Well I just haven't had time to write this update but finally will, so much has changed in the last week I'd really like to put that but for now. I have to finish my story! Let's see January 2004. I move in with a couple from the board of our Young Life group. I was totally scared of them in the beginning (before I moved in) however they were the perfect fit. They had three grown children and their youngest had just started college so they had a bit of an empty nest thing going on. We got along great and they loved Kjell too really became like another set of parents to us.
Then Kjell and I got married and I still had one more year on my internship so he went to find a job, he was either overqualified for things or unqualified so finally he found a job at a warehouse. WORSE JOB he ever had. He had to deal with a pretty disgusting coworker but it paid the bills and we worked on getting rid of Kjell's student loans. All 19,000 dollars of them. Then came the bad news Oct 2005 after things were going so good with our fit with Young Life and it seemed I may be able to stay on as full time staff the top donor and top getter of money for our Urban Young Life died suddenly of a heart attack. He was in his 60s. And money had already started to get tight for the organization. He was the CEO of Helzburgh diamonds. Now left to try to talk to "fellow CEOs" was a black man from the hood and this white girl from the sticks." Not really the kind of people those kind of people like to rub elbows with. And money problems got worse. Young life has a policy that if you are in debt for a month you get one month grace then 75% salary then 50% the next month then 25% the next month then NOTHING the next month. However we were in such financial trouble that our regional director decided a week before payday that we would get NOTHING no warning this was to be our month of grace..... but we were told we would get nothing. Talk about freaking out, (if only I knew then what I know now!) Well I had a very strong supporter or called our RD and talked to him and we ended up getting part of our salary that month, and the following month and then the paychecks stopped. People found out, and people started giving and giving and giving. And when we finally added up the total of what God had blessed us with after no paychecks. It was to the penny the amount that I should have been paid by Young Life. No doubt who was in charge there!
The sad news is we never did fully recover from our losses at YL so I wasn't asked to stay on. Kjell and I decided to be a Biblical marriage I really needed to follow him and his career rather than him continuing to follow mine so we started pursuing other areas. Kjell applied for a job in Meade for KDOT and did not get the job but then we put in more aps for KDOT and he ended up hired in Lousiburg KS. After trying to find a place to live we ended up in Spring Hill KS. A town I still miss with people in it I still love dearly. But Kjell wasn't happy in KDOT. I could tell his self esteem wasn't high and he thought he could be doing more with his life (as did some other people as well) we found out about a program called Transition to Teaching and after about a year of living in spring hill started the process of applying for school teaching jobs.
He got a phone interview (which he didn't realize was an interview) and two face to face interviews one in Atwood KS and one in Argonia KS . He was offered the job at both places. We chose Atwood because we thought the people were friendly we thought we liked the town and it seemed a good fit (I didn't go to the argonia interview so I've never been there) Then came the next adventure we end up buying a house. When I walked into this house I wanted to walk back out I nicely nicknamed it the "trash house" or "the house that threw up on itself" I cringed with my open toed shoes as we walked through it. A couple weeks later Kjell and his dad came back out and Kjell's dad convinced us the "trash house" was the house for us (obviously he saw what it would look like down the road not what it looked like THEN) so we bought it. and it actually worked out for the best it was the cheapest house in town but the night I finally got there to see it I bawled it was the most ugly house I had ever seen. I hated it and what had we done. Remember the folks I talked about from Spring Hill well they all came down to help us get our house in order. They vacuumed, they painted, they tore down walls they put new ones up they laid a floating floor almost while Kjell and I walked around in a daze thinking WHAT IN THE WORLD have we gotten ourselves into? the coolest thing about our move to Atwood was my 5th grade teacher and his wife lived in Atwood. Really and right down the street? That was so awesome we had a little 13 month old girl and no carpet for a couple days and much more painting and fixing to do and they allowed us to stay in their basement for two weeks. It was awesome
So now move forward three years. Kjell knows he is on the chopping block, the only third year (non tenured) teacher not already leaving and the board really wants to make a cut. But his evaluation is great no problems told he's a great teacher but should know he's probably not going to be rehired. We wait and we wait and then the wonderful legislature gives the school board more time to make us wait and wait and wait. Finally (they have to tell us by the 21st of May) on the 19th of May I am at Kiah's preschool program and people keep looking at me funny and whispering and I KNOW something is up. So when I get home (Justus had a fever so Kjell stayed home with him) I told Kjell to run to the grocery store and buy a paper. In the paper it says that Kjell's position has been terminated. Wow let me tell you THAT was fun. Something no pregnant woman should have to go through. But we held fast to the fact that God does not allow anything to pass through His sovereign loving hand that He doesn't want to happen. But it hurt... and it still hurts. Kjell loved his job, he loved his kids, and so many of them loved him too. He had a girl who had been sexually abused and totally shut out any man tell Kjell he was the first guy she let back into her life and she hugged him the last day of school. He made an impact more than the school board will ever know and he was a GUY teaching jr high. Sorry but Jr high boys totally need at least one male teacher in their lives to help understand them.
And then starts the wait and we wait and trust and we pray. And that's what we tell people we are waiting and trusting and praying.... and then God decides He needs to remind us just how cool He is and we get an unexpected check in the mail for 1000 dollars.... isn't' God fun!
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