hip hip hooooray!

amen. tonight the board voted and our positions were restored. that's right folks, matt and i are both gainfully re-employed!!! yaaahhoooo! so, there will be no pan handling in the streets and pushing shopping carts containing rather large dogs. sorry for those of you interested in seeing that sight. although, i agree with you, it might be kinda an awesome sight.

good ol' arnie (the governator and i are tight, we are on nickname basis) restored some much needed dinero to education in cali. i guess he didn't want to be dead last in spending per pupil. 47th is quite comfortable...but people might start talking if we are dead last. let's not get into that. matthew and i feel so relieved and like a weight has been lifted. as much as we had tried very hard to be positive for the past 2.5 months, it has been stressful at times and hard to be patient and trust things will work out.

god is good and we are joyful. thanks to everyone for all your prayers, good wishes, encouragement, beers...whatever did the trick at any given moment :) much love! matt and whit

ps. disclaimer...over the weekend in FULL procrastination mode, i tried like 80 times and i couldn't get pics to upload. don't know what the prob was. i will try again soon, i'm sure it was just being wierd. (yeah yeah, i know you don't believe me...)

loss.

Matthew and I just officially got laid off effective June 30th. We are quite shocked actually, and are not really prepared for this! For the past 2 months, since we got the initial pink slip notice we received...we have been trying too keep our spirits high, because everyone had said.."with 5 years in the district, you guys will be fine. They won't cut that deep." Well, decided at the board of education meeting yesterday, with a split 3-2 vote, they did cut that deep. They laid off 617 teachers. People have also said, "they do this all the time, you will get re-hired" when in fact, this hasn't happened since 1918. There is a possibility of being re-hired and maybe a good possibility at that. Especially if the governor's budget passes with voters and makes up for some of the deficit. The obvious answer to me, is we need to stop spending to fix the deficit, but that it not the answer that will keep teachers. I wonder how much time has been spent in classrooms by the people who make these decisions.

While we would like to say we are hopeful that we will be rehired, and maybe sooner than later...if I am honest, I am terrified. I know I need to be prayerful and trust because our Maker works EVERYTHING out ALWAYS, but the honest truth is I know this to be true, yet my stomach is churning with fear of the unknown. Both of our last paychecks come June 1st. I'm pretty sure our morgage lender is still expecting us to pay July 1st and August 1st, for that matter. We have to look for jobs, whatever that means. Our identities are partially wrapped up in our professions...because deep down we both LOVE what we do, and we know it is what we were made to do. I know there has to be more out there, and as much as I have joked with my students about working at Starbucks "if" I were to get laid off, I don't want to work at Starbucks. I really don't. I don't want to make people coffee, I want to change people's lives...young peoples lives (although I must say, I am damn good at making coffee-my barista skills are pretty stellar).

I find it ironic I am finishing my last 2 classes right now to complete my Master's in Teaching ad Learning, and I am being told I can't teach. I don't know girls. We can't sit around all summer with our fingers crossed, praying we get our jobs back. We have to take action and prepare for the worst I guess.

I love you all, and deep down Matt and I both know something will work out, it is still scary as hell. Anyone have any connections or ideas for cool jobs? I feel like such a hypocrite, I have always said I am such a believer in "when one door closes, another one opens" and I know it is true, but that cliche (for lack of a better word) kinda makes me want to throw up right now. I will keep ya'll posted on the haps, and keep on praying that governator works some magic with the budget sometime real soon. I just want to say thanks for listening to my heart right now.

love you--Whit

UGH.

It is not looking too good for Matthew and I in regards to our jobs. We will let you know the official word, but we are anticipating being laid off because of the way the school board voted last night. I have knots in my stomach as I type, but I am confident that things will work out one way or another. Whether "things working out" means the governor fixes the budget and they re-hire us, or if "things working out" means we find new jobs, we don't quite know. More to come.

Ps. I still plan to post pictures :)

intimidated

i have been having so much fun with this blogging stuff, i feared the day i would get behind (like i have) and feel like it is too much work to get it caught up (like i do). i have a bazillion pictures to download and organize on the computer.
since i am too tired to take on this daunting task of catching up the blog, here's the skinny:
- i finished my 2 classes (hallelujah!) and have a mini break until the madness begins again.
-we were at bach/bachelorette parties this weekend (matt in vegas, me palm springs) so we are a bit tired to say the least.
-we find out in a week and a half about our job sitch-may 15 at the latest. if we must be honest we are a tad more nervous than before...finding out the state level budget situation is worse than they thought. we can deal with whatever comes, we would just like it to COME...in other words, we just want to know. this waiting crap sucks.
-my coaching will be in full swing starting next week and the season finishes in december (yikes, don't know if i'm ready for that yet) it is a lot of work and time.
ok, that's all for now. it is waaaaaay past my bedtime and i think matt has been asleep for about 4 hours already. ok, not really 4, but probably one and a half.

i know...i know...

So for those of you who regularly check our blog, I apologize sincerely. I keep thinking about updating the photos like I promised, I just haven't been able to do anything other than homework for what seems like forever! I have a massive action reseach project due tonight. 15 pages typed plus 15 more pages of an appendix (evidence). That will feel good to turn in. Too bad I have another massive assignment due for my other class due on Thursday-and I have barely started! :( I will get it done. I am proctoring the CST test right now to my students and took a break from homework and walking around the room to say a quick hello. ok, back to work...BYE!

highlights

so much to update you on in the past few days! i wanted to highlight a few things now, and let you know that pictures are coming soon, i promise!
*Our good friends Alisa and Philip came to visit from SF...soooo good to see them back in SD. we hung out on friday night with them.
*saturday was matthew and michael's 30th birthday party!! kirstin and i planned a par-tay and it was so much fun!
*sunday was matt's (and mike's!) actual 30th birthday. we slept in, went out to breakfast at a great spot near out house called the mission, lounged around all day, went to dinner at south park bar and grill...perfect low-key day for matthew, just what he wanted.
*today (tuesday) we had a rally outside the education building while the school board meeting was going on. it was to send the message loud and clear that they cannot go through with the budget cuts and teacher layoffs. matt and i were interviewed by fox 6 news and we are waiting to see if it is aired! we'll keep ya posted.
...PICTURES ARE COMING...

weekends are the best

on saturday, i drove up to san juan capistrano to visit my good friend kendra and finally meet her adorable baby boy, nolan! kendra and i have known each other since middle school, went to HS together, and have been great friends since! i think i spent more nights at her house than i did my own in high school...her family was my family and now that they live in orange county, it's great to be able to get together again!

nolan is 8 months already! he is such a cutie.

saturday night, we went to dinner at Mister A's...look at this view! we live in such a beautiful city and enjoyed a very nice dinner overlooking it...downtown, the airport, the bay, the bridge, and point loma. it was the last of the anniversary celebration for this year...a huge thank you to sis and robert for the gift certificate to mister A's...it was wonderful!!!!

i couldn't help myself. look at my plate! the waiter had to explain what was going on here. i'm not going to even try to explain it to you...just know it was delicious!

oooooh, yes, that's right...it's padre season baby!! today we went to our first game with some friends and had awesome seats! too bad trevor hoffman blew it for us in the top of the 9th, but it was an exciting game against LA...3-2 dodgers :( we enjoyed an afternoon of sun, a good ball game, and i certainly enjoyed my soft-serve ice cream cone that matt stood in line for about 37 minutes for...(not pictured, too melty).