"We're moving to Mexico for a year!"
"What?!?! Why? How did this happen?"
Telling everyone about our exciting news has been fun, but it has garnered a lot of questions. So let me start from the beginning. My husband, Gabe, is amazing. A-MAZE-ING! He is smart, creative, and great with kids. Hence why he makes such a wonderful 2nd grade teacher. I've lost track of how many parents have come up to me gushing about how much their kids love(d) having him as their teacher. I'm so proud of Gabe and how he motivates and excites the kids in his classroom. But let's be real. Being a male elementary teacher is kind of tough. Don't get me wrong, he loves his job and his co-workers. We couldn't ask for a better school! But being the only man on the elementary side of school, surrounded completely by women, left him feeling lonely and isolated. God knew he needed to be recharged and energized. And God provided a way.
Every Spring, the school sends out a form asking the teachers to indicate whether they will commit to the following year or not. In the past, Gabe has always signed it with no hesitation. This year, it just didn't feel right to him. There was something "off" about the idea of teaching here next year. When he first admitted this to me, I thought he was kind of crazy. I tried not to panic or think about what would happen to our family if he was unemployed. Being the supportive wife that I am, I told him I would pray and see if God had anything else out there for our family, but inwardly I was sure that as I prayed, God would give Gabe peace to sign his commitment for next year. The joke was on me I guess, as it didn't play out that way! The more I prayed, the more Gabe hesitated to sign that document. He began to look into the possibility of teaching abroad. Unfortunately, most of the international schools that offered paid teaching positions had already hired their staff for next year. So Gabe began to search for other opportunities. I was cautiously supportive, but some of the places Gabe was looking into didn't offer a paycheck and I had no idea how we could afford any of them. I was further discouraged when talking to some mission agencies and discovering that the average lenth of time it takes most missionaries to raise support is 8 months. We had 4-5 months before another school year started. I'll admit that I was worried and unsure if this was going to happen. I began to cautiously hint to my husband that maybe God was just putting this thought into our heads for a year down the road. That would surely give us adequate time to raise the funds for something like this, right? What little faith I had.
Thankfully, my husband didn't give in so easily. He began emailing several different Christian organizations, asking if any of them had the need for a teacher. In early April, an email arrived from an orphanage in Mexico. They DID need a teacher! And they wanted to hear more about him and his family. When we looked at what orphanage it was, we were shocked to realize that this was the same orphanage that our church sends a group down to for a week and a half every Spring. In fact, my Dad was actually going there with our church group later that week! I was still cautious about the whole thing, wondering how we could ever raise enough support to afford all the expenses of living abroad. But 2 days later, casually written in an email from the principal at this orphanage school in Mexico, we were informed that the ministry would provide us with housing and most meals if we were offered a position down there. At that moment, every last concern I had about this endeavor blew away like dust in the wind. With housing and meals covered, we really wouldn't have to raise that much financial support. God was quietly arranging every single detail of this opportunity for us. I apologized to God for my lack of faith and realized I just needed to stop getting in the way and start letting God do His job.
Things went rather quickly after that. We began corresponding regularly with the principal at the school and she has been most helpful to answer all our questions. The school here in town approved a one year sabbatical for Gabe so that we could go abroad for a year and he could return to his 2nd grade classroom when we come back. We received our official invitation to join them down there and were told that we should plan on arriving between August1-15. Not a lot of time to get everything done. But even so, I now have peace about the whole thing. I know without a doubt that God has planned this for our family and that He will take care of every last detail. I'm excited to see what this next year holds for our family!
