Recap

It's been quite some time since posting, so allow me to fill you in with the latest happenings in the lives of Phil and Emily...

Phil is no longer on staff at The River Church as of June 1. We still attend and will continue to attend and serve until our final Sunday on July 15. We hear there will be a BBQ after church that Sunday in our honor so be sure to be there!

I finished up my first year of teaching and really struggled with some strong emotions that I wasn't expecting. The end of the year came up so quickly, it truly caught me by surprise how fast everything happened. On our last day of school we had Kindergarten graduation. All the students were in little white caps and gowns, and my students had bright colored leis. They sang a few songs and just melted my heart! I had a few parents come up to me afterwards to take pictures with me and tell me their child enjoyed my class and thanked me for being their teacher-such an honor! The few things that led my emotional days:
-turning in my letter of resignation
-looking at pictures the day after graduation
-cleaning out my room while candidates were interviewing for my job
-realizing I left my job without having another one to fall into

June has been a great month! Phil preached the first Sunday and we took off to Vegas after church. We got to meet our new nephew, Wade Kingston, and had a TON of fun with Amy, Spencer, and Talon. I struggled a bit with wanting to move back, Vegas still feels like home, whereas Boise/Meridian/Eagle has not felt like home yet. I took Phil by EVERYWHERE I could think of including all my schools, places I visited often, restaurants, you name it-we at least drove by with me pointing out the window telling a story! Phil was a great listener and seemed to enjoy my stories. :)

In the middle of our vacation, we drove out to California. We visited with one of my best friends, Hayley, and got to meet her wonderful boyfriend! It was such a blast spending time together just talking, it felt like our old UNLV days. After a great day with Hayley, we spent a full day at Six Flags. We LOVE roller coasters!! Unfortunately, we rode a very wet water ride early in the day, add that with tons of walking, and thighs that rub together and you get a very uncomfortable evening...We drove to Anaheim that night and stayed in our hotel in preparation for Disneyland! We thought we were going to be murdered that night when we were woken up at 1:30 AM to drilling right by our room, but luckily we survived! The next day we opened up Disneyland-we rode 8 rides within the first 2 hours (all the major rides that take FOREVER, it was awesome!) We watched Fantasmic, which is fantastIC, and met some super nice people-a pastor and his wife from Sacramento and a family from Reno. The next day we went to California Adventure and opened that park up too! We had a lot of fun and did more relaxing that day since there is less to do in that park. We got FastPasses for World of Color and met some Kiwis (people from New Zealand) before the show. That show is probably one of the best things I've ever seen! So amazing!

We headed back to Vegas in time for me to have a phone interview with a school in Chicago. I was pretty sure I nailed the interview-and low and behold I had an email an hour later asking me to come out to Chicago to interview in person! After thinking about it and talking through it, we decided I needed to take this opportunity, so we booked some flights and a dorm room at Moody (where Phil will be attending school this Fall) for me to stay.

We drove back home and I was in town for a little over 24 hours before heading out to Chicago. Unfortunately, Phil couldn't come with me since it was so last minute so I traveled by myself. The traveling part I don't mind-however the sitting in a small, hot dorm room with nothing in it by myself was not good. I cried. I missed my husband and wanted to be home. It was a very rough evening alone in Chicago. My interview was the next day-ALL day and then I went straight to the airport to come home.

The next few days were EMOTIONAL! This move is finally sinking in. After talking about moving for over a year, and knowing we were moving (but not where) for 10 months, and knowing we were moving to Chicago for 6 months, you'd think I have had enough time to sort out my feelings right?! WRONG-too much time is just as bad as not having enough time. Phil has been such a trooper dealing with my crazy emotions.

I'm waiting to hear back from the school I interviewed with-no answers yet. The public school district and the smaller suburb districts I've applied to have just begun their hiring process, so I am hoping to be able to interview for some of those positions soon as well. I have been praying that I would have a job by the end of June-it doesn't look like that will happen, but I know God will provide for Phil and I. He'll make sure we are taken care of!