Taking Chances

Sunday evening we got back to my parents house from Seattle to pick up the kids.  We were excited to share with our family how the job fair went, and see the kids, whom I missed something terrible.

I decided since we were both dressed so fancy (which is rare) we should have my sister snap some pics of us.  (I'm exactly 32 weeks in these.)

 You'll notice we have smiles on our faces. That is because things at the job fair went very well.  We didn't get any job offers, but Josh did have two formal interviews (both for positions in rural Alaska, or "the bush"), and he touched base with the Special Ed recruiter for Anchorage, who is looking for a Deaf/Hard of Hearing teacher.

I, of course, am hoping the job in Anchorage pans out because it would be hard enough to leave my family and friends, let alone to be heading to a village of 200-400 people with only a school and a post office. At least in Anchorage there is a Target and YMCA. 

But I hope for Josh's sake that his lack of a Deaf Education degree forces them to turn him down, because while he has enjoyed working with Deaf students in the past, his passion is truly in a general ed classroom.

One of the other districts that expressed interest in him is right inside the Arctic Circle.  They are looking for a kindergarten or first grade teacher.  I spoke to one of their representatives myself and asked about having small children up there.  She said she herself had three children. You just throw them on the back of the snowmobile or ATV and get on your way.  She said it doesn't get that cold, only occasionally dips to 40 or 50 below...  But the kids go outside for recess everyday except in extreme conditions. (I think her definition of extreme differs a bit from mine!)

The district that had a position that looked most promising is in Southwest Alaska.  They  have a sixth grade position open at a brand new school in a village called Marshall.  The position has its perks- laptop & camera for every new teacher, Title I Loan Forgiveness (if you have government loans from college, they can be forgiven after teaching for a specific number of years at a low income school), subsidized housing costs and 100% health insurance costs paid.  Marshall has 398 citizens.  It is small enough that most residents don't own any kind of vehicle, they just walk.  They have a health clinic, or can fly you to Bethel to the hospital if need be.  There is phone, cable and internet access.

There are three things I like about the Marshall job. One is all the perks I mentioned , the second is that the open position is a grade level Josh would love to teach (plus a class size of 15!), and the last is that the housing for our family would not be complete until October 2011 at the soonest. (More realistically December 2011.)  So Josh would fly up in August, stay in their single housing, and get a feel for the village. Come December, he would fly back home to either get the kids & I and move us up; or visit and leave us behind again until May when the school year ends, depending on whether he felt (based on his few months spent up there) our family should make the move or not.

It terrifies me to think of moving our family to Alaska, but it equally terrifies me to think of parenting these boys and taking care of this new baby without Josh here.

And as scary as those options are- moving away, perhaps to a village, in the dark, in the snow, or raising three sons by myself- the even scarier thing is if he isn't offered a job. If he can't find work. If he can't provide for our family like he wants to and has wanted to for so long.  That's what really freaks us out.

Meanwhile, I am spending large portions of my day in prayer, lifting our family and our future into His capable hands, and waiting with breath that is bated for a response from one of these three districts.

"What do you say to taking chances?
What do you say to jumping off the edge?

Never knowing if there’s solid ground below?

Or a hand to hold, or hell to pay??? 

What do you say?"

{"Taking Chances" Celine Dion}