Were moving to...

We have been homeless now since May 23rd. Six weeks of sleeping in various houses and beds. Ten different places to be exact. 3,595 miles. We have seen so much family and had so much fun but we are getting a little worn out.  We miss our own space and we greatly miss our own routine.  Jared and Lydia have done really well.  Our routine has been way off and each time we go to a new house (every 3 - 4 days) we have different "rules/routines" to learn.  They have been such troopers and our families have been so kind to take us in and visit with us. We are so glad they did because we are moving to Charlottesville, Virginia and really do not know when we will be back out West where they all live.

Mark got offered a job at Burley Middle School right before the 4th of July. Thursday the 03rd to be specific. We were driving from my parents house in Yuba City, California to Mark's brother's house in Medford Oregon. We had stopped in Chico to eat lunch and while we were in the restaurant the school called. Mark had left his phone in the car so he missed the call. We started driving and then I checked the phone. There was a voicemail from Jim Asher the principal at the school.  We pulled over on the side of the road switched seats so I was driving and Mark called back and was offered the job  It was so exciting and such a relief. He interviewed in Utah (June 17th) before we left for Disneyland. The interviews took over a week to conduct as they interviewed so many people it was very competitive.  Then they took forever to decide who to hire. Mark felt really good about his interview but was really starting to doubt since he hadn't heard anything. (Which made our time in Yuba City quite unrelaxed as were waiting to hear if we got the job and just really wanting to know where we were going to be in a month) We are so happy he got this job. Charlottesville was in our top three choices and we just really didn't want to go back to Colorado. He will be teaching 7th and 8th grade the first semester and just 7th the second semester. 7th grade is US History after the civil war and 8th grade is American Government. The school is on a block schedule so classes are 80 minutes long.  Mark is really excited about the school and this change. He is getting a significant pay raise (yahoo for getting paid what you should) as well which we will use for crazy Virginia taxes and housing and still have some left over.  We checked out their health care plan and it is so much more affordable for us.  We will be paying half as much. There are just so many blessings with this job. Now more than ever I am looking forward to a beautiful fall!!  I have had so much fun looking up seasonal activities and family fun around Charlottesville.  There are so many more options then Colorado. It's awesome.

As a plus there are so many awesome places we could drive to.
NYC: 6 hours!
Washington D.C. : 2 hours!
Philadelphia: 4.5 hours!
The beach: 2.5 hours!

We will finally be able to really use our summers and go places because they aren't as far away.  It's so exciting. It is so nice to know wherve we will be come August.

The past 2 months of waiting for jobs to post and to be called for interviews has not been easy.  I really like change but this not knowing was driving us crazy. Now we have to quickly find housing out there for the next year and get there.  Mark has to be at school by August 05th for new teacher orientation. School starts on the 19th.  We feel really blessed to have this opportunity. While we were in Utah we spent an evening visiting with a friend that Mark grew up with. (Justin Blank) We talked about Virginia and he mentioned that a friend of theirs from Turlock (Liz Player) was currently living in Virginia. Mark contracted Liz on Facebook and found out that she is good friends with his now Assistant Vice Principal! She mentioned Mark to her friend and that friend brought it up at the beginning of the interview.  Liz's husband is currently serving as Bishop in the ward we will most likely be living in. I love how these things work out! I know our prayers have been answered and am happy we could have this "trial of faith".   There have been steps along the way to help us feel good about this move but it is just all so exciting.  We can't wait to start this adventure and have our stuff back!