Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Today is the "official" start to Matt's new job! I'm so proud of how hard he's worked and if you can get a promotion in education, this is it! After 10 years of teaching this is going to be quite a change! He's taken a job at his school as an Instructional Facilitator. It's not an easily defined roll, but he'll observe teachers and help/model instructional methods. He'll mentor new teachers and mentor National Board candidates. He'll be working on developing and implementing literacy cross-curriculum and be part of FPS literacy & math task forces. And, I think that's just the tip of it. He'll be working an extra 5 weeks a year -- more at christmas & spring break & summers since this is an administrative roll.

If you want to hear the long story on how this happened keep reading. I'm mostly writing it so I'll remember, but don't mind to share it with you.

Let me start at the beginning. Back in early May, we found out that the summer program that Matt's been working at up here had been cancelled. We were pretty bummed because it paid really well and gave us the freedom to do some extra stuff during the year. After talking about options for him teaching summer school, working other programs, etc. what we both decided was that we really just needed a break.

So, for the first time in 10 years, Matt was taking the summer off (or most of it -- he ended up doing a couple of weeks of extra professional development).

About this same time, Matt heard about a new position that was opening up in the district, one at his school. He talked to his principal about it and decided to apply. We waited to hear something. And, we waited. And waited. All this time we'd been praying that this would work out and had no reason to think it wouldn't. This job would be the perfect springboard for the type of job Matt would like someday. It would also come with a substantial pay raise that would allow us to do somethings we've been wanting to do. In our minds, it just seemed ideal.

I'll admit that as time went by and I kept praying for this "perfect" thing to happen, I just couldn't think WHY God wouldn't answer our prayers by letting this happen. By mid-July Matt had begun to prepare to teach next year.

Monday, July 18th -- I'd taken Madeleine to the library while Matt stayed home with the other 2 and started working on getting ready for his new prep (Algebra 2). I remember so well praying in the car on the way home and telling God I didn't know why He wouldn't answer our prayers. This was a perfect job for Matt. And, then, all of a sudden it hit me. He had answered it: His answer was NO. I realized that all this time, I'd been thinking He wasn't listening to me and instead he was patiently telling me "no" over and over. And, more importantly I realized that it's easy and tempting for me to think that a "NO" is a "I'm not listening."

So then and there, I changed my prayer. I started to pray for the strength to do this all again this year....the long hours grading/planning, the tight(er) budget, another year before we can explore a possible job-change into a leadership position. And, I quickly knew that we could do it and do it well!

But, I said Matt had a new job, right?

Well, we got home from the library. We had lunch and Matt kept on working/planning. After lunch, Matt gets a call from his principal. Not a big deal -- they talk often during the summer. But this call is different: the principal starts out by asking Matt if he still wants the Faciltator job? Matt says yes and he tells Matt to come on up to the school and they'll talk about it. What??!! Three hours later Matt returns home, having resigned from his current position and the paperwork being processed for his new one!

In hindsight, I can see how so much worked together perfectly for this to happen:
*The new job "unofficially" started asap, and yet we'd had a whole 6 weeks of family time. If Matt had taught summer school he wouldn't have even had 1 week off between jobs.

*Matt was worried about his teaching position being filled on such short notice. But, by shifting several teachers, it worked out perfectly -- with 2 teachers actually getting preps they'd been wanting for awhile.

*This job is actually going to give him more versatility than he'd imagined. He'll be working on literacy too and will have more than just math experience to bring to future jobs.

It's been a good summer. And, even if Matt hadn't gotten the job, it still would have been a good summer. That's what I needed to realize. And the lesson I've learned from all this will be with me forever.

July Wrap Up

Our July was busy with celebrating Madeleine's birthday and 2 unplanned, last minute trips. But, mostly we had fun just the 5 of us being together and soaking up lots of family time! As usual, I have quite a few random pictures that aren't enough to blog about alone, but I wanted to remember them.

Rather than celebrate Matt's new job with dinner out which has become a lot of work these days, we opted instead for pizza from our favorite place and homemade ice cream sundaes. :) Charlotte was pretty excited about the pizza and just couldn't seem to get enough. It's rare for her to get to eat it and she certainly got her fill.

We've spend many mornings just chilling around the house to keep out of this heat.

Somewhere in all that inside time, Charlotte discovered how to climb into the playroom bins. She actually prefers the Cars Bin and will search it out and sit on all of Harrison's cars, which doesn't make him any too happy!

Often in the afternoon, the big kids will watch a movie while Charlotte naps. They get their snacks and we make them all cozy and they're pretty happy. :)

We've also been making a weekly visit to the splashpark. It's been a favorite place this summer and a good change from the pool. We've been with friends and by ourselves and I'll be sad when summer ends and it closes for the year. Such fun there!

I love this picture of Harrison trying to coax Charlotte into the sprinklers. He's become a lot more interested in her over the summer and I have a feeling they'll play together a lot this fall. At least, I hope they will!

Branson Bound

The day after our lake adventure, we got up early and packed up and headed to Branson for the rest of the weekend. Matt & I had decided just a couple of days before to take advantage of his last weekend off and get out of town. It's so fun to just surprise the kids and tell them "we're going to Branson tomorrow for a weekend of all fun stuff!" They were pretty excited and off we went.

Charlotte has been having tough time in her carseat lately and is usually very unhappy in there after more than an hour. But, she did great on the trip and only got cranky at the very end because it was lunchtime -- don't mess with her meals!!

Our first stop was Mel's Hardluck Diner, somewhere we've never been but will definitely be going back! The food was pretty good -- nothing fancy -- but the best part is the waiters/waitresses sing! They're all aspiring singers and it made for a fun lunch! They kept Charlotte entertained and happy through the entire meal which is quite a feat these days! :)

We walked around the shops near the diner after lunch. I can't believe we've never been over there before during our Branson trips.

The best attempt at a picture with the kids. I'm not sure what Harrison is doing here. Silly boy!

Our next stop was the hotel to check in and drop off all of our stuff. The kids absolutely love staying in hotels. It really doesn't matter where, they're easy that way. They just like the hotel experience, I guess.

One of our "other" reasons for going was to try and upgrade Matt's wardrobe for his new job. The kids and I tried to help, but it quickly turned into craziness.

And, with it being well past Charlotte's naptime, we left Matt to do his own shopping and headed out to the Disney store for our own fun! We spent at least an hour in there and all 3 kids were happy and entertained.

Then it was time for the REAL fun! First stop? Bumper Boats. This was our first time to try them out and they were a hit! Madeleine was a pro at driving them and soaking all of us!

Charlotte and I watched from the sidelines and Madeleine even managed to get us wet too! Charlotte was so cute waving at them and kept saying "mada mada" which I finally realized was her attempt at saying "madeleine."

Next....on to go carts! This was another first for us. Madeleine is just a bit short to ride the big cars and so we settled on the kid carts. They were both loving this until Madeleine bumped Harrison and they got stuck! Then Harrison was just plain ol' unhappy with her. Ha!

The kids wanted to play some putt-putt next so we tried out the Dinosaur Putt-Putt. We must have picked a good time because it wasn't crowded at all and we had a great time!

Charlotte got her first ride on Matt's shoulders and I think this picture show's just how much she enjoyed it. It was perfect (except that it was HOT and I think Matt was dying heat!) and kept Charlotte from exploring the course too much. :)

All that fun work us up an appetite! We decided to try Joe's Crabshack for dinner at the Landing. We had a big wait for a table, but the kids were able to play on the playground nearby while we waited.

We had a late dinner which wasn't quite as yummy as we'd hoped -- oh well. By this time it was LATE and Harrison was sound asleep before we reached the hotel. Within minutes of getting back to the hotel, the rest of us were sound asleep and thankfully we all had a very needed, very good nights sleep.

The next morning Harrison and I got up and brought back breakfast for everyone. Another hotel perk for the kids: breakfast in bed.

Once their tummies were full they were ready to hit the pool. The pool was inside, but the water was cold. Very cold. Mostly we hung out in the hot tub and Charlotte & I didn't last too long. I ended up taking her back up to the room for a nice warm bath instead while Matt & the big kids swam.

After showers and packing up we wanted to play more putt-putt. But, it started raining so we headed back to the outlets for my turn to look for some new clothes. I totally hit the jackpot on sales and did some major shopping in record time. Before we knew it, the summer storm had passed and we were off to more putt-putt. This time we tried out Pirate's Cove and I think it's our new favorite spot.

This time the putt-putt course was busy -- we chose the "hard" course because it had more neat stuff to it -- and I passed the waiting time by taking pictures.

It was a hot day already, but we made it through the course. The kids got goodie bags at the end and quickly put on their pirate hats. :)

By the time we'd finished putt-putt we were all hungry and hot. We decided to go to Fuddruckers for burgers & shakes. Everytime we're in Branson, this is a must-do for us.

We had an absolutely lovely, quite meal. Charlotte was beside herself from tiredness when we got there and after rocking her for mere minutes, she was sound asleep and slept through the entire meal and for a couple of hours more.

We ended our trip with more bumper boats. Charlotte was still sleeping so Matt sat in the car with her, while I rode. We had the best time and my pants were completely soaked through when we were finished. The kids were so wet we just changed them back into their jammies for the ride home. :

This was such a fun last minute trip for us! I so enjoy the time we can get away, just the 5 of us and look forward to these times.

Lovely Lake Adventure

One of the greatest blessing we've seen from our move to NWA has been getting to know some wonderful families and making some great friends. Some of these friends have become more like family to us and I am so thankful that they are a part of our lives.

A couple of Friday's ago we got invited to spend an afternoon/evening on the lake with some of our best friends -- the "other" Matt Wilsons. :) They have 3 kids -- all boys -- and can certainly appreciate how fun and busy a family of 5 can be!

It's been years since Matt or I have been boating, but we were excited to do this with our kids & friends! They had rented a pontoon boat and we met up at Beaver Lake. Madeleine & Harrison were a little cautious at first, but soon learned to love it! Our kids are often very cautious, but it's important to us that they not be afraid of the water and this was such a good experience for them! We quickly found a great spot for swimming and in we all went! Adam and Drew are very comfortable in the lake & jumped right in. I think Harrison was so impressed by this (actually, he's impressed by anything Adam does -- he loves that boy!) he's still taking about it and how next time he's going to do it too! We'll see about that! :) I too was amazed at how much they enjoyed swimming in the lake. Incredibly enough, after days of no rain, a HUGE summer shower came along and soaked us. We thought it might pass quickly, but it stuck around for awhile. However, we had fun laughing about the irony of it and watching the kids try and find some cover. We snacked and talked until the rain let up. After the rain was gone, we found another great spot to do more swimming and some fishing. The rain was actually cool, but the water was nice and warm after. If felt like getting in a nice bath. :) When Matt got back in Charlotte was quick to join him. She and Matt stayed in the water for the longest time. We pulled out the fishing gear and did some fishing! Not to worry -- Drew was there to help the kids with their first fishing experience! Both Madeleine & Harrison caught their first fish that day! I still can't believe that! I don't know if it was because of the storm, but there was quite a current on the lake that afternoon. Just a few minutes after Matt & Charlotte got in to swim, I looked out and saw them far away from us. See what I mean?? Here's Madeleine with her first fish! She was so so proud! Although she was timid about getting in the lake, I really think she enjoyed being out on the boat. Toward the end of our adventure, we hooked up the tube. Adam was up first and I never got a really good picture of him, but he's quite the pro! Charlotte was pretty content to sit and watch as we pulled the tube. It's one of the few times lately that she's actually been still for more than a few seconds! After Adam, Harrison and Drew got in the tube. I was a little nervous that Harrison would get out there and panic, but he LOVED it! They did "thumbs up" if they were happy and "thumbs down" if they were not happy.
Finally, AJ & Drew took a turn. Drew is hilarious out there -- he kept laying his head down on the tube because he was "bored." Ha! Wonder what this daredevil will be like at 15??? The day came to a close to to soon! While we unloaded and got the kids changed, the boys played by the edge of the lake throwing rocks into it. It was such a fun day! One I think we're all hoping will become at least an annual event -- or more!