kevin was practically the only one left. An orphan. But not getting laid off. He had a new boss who really was not involved in the whole situation. We couldn’t get any answers after we had been so certain that he was going to be laid off. To help you understand this predicament, we made a 2 year agreement with the company when they paid for us to move out here. As I mentioned, they paid for our realtor, closing fees on our house, our posh temporary housing, plane tickets, and more. If we broke our agreement with the company, we’d be forced to pay all of this back. It was avery frustrating time for us because we were convinced that he was going to be laid off, but our timelines were not ‘n sync. We waited as long as we thought we could, but ultimately we had to rescind our acceptance letters to the school in Mexico. It turned out that there was enough shuffling done in Kevin’s department that he wasn’t going to get laid off after all… now that we wanted him to!
I’m not gonna lie. It was a little heartbreaking for me. Probably the one thing that saved me is that was I super disturbed that teachers at the school in Mexico were allowed to wear jeans on a daily basis. JEANS??! Oh my berry. Haha. It was confusing because it had seemed that God had made it so clear to us that we were doing the right thing. I mean, everything seemed to be falling into place without us even trying! And you know I was so excited to teach again. It’s totally my passion, and I miss it so much. There’s a reason why I was looking at teacher books in Barnes & Noble! You know I get my heart set on things! I was already choosing read alouds for first graders!
The good news is. Kevin still has a great job. He can totally be my breadwinner. NBD! Now that we’re, Lord willing, staying in Denver I can be more serious about getting a piano and adopting a Vizsla. We might even be moving into a house of some sort?! The frustrating part is that I’m a little behind on my applications for teaching here next year. Some of the deadlines have even passed. :( It’s especially difficult to know where to apply because the Denver area is huge, and we’re looking to move in July, possibly farther into the city. But I know the Lord has the perfect job for me somewhere. I see more and more every day the purpose He has for me even in my dull 12th floor office. If nothing else, I should have a chance to watch YouTube videos on how to fold Kevin’s t-shirts more neatly.
Loving every minute of our first year together, but I’m hoping things calm down for us eventually. :) xoxo
See also: Married: Months 1-9
