The Zoo

In the future I intend on posting more frequently than I have to this point. However, Jennifer and I currently do not have a camera, and I hate posting without pictures. This post is here because last Saturday my friend Adam joined the boys day to the zoo. We had a blast. Jacob and Andrew heckled the animals with full gusto, screamed with excitement at the White Faced Gibbon (monkey) swinging through the trees, and yelled animal noises to each other to a final crescendo of delight. Here are some of the pictures Adam took on his camera.

Ready to go see some animals!!!!

This is the white faced Gibbon, he is the favorite animal for both of the boys.

Helping the little guy get a better view.

Jacob cooling off.

Minutes before meltdown. A great day!

We Are Here!

It has almost been a week in Nashville, and things are starting to calm down and seem more like normal.  I have started my job, and Jennifer is working furiously to get us unpacked.  How did we get so much stuff?!?!?  We had to live for a few days without water due to confusion at the water department, and I just got our washer and dryer hooked up last night, and we are down to one car, and I have no idea what is going on at my job, but we are here!  

As soon as we get internet at the house Jennifer will get on here and talk about our new place a little, but I will tell you briefly about my job.  It has to be brief because I do not know much else.  I am working as a research assistant on a project within the Math Ed. dept. at Vanderbilt.  The first day they gave me an office (cubicle), computer, cool electronic card thingy that opens all the doors I need to get into, and I sat in on a video conference with the other half of our team at University of California-Berkley.  I left feeling excited, but scared because I had no clue what in the world I had gotten myself into.  But I am slowly starting to understand more and my work seems to be sufficient so far to those in charge of me.  I will update you as soon as I understand what I am doing. 

Below are some pictures of our week, just a few since I had to give the digital camera we have been using for the past year back to the school when I left.  Once we get a camera I will post more pictures. 

This is the building that my office (cubicle) is in.  It is really just a desk, but office sounds so much better.

Here are the boys (minus Andrew who was sleeping after a SERIOUS meltdown, and Kevin who is our photographer)

Al Gore, Here we come!

Many of you know that we have been planning to move to Nashville for me to go to graduate school. Well, I have a position at Vanderbilt that starts on June 1st, and until a few days ago Jennifer and I had no idea where we were going to live. Well, we got a call Saturday that the place we were hoping for will be available at the beginning of June. So, in a week we have gone from no where to live, to living in the nicest neighborhood I have ever been in. Thats right, the place we found is the best price we have seen, the most square footage, one car garage, storage room, awesome yard, front porch swing, and we will be neighbors with none other than Al Gore. Yep, the 45th vice president and current environmental activist lives just down the street from our place. Actually, I have no clue where his house is, but I heard it was in Belle Meade, and I found this picture of his house on the internet, so I am calling him my neighbor. Jennifer and I are hoping to move our stuff on Saturday. This is only 5 days away, and we are not even close to being ready, but I know that God will take care of us and get us there in one piece. Nashville, Here we come!

On another note, I am horrible at social networking on the internet. I think there are some people that would like to know about his blog, but I have no idea how to let everyone know that would be interested. So I have an assignemt to the three of you that currently read this page, email it to all the people you think might be interested, but do not know about it. If I am invited to Al Gore's Christmas party I will take the person who brings the most traffic to this site with me. Thanks!

Perspective

Recently in our family God has been doing things that have been stretching our perspective on many of the issues we face every day. We have been facing the questions "Do you trust God enough to quit your job?", "How big of a house do we NEED?", "What are the important things to be filling your day with?". In the spirit of new perspectives on life, our two year old son has taken up the hobby of photography. I am sure that at some point he will end up breaking our camera and I will ask myself why I ever let him use it in the first place, but until then I have enjoyed the pictures he brings back to me. He takes his time documenting the world he knows, and the images he brings back always seem to make me look at our house a little differently. Here is a collection of my favorite photos he has taken. All of these have been taken by our two year old son, on his own meandering, and who knows what the appature, F-Stop, and exposure are (for all you camera nerds). Enjoy!

Update

In the future I have intentions to update this blog more frequently than this, but the last month of our lives has been incredibly trying. We have experienced the ultimate in joy, grief, excitement, and frustration. However, in an attempt to get back to normal I thought I would give everyone an update on our move. In the past few weeks I have been granted a part time teaching position at University School Nashville and a research assistant position that starts this summer. God has been more than gracious in these two positions, as they will make the process much more comfortable (money to live off of, no tuition, opportunities to grow personally and professionally, etc.). Since I start work in June we will be moving as soon as the school year ends here. We are very excited, but also nervous about a big transition. Please be praying for the following if you have a chance:


We will find a place to live in Nashville that is good for us as a family
Jennifer and I will trust God to lead us instead of taking the reigns
We will trust God's timing in our house selling
(If you are moving to Cleveland and need a house click here! http://www.clevelandtennesseehomes.com/listings/detail.php?lid=44810736&limit=0&offset=0&&&posc=1&post=2&cfq=radarea%3D3%26state%3D47%26address%3D2214%2520glenwood%2520dr%26SRSearchDate%3D1239282187%26SRRecordCount%3D2%26SRPage%3D1%26SRPageCount%3D1%26SRPageLinks%3D6)

Nashville, here we come!

Giving In

Recently, the newest fad among my friends has been to start their own blog. Until now I have been dedicated to not having a blog for two main reasons. One, Non conformity. I do not know whay I chose this topic to not conform when the majority of my life is conformity, but that was the first reason. The second reason was that I could not conceive a reason why any person on this planet would desire to read about what I do every day. I mean seriously, who wants to read posts about changing dirty diapers, teaching math, and house remodeling projects? I could not stand the feeling of logging into my own blog all day just to get the counter to a respectable number. However, I have given in. Recently, my wife and I have decided to take a huge step of faith, and this was the best way we could think to keep our family and friends updated on what God is doing in our family. This is the reason for the blog:

I recenlty met with my Principal and informed him that I would not be returning to my tenured teaching position next year. My wife and I have made the decision on faith to move our family of four (me, my wife, our 2 year old son, and our 1 year old son) to Nashville for me to attend Vanderbilt University to pursue a masters in math education. It is one of the best programs in the country, and I will be learning from some of the best math educators out there. We have few answers as to where the money will come from, but God is moving and we are excited to see him provide! The adventure has already started as we will be trying to sell our house in one of the worst markets in recent years. We will update our adventure for those out there praying for us to see the answers to their prayers!