Morganton

I've been waiting for more details to officially write this post. The closer we get to this new adventure, the harder this post gets. My emotions are all over the place from excitement to fear to thinking through every "what if" you can possibly image.

Moving back to Durham after college was a dream (that we didn't even know was a dream) come true! I did not want to teach in Durham, but have loved it! We've loved living here near family and friends, and making new friends post college. Stephen getting a job at The Summit was another dream come true. We love The Summit! Knowing Durham is home and comfortable, we agreed early in our marriage to pursue open doors as/if they came. We did not and do not want to miss something God has planned for us because we're comfortable where we are.

Several times over the past few years various opportunities have presented themselves. We pursued them until the door was closed for us or, in this case, the door was swung wide open.

Several months ago (early 2015) The Summit had been talking about making Stephen full time for almost a year, but in a church the size of The Summit, sometimes decisions like that take a long time to be finalized. As we waited patiently for that decision to be made, we were approached about two other full time youth pastor opportunities. One in Morganton and one in a place where we have some really good friends. I distinctly remember thinking, "Crap. God is going to send us to Morganton." Of the three opportunities, Morganton was on the bottom of my preference list. 

We began the process with both churches and continued conversation with The Summit here in Durham. It has been so cool to watch God work through this and the way he changed my heart. Slowly but surely, God softened my heart and Morganton slowly made its way to the top of my preference list (that's not to say I was/am jumping for joy about leaving home, but that God made it clear this is where He's leading us and has allowed me to experience joy and excitement about his new adventure).

As Stephen interviewed with both churches, he felt called to Morganton as well. He visited and realized the other church was not going to be a good fit for us so he backed out of that process after several rounds of interviews, meetings, and visits. He also had several rounds of interviews with Morganton and we both visited there.

I still had not begun to fully wrap my mind around this reality until we visited. After our weekend visit, neither of us walked away with the notion of "this is home" or the notion of "no way. we could never live here." So, we continued the conversation. It was over the next few weeks that God really changed my heart and attitude towards this move.

I remember walking into my classroom one day, looking around, and thinking, "Okay, I could pack this up."  A little later we found out that The Summit might be coming through with a full time offer sooner than expected. I remember walking back into my classroom after learning that and being a little disappointed at the thought of coming back next year. I remember coming home and not being so thrilled at the idea of staying in this apartment. Hear me loud and clear that we love Durham, but the Lord was clearly preparing our hearts for a transition and filling me with a peace that truly does surpass all understanding because I hate change! :)

Over the next few weeks, school was winding down for me and we were making final decisions about taking this job. Things slowed down a bit in the process. I had/wanted to let school know before we left for summer, but we also wanted to be wise in how we let people at the church know especially since we planned to stay at The Summit through the summer. There is quite a bit of overlap with school and church so we wanted to be mindful of everyone as well as honor The Summit's process in transitioning a pastor out. My administrators knew about the possibility as soon as it started looking like this transition might happen, but I didn't officially submit resignation until the last Friday of the school year. I joked that we only think church news spreads fast; school gossip is no joke! The stories going around by Monday were hilarious. Some said I walked in the office Friday, quit, and walked out the door. Others said that me quitting ruined all of administration's plans for next year and the big announcements they were supposed to make Friday afternoon about teaming couldn't happen because of me. Seriously, people??

We officially accepted the job that second week in June and have spent the rest of the summer (between Stephen's Summit responsibilities...aka being out of town A LOT) preparing for this transition. Finding a place to live and getting a job has been no easy task. After traveling to Morganton several times to check out different rental properties, being super disappointed, agreeing to one house and having to back out due to the amount of money we were going to have to spend up front to buy things like a washer, dryer, and lawnmower, we finally agreed and settled on a house this past week! It's nothing grand, but has updated appliances, comes with a washer and dryer, and the owners maintain the yard...and it has a dish washer!!! Our goal is to rent for about a year and hopefully buy something next summer.

I also accepted a job this past week. We're going to be living in Burke County and there are literally no middle school math openings, which is so rare. My aunt put me in contact with a neighboring county who had a 7th grade math position open. At this point in the game, staying with 7th grade is my preference so that I don't have to start from scratch with a brand new curriculum on top of our big move. I'll be teaching at West McDowell Middle School. Go Spartans!

So, we have two weeks left in Durham. We've got lots of farewell parties planned as well as several of our favorite restaurants to hit before we leave. Then, we spend a week at the beach and start in Morganton August 10th!! Oh yea, I guess we'll have to do some packing sometime too. :)

Morganton, NC here we come!

Official details: Stephen will be serving as the Associate Pastor of Students at Summit Community Church in Morganton, NC. (no connection to The Summit in Durham)