From NASA to NASCAR

My husband became eligible for early retirement from NASA a year ago, and so he's been looking into possible other jobs for a while now. Neither of us are too fond of Houston summers, hurricanes, or the flatness. We knew we didn't want to live here forever, so when the government started offering "early outs" for which he was eligible, we decided it might be the right time for us to leave.

My husband began looking almost 2 years ago for possible jobs near San Antonio or the Hill Country in Texas (we did still like the rest of Texas!), but not much turned up. Then, he branched out and started looking at jobs in other states. I wrote about this once before, about a year ago when we had a potential lead on a job. That one fell through, though, so we stayed put.

Just a few months ago, after we'd pretty much accepted that nothing better was available right now, my husband got in contact with a NASCAR team in North Carolina looking for engineers. He flew up there for an interview, and it sounds like it's a really good match. They want to hire him, and we are finalizing the details now. So, just like that, it sounds like we're moving to (near) Welcome, North Carolina!

It is tricky enough to move with three young kids, but adding that to the typical busyness of Christmas is maybe not the best idea! They want my husband to start work there in January, so we are going to try to sell the house as soon as we can. We had a POD delivered a few days ago, so we can start de-cluttering. Painters have come the past 2 days to freshen the paint indoors and repaint our front deck, which is very worn. We are in contact with a few realtors, both here and in North Carolina. So things are really starting to get moving. I am already tired of packing. We have way too many books! And so much dust.... (yeah, I don’t dust much around here.)

December has also been very full of music. I have various rehearsals and concerts happening every weekend, and throughout the week, both for me and the girls. We have travel plans to visit my in-laws. We have parties to attend. We have houses to look at online. And my husband is trying to finalize all the retirement paperwork with NASA. Not to mention still trying to homeschool the kids. So, I may not write again for a while....

Got to go – more books to pack!

Baptism

My middle child, Reanna, was baptized yesterday! She asked Jesus into her heart over a year ago, but she was not ready to be baptized then. Over this past summer, she started asking more questions about it, and by this fall, was more than ready to be baptized. We met with the children's minister at church, and she agreed that Reanna understood quite a bit, and knew the significance of baptism - that it was to show others that she had already accepted Jesus as her Lord, and had asked Him to be her Savior.

So, a week after turning 7, she was baptized. She was so excited that morning! We got there plenty early, and stood waiting in the dressing room behind the baptistery (she was too excited to sit).

She had wanted the children's minister, Karen, to baptize her. Reanna was all eager to get started, but when the time came to step into the water, she turned a little hesitant. The water was deep for this little below-average-height child! But she made it down close enough to grab Karen's hand, and floated the rest of the way to the brick to stand on.

I think she was a bit distracted, and thinking a million thoughts, and so had to be asked twice if she had asked Jesus into her heart, but then she answered with a quite loud, "Yes!" to the amusement of the congregation.

She held her nose, and was dipped below the water, and came up spouting water with a slightly panicked look on her face, but after a few seconds, that bright smile popped out, and she was grinning ear to ear. She talked non-stop after that, while I dried her off and got her changed.

The children's minister also gave us a good idea to help us remember this day. Many times, when children are baptized this young, they don't retain a solid memory of the day. I know I don't have too many memories of my own baptism, when I was 5 or 6, though I do remember some moments. Karen suggested that we make a celebration of this day every year, like a second birthday. Celebrate with some sort of gift that has spiritual significance, like a prayer book, or Bible verse bookmark, or something similar that is age appropriate. Then, this day, and the exact date, will be remembered much more easily. So, for Reanna, this will be easy to remember - her baptism day, or her spiritual birthday, however we decide to call it, is just one week past her regular birthday. What a wonderful way to celebrate her new life in Christ!

Getting Into the Groove of Things

My “resistant” students (see my last post) have gotten better over the past week or two. We are getting into our schedule fairly well, and are managing to get everything done within a fairly reasonable time, with minimal whining and pouting. Our days (or at least, my days) are longer than last year, due to having an additional student (my youngest), and due to my 4th grader having more work to do this year. On Mondays and Tuesdays, we tend to not finish until close to 3pm or so, after starting around 8:30 (but taking a long lunch break). Wednesdays and Fridays are a little shorter, since I put several of the “once a week” topics (piano lessons, geography and health for the littles) on the first days, to get them over with. Science with my oldest is only M/Tu/W. We have modified a few things, and streamlined the schedule, and I’m sure we’ll do more of that as the year passes, but things are pretty good right now.

On Thursdays (today), all 3 kids go to a once-a-week Academy that has recently started up in our area, offering a variety of elective classes in one location from different teachers in the area. My youngest goes to a K-1st enrichment class, mostly dealing with science and animals. My girls go to several 2nd-4th grade classes, including geography, art, and science. They all have lunch there, and my youngest also has an hour of recess/playtime with other kids his age. And I get a break!

This is just our 2nd week of this Academy, but my youngest is still quite resistant to it. He has cried both times I’ve left him there. I’m hoping he grows to like it, since I hate leaving a crying child for the teacher to deal with. He was happy when I picked him up last week, though he still said later that he didn’t like it. I pick him up right after playtime, at 12:30, so it’s not really that long of a time for him, but he feels that it is. It might also be hard for him since he’s also started several new classes at church, and it just takes him a while to get comfortable with new situations.

Anyway, so today I have time to write, though I’m hanging out at church instead of going home. Our church and the Academy are both about 35 minutes away from our house, so instead of driving so much, I figured I’d try staying in the area until I pick them up after lunch. We will see how it goes!