Since we found out that we were moving from Arizona we've been like fish out of water, birds without nest, bats without a cave, hobbits without a...well you get it.
We stayed in a hotel for two weeks while I had NCOLDC (Non-Commissioned Officer Leadership Development Course--the military loves acronyms). We did a lot of team building activities.After that we had the honor, nay, the privilege of spending two weeks at Brandi and Mckay's. They housed and fed us happily. In return we watched netflix and march madness on their humongous HD flat screen. The kids loved playing with their cousins. It was fun to see Heber and his white head among all of the dark heads.


Before I knew that I had a permanent job I was considering all of my options so that if things didn't work out I'd have a way to support my family. One of these options was inspired by my football coach from high school, Coach Schenks. He coaches at San Tan Foothills High School which is just a few miles from our house. He suggested I get my substitute teaching certification which I did. After getting certified I received no calls to substitute until our last week in Arizona. Ms Schenks gave birth to their fourth child (congratulations!) Which meant that Coach Schenks would need a substitute. He specifically requested me and I got to be PE teacher/football coach for 3 days.

Since high school I've contemplated teaching/coaching at that level. It was a blast! I really enjoy working with kids that age. The football program is doing great and the kids are all so respectful. They only had 3 wins last year and have high hopes for the coming year. It reminds me of a team I once played on.

Back to substituting, it was hard to get the non-football weights class motivated to do anything. I fought it the first 2 days and had all the students doing the Air Force PT test. However, the last day I gave in and like Coach Jonovich just let them play basketball all period.
My favorite class, though, was the special needs class. It consisted of Christa, Miles, Adriana, and Tory.


Next post I'll get to our new life in Austin.

Decisions and Hannah Montana

Since I (This Talmage writing now) graduated from ASU this past December, our life has been in somewhat of a limbo. There were always a lot of potential opportunities, but nothing that was reaching fruition. This past week all of those options dwindled down to a decision between two very desirable options.

The first option is a job offer from Fugro Consultants. I previously worked for them as field/lab technician and now they are offering me a position as a Graduate Engineer. The pay would be good, the work is very close to my undergraduate studies (Civil Engineering/GIS), and we would get to move to Austin, Texas (which I hear is a pretty cool city). "In this economy" it would be crazy not to take a job offer with a reputable company doing what I want to, right?

However, option two is not bad either. I applied to four graduate schools back in December (Virginia Tech, George Mason, Purdue, and North Carolina State. In order of preference). Not only did my top choice accept me, but they have offered me a Graduate Research Assistantship that will pay for my tuition (which would have been out-of-state rates), will pay me at about the same rate as Fugro would (only I would only work 20 hours/week instead of 40) and I could research anything a topic of my choice (as opposed to doing a specific project that they have for me.)

Since I highly value the opinion of my family members I discussed with a few of them my dilemma. I got responses for both. "Take the job. The economy's only gonna get worse." "You'll have the rest of your life to work." "Take the job you have a family to support." "You can never get too much education." I could see the value in each and Rachel and I were not sure which one to do. Like many things, we try to think about it logically and systematically and weigh all the pros and cons. Additionally, we decided to fast and prayer about it over the weekend.

Ladies and Gents, we have made our decision. We have decided to take Hannah Montana's advice and "get the best of both worlds." We will be moving to Texas in early April and 5 months later going to Virginia. I ran it by my boss and he said it was fine. We are very excited to close one chapter of our life and open another.

So Talmage just finished his two week Air Force tour this last Sunday. He was in Georgia for a week and then Florida for a week. The second week was much like being deployed. They lived in tents and ate MREs.I went up to Prescott that last week with mom. The week before Talmage's mom had the kids. They both have been a really big help since I still am healing from the C-section and can't lift that much weight.
We were suppose to move to Austin in about a week and a half but they pushed the date back. We don't have a definite date but will soon. Right now my guess is probably late March or early April. But for now we still need to get a renter and I am sure the Lord will provide. I am sure things will fall into place.Olive, Heber and Hannah are all growing like weeds. Heber and Hannah are getting better at talking. Hannah is a little further along with it. She is getting sentences out. Short sentences. Olive is getting chubbier and cuter.All and all life is good and we are doing great.

Moving

Just in case you didn't get the news, we are moving to Texas for Talmage's new job.

Welcome Olive Susan, All 9lbs 4oz

Nope not a mom of three yet. She is still in me. I thought a couple times that she might come but still nothing. Worse news is that she is now breech, meaning her head is up and her feet are down. Because of her size and such they want to do a C section. I am scheduled to go into the hospital tomorrow at 6 am. I have been hoping and praying that she turns but either way I will have a sweet baby in my arms by tomorrow morning.

(I am really trying not to be disappointed about not having an all natural birth. I have been hoping to go into labor naturally before Friday which was my original induction date.)

Still Prego