Sprinting

How cute are these two?

"No, no, Will. We are on our way to story time."

The past three weeks have been INSANE. Gahan Job Search 2012 is in full swing right now, folks, and our emails, Skype log, and frequent flyer miles prove it.

Clay and I have jumped into a joint search, which means that we are both looking for jobs, pursuing all our leads, and seeing where they lead in terms of possibilities for both of us. It's a tricky process, and some moments are more encouraging than others, but in general, we are feeling pretty jazzed about where we are in this first week in February. We are getting lots of referrals through our search agencies, we have engaged in over 14 phone interviews with schools, we have been invited to 6 campuses so far, and we have several schools we are really excited about and keen on staying in close touch with. This past weekend, we travelled to Louisville for a joint interview that we feel like went well, and this weekend Clay is in Atlanta for an on-campus interview and then two days of educator job fair meet-and-greets. He is talking to at least two schools there that we could get really excited about. I head to Atlanta next Tuesday-Wednesday for an interview. I was invited to my dream school in Nashville, but so far we know of no openings there for Clay, so I finally had to excuse myself from the search. There are many ways this job search could work out well for us, and we are starting to have real moments when we think this whole adventure might position us for a great next step, but we also have moments when we very keenly feel that the job market is super competitive right now and it's scary to be unemployed. But we are staying super positive, giving each other lots of high fives and fist bumps, and trying to listen to our hearts and guts in terms of what feels right.

Clay just left for Atlanta until late Saturday night, and it's a little pathetic how much I already miss him. I realized that we have been together pretty much every single day for a year. I have never felt more of a team with my husband than right now. This whole process and experience has challenged us to work together in every possible way (as teachers, as students, as parents, as friends), and the more we do work together, the more we think we might actually prefer working at the same school. And how cool if the school was a Pre-K through 12 and Will could go there too? We could all go to school together! That would be either really cute or a recipe for disaster :-).

Anyways, my dear, dear friends Katie and Deanna are coming TOMORROW for a GIRLS (+Will) WEEKEND in the BIG APPLE and I couldn't be more excited! Three full days of funness. I am not doing any CTY, ant TeenInk, any tutoring, and hopefully not much job stuff while they are here. I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, and I couldn't be more excited it is here and now.

Love to you all--and know that we appreciate your prayers and encouragement at this uncertain but exciting time!

xoxo

S, C, and W