The whole story

This has been kind of a whirlwind of events for us with little snippets of updates here and there, so I thought I'd share the whole story and hope it answers any questions.

This last few weeks has been such an adventure for us.  Two weeks ago we went to Arkansas to find a house in the little town where Teach for America placed me.  It was also a fun opportunity, starting a new high school choral program, and we found a beautiful home to rent (perhaps the only one in the town!) and slapped down our deposit.  Last week I headed to Houston to start my training with them, and as I continued, I felt more and more uneasy, questioning more and more if I was doing the right thing.  On Thursday night Liz and I decided that our fortunes lie elsewhere, and I returned home Friday.  It was (and is!) a little scary as we plunge forward, racing our rental contract to a new job—we're out of here on July 15, and we'd really like to know where to go when we load that truck!  The best part is that we have no regret, no questioning feelings as we move ahead.  Resigning that position was exactly the right thing to do, and we trust that and look forward with faith.  Faith is good, and I'm working as I speak on strengthening mine.  As a special bonus, our then-future landlords agreed to nullify the contract and return our deposit.  That was a lucky one, that was!

So there you have it.  It was the wrong thing and we both knew it, so I came home, driving all the way through the night, and now we're plugging away.  The good news is that right before I left, but after we'd decided to pull the plug, I had a phone interview with a small liberal arts college just 30 minutes from where I am now.  They have this crazy choral director/voice/piano/history/theory position I applied for right before our trip to Arkansas.  I applied mostly for the experience of doing it, but partly because my grad advisor pretty much expected me to.  I didn't really expect anything to come of it, but sure enough, I passed the phone interview, and they called me tonight to arrange an on-campus visit next week.  I'm one step away from being a freakin' COLLEGE PROFESSOR!   And there you go.

We're heading to Houston this week as part of a pre-planned trip to visit, well, me.  Liz's sister, Rachel, is flying into Kansas City on Wednesday and flying out of Houston next week, so we're pretty much cemented into this one.  It will be fun, I suppose, except the four day trip with two days of driving.  Oh well.  I think we're going to fast on Sunday for this interview, and we invite and and/or all of you to join us.  If this job comes through, it will blow my career right into overdrive, which is exactly what we're looking for.  As always we appreciate your prayers and support and look forward to hearing from you as the days go by!