There is no possible way that I can actually remember every single detail of our journey to Fort Worth. For one, it has been several months (almost a year actually) since the process started, but for another, God has done so incredibly much for our family, that I KNOW that I can't remember all of it. But, I am going to do my best, because I am so in awe of what God has done for our family, that I simply have to testify!
I am going to back up, all the way to the Fall of 2016, because that is when we first started realizing, that it might be time for us to start praying about whether or not staying in Temple was what God wanted for our family. Casey had switched from youth pastor to children's minister two years prior, and things were going really well with his ministry at our church. We really felt strongly that God had called Casey to family ministry, and we were so thankful for all that God had been doing through him at our church. But, at the same time, we also began feeling like it might be time for him to move on, for a variety of reasons, so we began praying. After a couple months of praying, Casey began sending his resume to various churches, just to see if it was what God wanted.
In February of 2017, a job was posted that really made us excited, but at the same time, seemed like a long shot. The Preschool/Children's Minister Position at Wedgwood Baptist Church, in Fort Worth Texas. Casey told me about it, and I told him to apply for it, but I also told him that I didn't think there was any way he would get it. Now, this probably sounds super pessimistic, or even possibly that I don't believe in my husband, but that actually wasn't it at all. We both knew of Wedgwood; some of our best friends had attended there when they went to seminary. It was an amazing church, and I knew that probably meant that a TON of people were applying for that job! (We later found out that a total of 50 resumes were submitted for this position). So, rather than set myself up for extreme disappointment, I decided to just tell myself that it would never happen. #becausethatishowIroll
A few weeks later, Casey was asked to fill out a questionaire for Wedgwood. No biggie, I told myself. There were probably several people doing that. Then a few weeks later, they asked him to send a tape of himself teaching kids. Well. That is significant, I thought. Then, a few weeks later, they wanted him to do a Skype interview with the search committee.
I'm sorry What?
So, around this time, I really started to think to myself "Hmm. God...what is happening here?". Casey did the Skype interview in our bedroom. I took the girls somewhere, and when I got back, it was still going on. (It had been about an hour and a half at this point). I put the girls to bed, and then listened for a bit at the door. I could tell that it was going really well. When he was finally done, he came into the living room, and he told me that it just felt right. It just felt like the start of something. At this point, I really started to wonder what was going to come of this, and I really started to pray for our peace, and to know whether or not it was what God wanted for our family.
A few more weeks went by, and they wanted Casey to do some personality quizzes. Then a few weeks later, they wanted to do a Skype interview with both of us. During VBS week. (insert wide-eyed emojii here)This is where things started getting emotional, and a tad bit stressful. It was super hard to separate our emotions of being super excited about what might potentially be happening in Fort Worth, with our guilt for not prioritizing our ministry in Temple. Obviously Casey still did his very best job at VBS, but he had to leave earlier than he normally would. We had been in Temple at our church for over ten years at this point, so even though we knew that God was in control, and definitely guiding us through this process, it was still really hard. The interview went really well, and we both felt really excited about the potential of moving, even though a part of us was still staying really guarded, in case it didn't work out. We found out that there were a total of 3 candidates at this point, interviewing for the job.
At this point, it was June. In other words: End of School year for me; busiest time of the year for Casey. During these few weeks, my emotions were all over the place. I was anxious about the future. I had to tell my principal (at my most favorite job ever!) that there was a potential that I wouldn't be coming back, but that I wasn't for sure yet. Teacher contracts are due by July 2nd, so time was ticking. I wasn't able to tell anyone about this, because if it didn't work out, I didn't want people at our church to feel like we weren't completely invested. It was just a really hard time. A really secretive time, where I probably wasn't completely honest. And that is totally not like me. Switching churches is a tricky process, and not one that we had really had to go through before. We had to completely rely on God during this time, and tell Him how we were feeling, because we couldn't tell anyone else.
Finally, on June 24th, the day before we left for CentriKid camp with our 3-5 graders, we got the call from the committee, that they felt like Casey was the man for the job. Even though we really felt like this was what was going to happen, it was still an amazing feeling to have those feelings confirmed, by a committee of people! From this point on, God confirmed his calling to us in so many ways, I am still in awe. I immediately applied to every job that I could find within a reasonable amount of distance of the church. We left for camp the next day, and I honestly feel like God allowed us to have those few days at camp as a time to connect with Him, and also to have serious conversations with each other about the future. During this time Casey was talking to Wedgwood about various things, one of which was that they were going to pay for health insurance benefits for our entire family. I was always the one who had carried the girls on my insurance, so this was an amazing blessing. In fact, during these discussions is the first time that I began to get a sense that maybe I should stay home for a year. During this week also, Casey got a "random" call from Ryan Smith, who is the top realtor in Temple, TX. We had no idea how he had gotten Casey's number, considering the amount of people that knew we were moving was very limited. He scheduled a meeting to come see our house the following week.
When we returned from camp, we still had 2 weeks before we were going to Wedgwood in view of a call. So, we still couldn't tell anyone, because there was always potential that the vote would go against us. I had to take an extreme leap of faith and resign from my teaching job in Belton, before we went to Wedgwood, because the contract deadline was approaching. I just had to trust that God was guiding us! I also went to 2 job interviews, and had one Skype interview during this time. I felt good about all 3 interviews, and also felt really validated as a teacher that so many people were interested in me! The night before I went for my 2 in person interviews, I got a call from my Skype interview, but I let it go to voicemail. I felt like she might be calling to offer me the job, and I knew that I needed to keep my commitment for the interviews I was going to the next day. A voicemail never popped up, so I assumed she would call me back. (she knew that I had interviews lined up). My in person interviews went really well also. In fact, I felt pretty strongly that I would probably be offered more than one job. When I was heading home from Fort Worth I got an overwhelming sense in my heart. So strong in fact, that I called Casey, and just could simply not get words out. I knew that God was telling me that I needed to stay home and get the family settled. I didn't know how we would make it work, because money would be tight, but I just knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God wanted me to stay home. Once I said it out loud, I had so much peace. A huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I got home and decided to email the principals to let them know to take me out of consideration. I looked at my phone, and it said that I had a voice mail. I listened, and it was the principal, from my Skype interview, calling to offer me the job. She had left the voicemail the night before, but it did not come to my phone until that moment. God had blocked it from me (or at least that is what I think happened) until He showed me the decision I needed to make for my family. The next week I was offered another job, and still turned it down, because I knew what God wanted me to do, even if I didn't understand it completely. I was also called by 3-5 other principals wanting me to interview over the next several weeks, but I just held strong to what I knew.
Over the next couple of weeks we got our house ready to put on the market, and began trying to make the decision of where we should live. A huge part of us wanted to live close to the church, but the schools in certain parts of that neighborhood are not ideal. Part of us wondered about living in Burleson, because it has a great school district, but it was further from the church. We also were now having to look for houses based on Casey's income alone, which narrowed houses that were available. Our house in Temple was brand new (4 years old) and a 4 bedroom house in a gated community. At this point, we felt like God was showing us that He wasn't calling us to live that way anymore...in fact He might want us to live in a smaller house, even if that was out of our comfort zone. (Don't even get me started on how much we enjoyed having separate rooms for the girls #dramareducer).
Casey went in view of a call to Wedgwood, and thankfully the majority voted yes! So we officially were moving to Fort Worth! Our house went on the market the following week. The next Sunday he read his letter of resignation to our church in Temple, and we left on vacation to Destin, Florida. We had a realtor calling us from Fort Worth, but we just didn't feel like we could look at houses, until we sold ours. By this point, it was the last week of July, and Casey was starting at Wedgwood on August 2nd. We hadn't sold our house, we had no idea where we would live, and school was starting on the 21st of August! Questions swirled in our minds: Rent or Buy? Wedgwood neighborhood or Burleson? What would we do if our house didn't sell? But we knew that God would provide. Sure enough, everything changed over the course of a couple of weeks. First, our house sold to the first person that looked at it, while we were on vacation. (For $1500 over the asking price). The closing date was set for August 23rd. We got back from Florida, and Casey started his job on August 2nd. I went up to Fort Worth to look at houses. We looked at 10-12 houses. Some in Wedgwood, some in Burleson. All I can say is that even though our logic said to go to Burleson (schools) we felt God say no. Every time we looked at a house there, we just weren't at peace. We narrowed it down to two houses in the Wedgwood neighborhood. One house was a bidding war: which we lost. The other house, the owner was out of the country and without internet service for a week. Long story short, this owner eventually accepted our offer, and agreed to let us rent from him until closing. We finally had a place to live, so that we could register the girls for school. At this point, it was probably August 10th or so, and school started the 21st. There are so many little ways (really big ways) that God provided for us during this time. We initially didn't think we would get much money from the close of our house in Temple: we ended up getting more than we expected. Our seller in Fort Worth agreed to a $12,000 price drop, and to play closing costs, which we were told was NOT happening at all in Fort Worth. This helped us have more money to start renovations, and help the house feel more like home. We found a lender that approved us for WAY more than we could actually afford, and he closed in two weeks. TWO weeks. Which was completely unheard of in this housing market. I mean we just sat in awe of God checking off all of these boxes that showed us His plan. Oh, and did I mention, that this was a 4 bedroom house? In our price range?
The school the girls ended up in, is great! That cannot be said for all schools in this area, and we are so thankful. It is right across the street from the church, and both are literally 30 seconds from our house. These past 5 months have been such an amazing blessing to our family. Including the fact that we got so many gift cards from our church in Temple, and from Wedgwood, that we really didn't have to worry about groceries or food for several weeks.
Fast forward to January 2018.
Over Christmas break, things got a little less than ideal financially for us. Number One: Christmas. #duh Number Two: Things kept breaking. We spent $500 in one week alone to repair our heater motor and call a plumber. Basically, I needed to start subbing to make a little extra money for us. So, I applied to sub at Chapel Hill Academy, which is a public charter school near our house. I know several church members that attend that school, and so I felt like it was a good place to start subbing. The day I was filling out the application, I just became overwhelmed with a sense of dread. I just started thinking about how we have basically gotten settled now, and everyone has their routine: except for me. I knew that in the fall, I was going to need to get a regular teaching job again, and I just started dreading it. Applying, interviewing, starting over. Bleh. I was in tears, just telling Casey that I just was anxious about the whole process.
The very next day I got a call from Chapel Hill. They had received my application for subbing, but wanted to know if I would be interested in a 5th grade language arts position that had just opened up.
I'm sorry. What?
I said that I would interview. And long story short: They offered me the job. I was like "God. Is this really happening?" Because you see, He had heard me. He had seen me worrying. And then He said "Here. Take this instead".
No subbing
No applying for jobs.
No interviewing in multiple places.
Just take this. And here are a few more reasons this is completely a God thing:
Chapel Hill is opening a middle school next year...which is where my experience is with teaching. They have already said that I can move to 6th grade. Did I mention that my kids can go to Chapel Hill? Without going through the lottery? Did I mention that part of why we weren't sure about living in Wedgwood, is because the middle schools are less than ideal? And that now, the girls will have a great middle school to attend because of me getting a job at Chapel Hill?
Did I mention that if I had been a control freak, and taken one of those other jobs offered to me in July, that I wouldn't have had this opportunity that is perfect for my family?
Now, don't read this blog post and think I am trying to preach some sort of prosperity gospel. When you are a Christian it does NOT mean that things always work out perfectly for you or your family. I mean, just scroll back a few years in my blog to read about a really difficult time in our life where things most certainly did NOT go according to my plan. But, there are times in life where you aren't sure where to go or what to do and God guides you! I wish it was like that 100% of the time. But since it isn't...I have written this down, for myself to read during a future time when I can't see the path or His purpose, but I am trusting Him anyway.
