Story Time!

We are here! Where is here you ask? Well it’s the end of the first week of school, where experienced teachers can relax, and inexperienced teachers head home and change everything so that maybe next week it’ll be better.

Honestly I have no clue what teachers do on the weekend, maybe they recount the different stories they heard. Go over the things that happened in their classes like this one.

First day of class with 1^st grade:

Student: “Do you have a trash can?”

Me: “Yes I do, but you can just put it in my hand.” (I reach out my hand to the student)

Student: (as he starts to put something into my hand) “It won’t come off!” (I look down in horror to see that the student is wiping a rather large booger into my open palm)

Needless to say I let the class start working on the next task at hand and I nonchalantly walked over to my desk grabbed a tissue, wiped my hand and then covered both hands in Germex.

For that I received the award “Best First Day Story” from my coworkers and friends.

Another story, less gross:

Students: “Where do you live?”

Me: “Why do you ask?”

Students: “The closet isn’t big enough for a bed.”

Me: “Yes it is, there’s a bed in there right now.”

Students: “Can we see?!”

Me: “No, I forgot to make it this morning, so it’s really messy.”

My students now believe that I live at school. Whoops…

I teach Pre-K as well, so little little kids, note to self, don’t ask pre-k students to stand in a line when they don’t even know what a line is.

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures for you this time around, so I hope that the fun stories can suffice.

Emil Out-

Puzzles

Puzzle Piece #1

By now everyone should know that Karisa and I are in Yucca Valley, California. But not everyone has heard how we ended up here, this is that story.

In October of 2013, Karisa and I started to look for jobs. We applied first to SPH a school in Indonesia, interviewed with them, were high up on their list, but were then told they had accepted another couple to come and teach for them that has experience. We then applied to many other overseas schools that had positions for the both of us. These schools were in Thailand, Japan, Germany, and many more places.

When we realized that God was telling us that we necessarily shouldn’t go overseas, we started to look in the United States for jobs as well. We applied to many schools that had positions for the both of us, and yet all of them were either already filled, or they cut us out of the application process. We started to get discouraged and thought of our options in Canada. However, Karisa and I decided that it would be easier for me to find and get a job in the states than it would be for her to get everything cleared in Canada.

I proceeded to send out resumes all over the country. I sent resumes and applications to every school on ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) and CSI (Christian Schools International) that had a music position opening. Out of all of the 20 or so applications I sent out, I received maybe 3 replies, one of which asked when I could do a preliminary interview with them. Two days later, I was on the phone with the principal of Joshua Springs Christian School talking about myself and what I knew - I let her know that I was married. The principal asked me what my wife did and I said Karisa had a Physical Education major, the principal said “no way!? We have a PE opening!” I then mentioned that she also had Special Education minor, the principal then said, “the last PE teacher also did resource! Tell your wife to fill out an application and we’ll see what happens.”

The Tuesday of the next week Karisa did a phone interview with the principal and everything went just as well as my interview. When Karisa finished talking with the school, she said to me, it would be really nice if we could get a job by the end of this week.

At this time we were kind of in stress mode because Karisa’s parents were taking us and her family and Opa and Oma to the Netherlands and we were leaving the coming Friday.

That Friday at 1:59 PM, we received an email letting us know that we had been approved and that we were accepted to teach in Yucca Valley, California for the 2014-15 school year!

Puzzle Piece #2

This past summer we decided to rent a house in Yucca. While looking, we found a place located on Sioux Ave. This is significant to us since we both went to college in Sioux Center, Sioux County Iowa. We looked at it and liked it, though kept looking for other places in case this one didn’t pan out. But we just couldn’t find anything else that we liked as much as we did the little Sioux Ave place. So we decided to rent it!

Puzzle Piece #3

Yes, that is me, the only guy in a class of women.

As a requirement from the school for me, I was to take a music class named after the creator of it entitled Orff: Music for Children. While looking for it I had to make sure it fit into my schedule for the summer. My parents had planned a summer vacation starting on the 13^th of July right after my best friend was getting married on the 12^th, and there was a wedding on the 2^nd of August of Karisa’s college roommate. Low and behold an Orff class, two weeks long, on Prince Edward Island, starting on the 21^st of July and going until the 1^st of August. I jumped on it and took it, it was more practical than the elementary music class I took at Dordt, and it cost nothing to me as the school was paying for it!

God was and still is holding us to Joshua Springs Christian School and he is letting us know day after day that this is the place for us. Each puzzle piece just strengthened our justification for coming here.

Emil Out-

Asking for Mountains

When Emil and I first began our job search we knew we wanted to teach in a community that had a variety of outdoor activities. As much as we loved living in the rolling corn and soybean fields of the Midwest for 5 years, we were ready to live in a more diverse atmosphere. So naturally, when we stumbled upon Joshua Springs Christian School located on the border of Joshua Tree National Park, we were thrilled with the promise of mountains and cliffs!

Day 1 - Easy going in Kansas

With the acceptance of jobs, we immediately knew we would have to haul ourselves and our belongings to the West Coast. Moving after our wedding from the East to the Midwest was quite easy. A little 4x8 U-Haul trailer was able to accommodate what little belongings we had at the time with room to spare. And once free of the Pennsylvania hills, our drive was smooth and completely manageable.

This move; however, had a different feel. We lurched out of Sioux Center with feelings of anticipation and excitement as well as some heaviness, not only in our larger and more dense trailer, but as we left a community that we had grown so closely into as students, church members, employees and teachers. Driving westward through Nebraska and Kansas was very comfortable. The level interstate and county routes were surrounded by the same familiar corn and soybean fields. But as the sun set, we neared Colorado and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with a little more strain (especially as our exhaust blew a hole). This began our 3-day struggle through many mountains and large hills.

 

Day 1 - Soybeans and corn more miles

Part of me regretted our choice of picking a school so, so far away from our home in the Midwest and our homes on the East Coast. The farther we drove, the more nervous I became and the reality of just how far away California really is sank in. As the surroundings became more and more unfamiliar, I became increasingly anxious. I began asking myself why I would ever want to move someplace so dissimilar to where I had ever lived before? Why would I ever want to be so far from our families? Why did we choose to relocate ourselves to the desert?!

Day 3 - Chugging up a hill with Albuquerque in the rearview

I eventually broke down. The fears and uncertainties took all that was left of my confidence and I crumbled. That night I read in Experiencing God Day by Day, a devotional I’m working through by Henry and Richard Blackaby, of how Caleb chose to inhabit the mountains rather than the lush valleys as the Israelites divided land. Caleb knew that it would be harder to fully rely on God if he chose to live in the promises of the valley and instead chose to strengthen and test his faith in God by choosing to overcome his enemies in the mountains.

Day 4 - Winding through Arizona

After living a summer of relaxation and comfort on Prince Edward Island, with the endless hospitality of my in-laws, I realized what a peaceful valley I had settled into and how little I called upon God both in praise and for strength.  Like Caleb, accepting and embracing the mountains of the West and of our new lives here in California has redirected my outlook on life and strengthened my walk with God as well as my relationship with Emil. Can I overcome mountains on my own? Certainly not. God has placed these mountains throughout our trails so that we may fully rely on Him while also leaning on one another as husband and wife. It was this final sentence that opened my eyes to God’s will for our lives as we begin this next chapter together: “Seek out the mountains and you will witness God doing things through your life that can be explained only by His mighty presence.” 

Cross-Continental-Car

Obligatory first car pictures

Most people that I know or that know me understand that I enjoy vehicles, I enjoy driving vehicles and I like working on vehicles, even if it has to be my own. Growing up on a dairy farm has taught me quite a bit about working on machinery. My parents also taught me a lot about purchasing anything. Unfortunately for me though I completely forgot all of their advice when I purchased my first car. The car that I own right now is my first and only car, and surprisingly, he is serving me well.

 Despite my father’s many years of wisdom in purchasing vehicles, I purchased a rusty “Mr. Soobs” with 180 000 Km’s and now he is still going strong at 251 000 Km’s (albeit with many different repairs). He has taken me to the Midwest and back 3 times now including one time to Dordt with a trailer and most recently he has taken Karisa and I, and a 4x5x8 trailer, across an entire continent from Prince Edward Island to California in a week.

A little map of the journey

Driving to California on its own is a feat in and of itself, with the added difficulty of pulling a large trailer thrown into the mix, it then became a life goal. When I was younger I had wanted to drive to California, my vehicle of choice at the time was an old VW hippie bus, but now it’s any vehicle with AC.

Sometimes I find driving wears me out, whether it’s from the constant search for police in the crossovers, or the search for a comfortable place to move my right leg while still being in contact with the gas pedal. This time however, I was very comfortable driving from Sioux Center, Iowa to Yucca Valley, California with a trailer. I didn’t have to worry about passing anyone (my average speed was probably about 50 Miles an hour) and when I did it was usually a farmer on crop tour (I passed 9 cars total from Sioux Center to Yucca Valley with the trailer in tow). I usually stuck to the right lane so everyone could get around fine but sometimes a jam would occur behind me, I would just keep on going and it would sort itself out. 

Mr. Soobs with trailer in Colorado Springs, Colorado and yes that is Anne of Green Gables but more on that later.

Mr. Soobs has treated me well over this past week, and I am impressed with his ability to simply keep chugging along, whether it’s up a 6% grade with an overweight trailer, or through the Mojave Desert in 109 degree Fahrenheit 42 degrees Celsius. There were times though that Karisa and I both had to simply forget everything we were doing and pray Mr. Soobs up another hill, through insatiable heat, or just simply to the place we were going to stay at that night. He has served me well and I hope he can continue to serve us even if it means getting a few more things fixed. 

Emil out-