So, I am going to warn you this post is REALLY long. We have a crazy couple of weeks and have been extremely stressed about some exciting/scary decisions, but we have some fun news to share. Thank y'all who have been praying for us, we really appreciate it!
So here is the BIG news....
WE ARE MOVING TO TULSA!!
Crazy, I know... and there's more... We are moving this summer!!
So y'all are probably wondering why we are doing this? Well... I will try and keep this as short as possible but I highly doubt that will happen :)
Most of you that know me, know that I have always wanted to be a teacher. I remember my junior year of college meeting with my advisor and getting ready to switch my major to early childhood education. I got scared, knew it was going to be a lot of work and that meant being in college for another year to year and a half. I knew Mitch and I were planning on getting engaged and all my friends would be graduating that next year and I wanted to be a part of that, so I stuck with my major. And it wasn't that I didn't like it or enjoy it my major, and I still do(which made thigns even harder) but I have just always thought of myself as a teacher.
So over the past year, the thought of going to get my teaching certificate has been in the back of my mind. It was one of those things where I knew I wanted it, but it was going to take a lot of work and sacrifice from us, and I am happy with my job, so I kept trying to get the thought out of my mind. Well it never went away. I seriously started talking to Mitch about it about 6 months ago and we just talked and talked and I never did anything about it. Well over the past month, I have been praying about it and the desire to do it has never been so strong. So we have been really looking into and I decided I was going to do it. I am so excited and can't wait to get the process started.
Well, last week I thought I had "my plan" all figured out! I first looked into getting my teachers certificate in AR, and long story short is the the most complicated process ever. I met with a lady at the U of A, that helps people in my same position, where you don't have a degree in education but want to get your license to teach. Her words were that she never recommends getting it in AR unless you just have to. She said she turns people away everyday becasue the process is just crazy and going through another state is a lot easier. So after I found out all that it entailed and that it was going to take me at the least 3 years, I thought to look at OK. I knew I was going to want to get my certificate in OK eventually, because by the time I wanted to use it Mitch would be done with school and we would be living in Tulsa. So I called the OK State Board of Education, they told me I had to do three things and I would be good to go! I explained to them our situation and how we are living in AR right now, may move in a year or two for school and then will eventually be back in OK. She said that was completely fine and I could do all my requirements in AR, I just have to come to OK to take the tests. In order to become a early childhood teacher in OK, I have to spend one school year in a school as a teachers aide, take the 3 standardized tests (OGET, OSAT, & OPTE) and take 3 college classes (online or on campus) in Education. It doesn't matter what education classes, I just get to pick the three I think will be most beneficial for me. So my plan was to start in August as a teachers aide, be studying and take the three test by the time my teachers aide is done in May, and then enroll in the online summer courses and be done by the end of Summer 2013. That was a perfect timeline for me and for Mitch. He takes his GRE in July, starts applying and then will know by May if we are going anywhere or if it will be another year. So I would be done with everything before we even left. It seemed like it was going to work out perfect.
Well I was wrong. I had to call the board back to ask one more question (thank goodness) and found out some more information. The lady informed me they have been trying to pass this bill for several years where you must do your year in the school (teachers aide) in the state which you want your license. That means I would have to start in August this fall in OK in order to do what I wanted (which at that point I didn't even think was an option). She also told me as of now I could do it in AR, but if the bill passes this year, all the work I've done so far will not count (even for a teachers certificate in AR) and I will have to start over. Well I can't even imagine how frustrating that would be. She said I could go for it if I wanted, it would just be very risky.
So after I got that piece of info, I talked with Mitch and we were trying to figure out our options. I knew we had three options, 1-for me to not do it all 2- do it in AR and risk nothing counting and putting me behind a whole year 3- going to OK and doing it there.
Once we really started talking about it, we realized there is nothing holding us down to AR. I mean we both LOVE it here and seem to finally be getting settled. It seemed in our eyes we have things "made" and why would we mess those up. Well the more we talked about it, being in AR is only great for our short term goals. We are involved, have a house, love the area, Mitch has a great DAY job and is going on 3 years of working and making connections with this hospital, and I finally have the job I love working at the U of A. But looking at things long term... we would be leaving b'ville anyways when Mitch goes to school, we want to initially end up in Tulsa so Mitch working there and making connections would be good, and I want to be a teacher in OK, so even though I love my job and HATE to leave it, it's not what I want to be doing long term. So looking at it in that perspective, our long term goals are what we need to be focused on, which is hard.
So we decided we would move to Tulsa this summer and PRAY I get a teachers aide job by August!!! Mitch has to get an ICU job in Tulsa as well, but I really don't think he will have an issue. He has already applied for 5 jobs in Tulsa. I think me finding an aide job will be more difficult and it scares me that we could move and he have a job, we have a place to live, but I don't have a job(the only reason we moved here)! Mitch has been reassuring me even if I don't get an aide job, I would either be sitting in AR and not making any progress, or sitting in OK and at least be able to get my name out there by subbing. It is so nice to have such an encouraging husband that is willing to sacrifice in order for me to pursue my dreams. He told me at the beginning of last week we need to make up our mind. This is not something we can just say, oh well if I get a job we'll go or if the house sells then we will start looking for jobs. We cant depend on one thing to happen before we move foward since I would need to start by August. Because of our time frame, we either say yes to it all and do it or say no we are staying here. When I think about all the risks of us finding jobs, trying to sell our house, finding a place to live in Tulsa it really freaks me out! But when I think about how it will get me one step closer to becoming a teacher I am all on board and Mitch is all for it. When we started talking about the option of moving to Tulsa, I think he was more excited than I was. He loves it there and not to mention we have all of our friends there!!
So as of the middle of last week, we decided to go all in 100% and we are moving to Tulsa. Making a decisions that fast was CRAZY and so not my personality, but I really think it's whats best for us in the long run. The idea of me going to get my teachers certificate wasn't anything new we have been talking about, but the fact I have to do it in OK was what surprised us. I'm sure most people will look at us and think we made this decision way to fast, but really we have been talking about it for a while and moving just happened to be apart of it. It helps having Mitch here to reassure me we are doing the right thing. I know we are going to be stressed here for a little, but it makes me excited to start this new chapter of our lives. I am trying not to worry about everything, I find myself thinking, "what if Mitch doesn't get a job, what if I can't find a job, what if our house doesn't sell"?? And I just have to keep praying and know that God has a plan way bigger than ours and things will happen on his timing, not ours. I think the only way we would end up staying is if Mitch gets zero job leads, I dont hear anything on a job and our house doesn't even have any hope of selling by August, and I think at least one of those will happen. So we would appreciate the prayers as we make this transition.
We are currently applying for jobs, getting our house ready to put on the market this week (hints all the yard work this weekend) and looking for places to live in Tulsa. So if you know of anyone looking for a house in NWA.. ours is completely remodeled. Nothing in it is older than 4 years. We are right by the highway and within walking distance to Memorial Park and Crystal Bridges. We are also super close to so many trails and just a few miles from the square! It is the perfect location and we really hope to sell it soon. We know it will be a process, and most likely with the economy, not sell by the end of the summer. And that is something we are prepared for. We are are also currently looking for a place in Tulsa. We are trying to decide if we should rent or buy and I think we are leaning towads renting. It is just so hard when I see these houese we could rent and they are almost double what we are paying on our morgage and half the size. Its hard to think about paying a monthy rent and not getting anything back in return. With our house now, we are paying a monthly morgage, but when we sell, we are easily going to make more than we bought it for so we will come out ahead. Since our time in Tulsa will be for only a year, I think we will most likely rent. Mitch said if the economy wasn't so bad and he could for sure sell it when we were ready to leave Tulsa, he would buy in a heart beat. It is just the way to go after we have experienced owning a house. But when we go off to school, we cant be paying a morgage on a house we dont live in.
So I obviously didn't do a very good job about keeping this short, but I don't think I could have explained everything without all the details. I keep telling Mitch, why does this happed right we were are getting really involved here and we both finally love our jobs. I think we are just so content with everything it is making it really hard. I know I am going to be thrown into many situation that are going to be out of my comort zone, but I am excited to see how much this experiance is going to grow us. We are really involved and love doing stuff in Fayetteville. We especially love going to all the sporting events, and I get sad when I think that it won't be 20 minutes away anywmore. But Mitch always reminds me, we are only 2 hours away and we can come back and go to games just as easy as if we were in Bentonville. We traveled back from school which was a lot farther away for games. And he also reminds me that it is something that is important to us and a big part of our lives, and we want to keep it hat way, especially since we have been so involved in it these past few years. We both have things we like that the other doesn't, but we have found it is so important to find common interests so both can do something they love while spending time together. We found out quickly golf was one of those things. We had membership at a course and yes, it was a lot of money for us, but it was something we were able to really enjoy together and found it was completly worth it. Attending Arkansas sporting events is another we both love, really any sporting events, but we love our razorbacks! We both don't want to give up something we both enjoy doing and thats the good thing.. we dont have too! We have learned over the past few years to make time and spend the extra money to go and enjoy those things we love to do together.
So thats the story! I hope I answered a lot our your questions and I feel better about stuff when I write. I have been going through mixed emotions lately. Also, thank y'all who have been talking with me and helping me and Mitch with these decisions. I could not have done it with out someone to vent/talk through things with. I honeslty could not be more excited to be back in Tulsa. I remember when I had my internship in Tulsa my senior year and then lived there for a month before we got married, I was able to see what Tulsa was really like. I know that sounds weird since I "lived" there my whole life, but we lived outisde of Tulsa, and even though we were in the Tulsa area a lot, I never was involved in the fun things Tulsa has to offer. Since I have gotten older, I realized how much I do love Tulsa and I did not want to leave when I graduated and got married. I was excited to start a new chaper in Bentonville, but I wanted to be in Tulsa so bad, because I finally felt like I could really enjoy and appreciate what Tulsa had to offer. Looking back, I wouldn't have traded my time in Bentonville for anything, I think most of y'all know how I feel about b'vill, but once we get back an settled in Tulsa, I know we are going to be very happy.
Well, I can't really say "that's whats going on in a nutshell" ha! You probably know more about it than you wanted to, but it really helps me to get things out and I know many of you have been asking me questions about our move and how we feel about everything, so now you know! Also, if any of you have info about houses, jobs, etc we would really appreciate it! We are really going to miss NWA, but knowing how special it is to us since it is where "we began" and that we can come and enjoy it anytime we want is so refreshing! We can still come and do all our favorite things here and it really helps we have family here!
Thank you for listening to me rant about our lives (if you made it this far down the post) and please be in prayer as we continue to make this transition. It is scary and exciting all at the same time. I really can't describe my emotions and we are just ready for this new adventure!! I am going to be happy living anywhere as long as I have Mitch by my side!
Have a great week! It is Shareholders week so our little town is competely taken over with people from all over! I never seem to get use to this. I love that they come, but it make traffic or going anywhere crazy!! All the concerts are this week and we use to go to them, but this year they did things different where they "put them up for sale" (they are really free, but they make them avaliable online through ticket master). So they went faster this year. But they are bringing Carrie Underwood back and I saw her last time she was here for Shareholders- so at least it's not someone new, I would love to see Aerosmith tonight though :)
Also, I am going to try and update the look of my blog soon, so if it looks weird and crazy for a few days, thats whats going on!
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