Trip to Dallas

This weekend has been exhausting but also one of the best weekends in a long time. Mitchell didn't find out the topic for the lesson he would be teaching today until Friday evening. Because of that, he spent all Friday and Saturday trying to throw everything together while also going to work and to Stillwater to present his capstone presentation. We left on Sunday and spent the day in Dallas. We looked at places to live, drove by the school, and I spent some time at a bookstore studying for my certification test next week. On Saturday, I was actually getting pretty nervous about this whole idea of moving, leaving our friends, living in a big city and having everything change. Although it is still scary to think about, today made me so excited about the future.

I couldn't have possibly had a better experience when I visited Williams Preparatory today. This sounds silly, but I almost teared up a few times throughout the day because of the amazing things that they are doing at this school (Mitchell told me he did too). They are doing incredible things to make sure these kids get an equal (and even better) education. Everything about the school is energizing and inspiring. Almost all of these kids come from poverty, but all of them are 100% committed to going to college. I sat in on lots of classes, met what felt like every teacher, went to lunch with some teachers and met most of the administrators. I also spent a class period talking to a girl who is a current TFA corps member, which was really helpful. Everyone was so friendly, enthusiastic and welcoming. I had never seen anything like it at a school. Mitchell and I passed each other several times throughout the day (even sat in on the same class for a few minutes). We were both pretty shocked by the whole environment there and the things that they do.

Today Mitchell did some similar things as me but it was more formal since he was interviewing. He went to morning assembly (which they have together every morning), observed classes, toured the school, and had an interview with the administrators. The last part of his day was his lesson. He taught a physics class and talked about energy. Apparently the administrators just loved it because they hired him on the spot after that. They told him that he was a "natural born teacher"! He said that he had so much fun and wasn't nervous at all. His actual position is going to be "Project Lead The Way Instructor", which is basically an engineering instructor. There are two other engineers and the three of them will be working to implement this program. Mitchell will go to training in the summer to get Project Lead The Way certification (that thankfully will happen while I am already at training). Then, we both officially start in the middle of July with professional development, staff retreat, and things like that. I am so incredibly proud of him and happy for him! This is really an ideal job for him because he gets to use his degree/skills in such a unique and exciting way.

It still seems pretty surreal and I can't believe that we are going to get to work together. It is so amazing to step back and see God's perfect and creative plan in working this all out. We are so very thankful and in awe of God's hand in this. I know that working constantly is going to be so much better when we get to see each other throughout the day, eat lunch together occasionally, etc. I think we will probably end up having some of the same students also. I laughed because today, in the class that I was sitting in also, a student said "uhh..soo..is it okay if I just call you Mister G?"

We decided not to live in that town home. However, we will just look somewhere else and have plenty of time to find somewhere to live.

To Christ be the glory,

Katherine