As I stated in the previous post we switched books we were reading as a result of changes for the future. Here is what God is doing in the Windham household...
When Dan and I met we were both high school teachers; Dan taught English and I taught Math. We thought it was a perfect fit and enjoyed the summers that the teaching profession brought. We purchased a home shortly after we were married and thought we were doing what we were "supposed" to be doing. We loved the life that we had-bike rides from our house to the beach, awesome trips throughout the country during our breaks, and slowly working on paying off Dan's student loans.
After three years of marriage and working together at the same school Dan was laid off as one of the over 200 teachers from our district that were laid off. It was a major blow to the ego for Dan and huge shift for us. Dan's dream since he was 15 was to be a high school teacher and coach to influence young people the way he was influenced by several of his teachers and coaches in high school. Dan had a hard time wrapping his head around being laid off after working so hard towards his dream. Despite all those emotions we fell into a great routine. Dan was able to substitute teach for his daily wage, and was awesome house honey. That boy can follow a recipe like nobody's business and does a great job ironing and cleaning!
After that first year, we knew that he still had two years to get rehired permanently, and if he subbed he would get paid his per diem wage, so it seemed like a good time to start trying for kids. While Dan's passion since he was 15 was to be a teacher and a coach, mine was to have kids. I started college as an engineering major but later switched to math so that I could be a math teacher and have the summer off with my kids (I do feel like teaching is a good fit for me...maybe more on that another day). So we set out to get pregnant and made our life decisions around having kids soon.
We ended up having to short sell our house as a result of Dan losing his job, but found a rental that would be a perfect house to start a family in. In Dan's second year of being laid off we finally paid off all our debt (Dan's student loans and the 2 cars we had just purchased). As a result of that I felt like we were really ready for kids. So we continued to try to make that happen. Dan still had not been called back to a full time teaching job, but there was still time left.
By the end of his 3 year rehire period he was finally called back! Praise Jesus! However, despite most people being called back to a fully tenured position he was only offered a temporary contract. Even though it was only temporary we were both confident that he would receive a full contract for the following year. Things finally seemed "right" in the Windham house again and so I thought that this was finally the "time" for us to get pregnant after all the effort and doctor visits. We had finally settled into a groove of what we thought our life would be like for the next 30 years and had some awesome travel plans for the upcoming summers.
But then God spoke.
In our church the pastors are itinerant so, periodically, the pastors will be moved to a new church. Last July we received a new pastor at our church. This new pastor has such a strong presence that I was a bit intimidated. Since I am on the church leadership as the head of the finance team, we decided to have her over for dinner as a means of building a relationship with her.
At one point during the dinner she turned to Dan, looked at him point blank and asked if he had ever considered ministry. Dan went quiet and I began to laugh. I laughed because I wanted to see if he would tell the truth-that he had! When Dan and I met he was actually looking into seminary, but decided to stay the course with teaching. During the time when he was laid off there were several times I suggested it to him and he shot it down. He did reveal to our pastor that he in fact had considered ministry. She said that it was written all over his face.
I thought that he would take that, brush if off, and we would move on as teachers who would be pregnant soon.
But that did not happen.
Dan spent hours that night researching seminaries-Methodist seminaries. I figured he would want to go to a non-denominational seminary, but no, we are Methodist after all. He was seriously considering it and wanted to know my thoughts. Peace. That has been the predominant feeling since this topic came up.
The first issue with this new course was that my parents bought a house 2 miles away from our house 2 weeks prior, so that they could live in it once they retired. During their looking process they kept asking if we would move. Our answer was a resounding NO! Oops. We had to tell them that we now were considering moving to pursue seminary. They took it great and said that it seemed perfect for Dan.
We prayed lots about whether or not Dan should pursue seminary. A couple weeks later Dan had a meeting with the principal and Director of Human Resources. We both thought that it would be to tell him he was getting his tenured restore. So we prayed, God if teaching is for Dan, let him keep the job, if seminary is for him let him get released. He was told that after this school year, despite being commended for his work this year, his services would not be needed next year.
This time it was for real. He had passed the three year rehire period. There would be no more subbing at his per diem rate. All that he had worked for since he went to college came crashing down. At the same time I was coming to the realization that after over 3 years and multiple doctor visits, we probably would not be having a child. There is no medical reason as to why we have not been able to get pregnant, except that it is not in the cards for us.
While we were both dealing with the loss of what we thought our life would be like, we had a new path before us. Things finally seemed to make sense. Seminary seemed to be what God had planned for us. Dan planned so hard and wanted to be a teacher so much. I wanted us to have kids so much. Neither of them happened, but things finally seem clear as to why.
Dan grew so much this last year in how he emotionally relates in tough situations. Maybe that was all in preparations for him to go to seminary. If we had kids I would not want to have them away from their grandparents, so moving out of state was always out of the question for me. Since we have not been able to get pregnant and we now believe it is because God has other plans for us, we are considering this as an option.
So our new plan:
Dan will be applying to seminaries this fall for fall 2015 enrollment. I will work this year to transfer my credential to the states in which he is applying. Yep, you heard that right, we are planning to go out of state for seminary. Dan will be applying to Boston University, Yale, Garrett Theological in Chicago, Claremont School of Theology and Fuller Seminary both in California (the last 2 are our back ups). That has been why we switched books. We have been reading a book about going into ministry with the United Methodist Church.
We are really excited about all the new possibilities. During his lay off time Dan talked about Grad School for acting. I was never very optimistic about that. I secretly (he now knows) believed that he would never get into those schools. But this time I feel completely different. Things finally seem to make sense. Things seem right.
As a couple we desire to follow God's plan for our lives. At this point we feel like seminary is part of that plan so we will act accordingly until God tells us otherwise. Everyone that he has talked to affirms his decision to pursue seminary. Boston seems quite promising (the possibility of free tuition and lots of math jobs posted). Over and over we keep getting affirmation that this is where we are to go and why he was laid off and why we have not been able to have kids.
With Dan being laid off we have been stressing a bit about how we would make up some of the difference that him not working would create. He has been looking up jobs, but nothing that would be very lucrative. However, yesterday I just found out that I would be teaching an extra class. God provides. I didn't even have to ask for it. When I found out about it I was actually quite giddy. God was really providing! We took it as another sign that we are on the right path.
This summer we will be doing college tours! When Dan went to college the first time he just applied to SDSU, he didn't do the whole college tour thing to help make decisions. I am excited to be part of this new experience for him. We will be touring Garrett in early July, Boston University at the end of July, and we are still waiting to hear from Yale. We will visit the California schools probably mid July or early in the fall. The teaching schedule has definitely made all this travel possible! We are excited to see what God has planned for us. This past year has been amazing for us so it is hard to fathom what could be better, but we know that when you follow God and his plan things always work out so much better.
Here is to a new year!
No comments:
Post a Comment