Nebraska or Texas? Decisions, Decisions...

Derrick finished his student teaching the middle of April so we've been applying to get a teaching job and praying that a German teaching job would open up for us. We weren't certain that we'd be offered anything with the economy being the way it is. They keep cutting education budgets and teaching positions and second languages are easy for a school to cut when they aren't spanish. He ended up getting called by three schools for interviews. Two of them stood out to us, one in Hastings, Nebraska that was a German/ English teaching position in a high school and one in Odessa, Texas that was a German position in an Elementary Magnet School. Texas called us first and did an interview over the phone and then called us a week later and offered Derrick the job. We asked them to give us two weeks so that we could travel down to see the school and see if it was really something we wanted to do. While we were considering traveling down there Hastings, Nebraska called and asked if we could do an interview with them at the school. We were so excited. The job was perfect for Derrick. He had majored in German teaching and minored in English teaching. He had wanted to teach in a middle or high school. We decided we would travel to Nebraska for the interview and then drive down to Texas to check out the school there and then travel home to make a final decision. We went to Nebraska and stayed with my second cousin, Alyson and her husband and their beautiful little girl. It was lots of fun checking out the town and getting to see family we hadn't seen in forever. The interview went really well. Derrick was so excited about it. The other German teacher there complimented his German and he got a tour of the school. He learned about their German program and he would have the opportunity to go to Germany every other year with a group of students for free. As we headed down to Texas we decided that if Nebraska offered us the job we would probably accept it right away. After spending the night in Oklahoma we made it to Texas and checked in to our hotel. The city in Texas was pretty big compared to what we grew up in, not exactly what we wanted. We went out to eat dinner that night and didn't get great service. We checked into our hotel and it wasn't a great hotel. However, something about the city (possibly the dessert feel) reminded Derrick of Nevada, where he grew up, and it felt good. The next day Derrick met with the principal at the school and checked out things there. He made it to the school on time and ended up having to wait for a while to actually meet up with the principal because they ended up calling a teachers meeting. He was sitting in the office listening to the secretary making phone calls to parents, some of whom were inmates. The school is an elementary school that teaches 45% of the day in English, 45% of the day in Spanish and 10% in a third language (German, Russian, French, etc) It is enough to keep two German teachers busy all day with 1/2 hour in each class. He wouldn't get his own classroom, like he would if he went to Nebraska. It made so much sense to say yes to Nebraska if they called and offered us the job, but we couldn't just turn down Texas in an economy were we weren't sure how many other offers we would get. We were on our way back to Utah and we got a call from Nebraska. They wanted Derrick to teach there! It was Friday and we asked if they would give us until Monday to make a final decision. We talked about everything, made pro-con lists and Nebraska kept coming out on top. I wasn't a big fan of the weather in Nebraska, tornadoes and all, and Nebraska paid about $12,000 less than Texas, however, we figured we could make do with a lower pay check. We kept praying about it, asking if Nebraska was were we should go and we kept not being able to decide. We felt like we would be ok there but their wasn't a big "Go get 'em" feeling. We prayed over and over about Nebraska, finally we decided that maybe we should pray to figure out if Texas was where we should be. We had such a good feeling about it. It was so hard for Derrick to think about not being in the position he had really hoped for. He just kept feeling like the students in Texas really needed him there. It was so hard to call Nebraska Monday morning and tell them we had decided to not take the position. Derrick had a "big lump in his stomach". Not long after we had called and rejected the postion the German teacher from Nebraska called him and asked him why he had turned down the position and told him that they had big plans for him. They felt like he really had a love for the German language and wanted him to take over the German program completely in a couple years when the other German teacher retired. He explained more about the Germany trips and Derrick was so bummed about missing out on the opportunities that came with the Nebraska job. They told him he could call back that day if he changed his mind. As soon as he got off the phone he headed out to the temple. They were closed since it was Monday afternoon, but he stayed on the grounds and prayed. He came home and said he knew Texas was where we were supposed to be. So off to Texas we go! By the next day we were excited about the prospect of living in Texas. We will have the chance to get a new home because we will be making more money, there are two wards and Tori will have more friends at church. There is much more diversity than we are used to and a little more crime but we are ready to make it our home. Everything has continued to feel more and more right. We're pretty sure that Derrick will really have the opportunity to make some differences for the young students whose lives he will be involved in.

While making these decisions that will inevitably change the rest of our and our childrens lives we had a blast getting to check out parts of the country we've never seen before. The trip in total was about 2600 miles (we could have gone all the way to Maine instead). A little bit of a crazy trip with a two year old and five month old. They did so well though.

Saturday we travled from Provo through all of Wyoming to Nebraska. We were there until Tuesday morning and then we headed through Kansas and into Oklahoma where we spent the night before heading into Texas the next day. We spent Wednesday night and Thursday in Texas. I thought it was fun that Texas had a different speed limit for day than they did for night. (Do you see how flat the land is out there? Nothing but fields and sky for miles and miles!)

Friday morning Derrick had a meeting at the school district office in Texas and then we were headed home. We spent the night in New Mexico and then traveled through Colorado into Utah Saturday. Everytime we got in the car it was a 8 to 9 hour trip. Except traveling the first 15 hours from Provo to Hastings, Nebraska which we did all in one day. We got to see a lot of great things, like Dorothy's house in Kansas!

Of all the pictures I took I probably have the most of mountains as we made our way back home. It's crazy how much I take mountains for granted. They are so comforting to me. It was weird being without them for so long!

While we traveled we had to make some fun sleeping acomodations. Derrick was genius and put together a bassinet for Jaegen.