YESS!!!!

I've been waiting for ALMOST A MONTH to post this!

The good news that we have been waiting for has finally come today! Matt interviewed with John Deere (in Waterloo) a month ago and was offered the position today!!! We are both SO excited. We have been (somewhat secretly) waiting to hear this news. Matt will be a manufacturing engineer in the "heat treat" part of the downtown Waterloo location. It has been our plan to move to Cedar Falls for a few months now, but we were waiting on this awesome news. We are currently in the process of trying to sell our house which will be the final step in our process. For now we will at least be able to drive only ONE car to Cedar Falls instead of two cars going opposite directions. Yeah for saving money on gas!

We have begun our search for a house in Cedar Falls. A few weeks ago we looked at 7 different houses around town with our realtor. We found one that we really liked, an older 2 story home with squeaky wood floors ( I always loved that sound) and a great new kitchen but 2 of the 3 upstairs bedrooms don't have closets... so we like it, but don't love it. Other than that our search didn't produce anything to our liking. We will continue to look with our realtor but have jointly decided that if we sell our house and haven't found anything that we're in love with we will A)try to rent an apartment on a month-by-month basis B) move in with good ol' pops for a while (yes Dad, that's you!) We just know that we really want to find a house that we're in love with and can stay for a long, long....long time, and not just settle on one that is "ok". (Matt has insistently told me that we will NOT be moving again soon. Can't blame him I guess. =)

It's amazing how things just seem to "pull together" at the right time. It's so hard to sit back and have faith that everything is meant to happen when it happens, but it's amazing to look back on things and realize just how perfectly God has planned things for us. Another exciting thing for us is that we just completed the membership class for Orchard Hill Church so we are now both members at that church. We are looking forward to getting involved with the church, which will be MUCH easier living in the same town. We just joined a small group of young married couples and have had a lot of fun getting that started. We also have volunteered to help with some committee"ish" things at church. Matt is looking into helping run the computers/tech stuff for one of the services and I am hoping to get on board with the wedding coordinators at the church. (I know... you're completely shocked because I really don't like weddings, ha! I love weddings and can't wait to get started!)

So that's our good news for now, hopefully the next good news is that we've got an offer on our house!

Amazing movie!

**Ok, so this isn't the original post that I've been waiting for a few days to post, but I really wanted to share this one too, so I'll keep on waiting to get the other WAY MORE exciting one up soon!**

I'm not usually a huge movie buff, but Matt and I saw an amazing movie last week that I feel compelled to share with everyone! The movie is called Fireproof, and it is a must see in my opinion. Here is the info on the movie:

Fireproof is the story of a firefighter, Captain Caleb Holt, who lives by the old firefighter's adage: Never leave your partner behind. But, after seven years of marriage to his wife Catherine, their own relationship is failing. Neither one understands the pressures the other faces. As they prepare to file for divorce, Caleb's father challenges his son to commit to a 40-day test called "The Love Dare." Caleb starts it, but more for his father's sake than for his marriage.

When Caleb discovers the book’s daily challenges are tied into his parents' newfound faith, his already limited interest is further dampened. Even though he wants to stay true to his promise, Caleb becomes frustrated time and time again. He finally asks his father, "How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?" When his father tells him that this is the love God shows to people, Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God. And, with God's help, he begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife. But, he is unsure if it's too late to "fireproof" his marriage.

I know it sounds a little bit cheesy, but it really was awesome! The movie was produced by two brothers who are both pastors and most of the cast are volunteers from their church. It was such a good movie that Matt even went out the next day and bought the book, Love Dare (same book that the movie is based off of).

Click below to watch the trailer. I know that it is not playing in Cedar Falls yet, we actually went to Cedar Rapids to see it, but I'm assuming it will be coming soon!

patience is the key...

I promise I have a great post just waiting to be, well...posted! Just be patient my friends, I'm waiting for the "ok" sign, then I'm hoping to get it up on here in the next day or two.

Fingers crossed!

on the crazy train

I posted earlier in the summer that the teacher across the hall (Renee) and I have decided that we would get our Master's together. Our original plan was to take 2 years to complete it, like most sane adults would choose. And then we attended a meeting with the head guy of the master's program here in Iowa and he told us that if we really wanted to, we could graduate this July.

We contemplated it and then decided, SURE... WHY NOT?!? So now we are on the crazy train of classes. Taking between 2-4 classes at a time. We are currently in 2 and will be starting our research class at the end of October, which... we are both dreading. We will then have to complete our research and paper over the next 6 or so months (while taking 5 more classes in the spring), because of course we wouldn't want the normal 9 months to do it!

And on top of it, Renee and her husband Drew are expecting their second child in February, so I guess I shouldn't be the one complaining. =) All of this will lead to a week long class in July in Wisconsin (where the University is at) and graduation on July 17th, 2009. Dear lord will we ever make it....

So if my posting starts to fade to once a week (oh wait, that's all I'm finding time for now!) then you will know that I'm alive, just stuck in some corner reading or doing other crappy grad work.

Enjoy this beautiful fall weather for me... because unfortunately I'm guessing I won't have much time to enjoy it this year. $5,000 pay raise... $5,000 pay raise and a chance to move to a new position... I just need to keep the goal in mind! =)

OH, I almost forgot to share this. The house that we really wanted (the crappy boarded up one that we loved, see picture below) got an offer last week. We haven't heard if they accepted the offer or not but we're assuming it's sold. =( Only 2 tears were shed, and now we're on the hunt again. AND we have someone coming to look at our house next week, YIPPEEE!!!

oh, how i love the biggest loser

Why is it that watching extremely obese people workout makes me workout 10 times harder?! I don't know either, but I won't complain. Tuesday nights are the one night of the week that I actually feel motivated to workout, and that the time actually flies by, and I LOVE IT! If you don't tune into Biggest Loser (NBC, Tuesday nights at 7pm central) you're really missing out.

Not only are the people phenomenal, hello, they lose over a 100 lbs in the time they are on the show, but the two trainers are amazing too! Jillian and Bob are in your face type of trainers. They yell, scream, and sometimes physically drag the people on their team to success. If only I had the money to hire a personal trainer like that... then maybe I could have my dream body too!

Jillian

Bob

So tonight (in less than an hour!) I look forward to a heart pounding, leg trembling, sweaty 30 minute elliptical workout in front of our tv, all thanks to one exhilarating show!

Enjoy the show folks!

we're moving!!! (well...hopefully!)

So I know I've been awful about updating the last two weeks, but I have some good reasons. First, with grad school and teaching finally getting going life has been crazy. Second, I've had nothing else on my mind except for this darn house stuff!

We will have our house up for sale after this weekend...WHAT?! (I know that's what you're thinking). I know, we only bought our house 7 months ago, and yes... we are crazy for moving again already! (We fully understand that!) However we're ready for this move. We want to be in a town that actually has umm, A GROCERY STORE! Let alone a mall would be nice too, or yes, even a real restaurant! And we would really like to be near our families, especially since we find ourselves making the hour drive to Cedar Falls EVERY SINGLE weekend! So we have decided to put our house up for sale by owner and see what happens...frankly we're just hoping to break even. We have spotted a house in Cedar Falls that we're in love with! It's boarded up, has yellow stained walls, boards for siding, and a roof that is sliding off, and we love it! (shh... don't tell anyone about it until it's ours!) =)

Isn't she a BEAUTY!!

It's in an amazing location and we're hoping we can make it our home! We are in the process of getting some contractors to give us bids and then we'll be able to put an offer in, with the contingency that our house sells. It's all too exciting, in fact, Matt and I have both lost sleep thinking about what we want to do to the house.

So... if anyone is looking for an amazing 5 bedroom walkout ranch in Urbana with a pool, cherry kitchen with island, 2 car attached garage, master bathroom with whirlpool tub and walk-in closet and 3/4 acre lot let us know!

So that's the latest news from the Kings. Other than the worrying that we might lose the house we want, life is great!

amazing love

So I promise I didn't create this blog to make it all mushy and to constantly talk about the cliche idea of "how happy we are now that we're married". However, I wrote this poem for my writing class that I'm in and one of my friends said I had to put it on here, so here it is:

Amazing Love

I thought I was in love… I was, but not like this.

I thought I knew what love was, and how to show it…I did, but now I know better.

I thought that you were the perfect guy… you were, but now it means so much more.

I thought that we were meant for each other… we were, but now I truly know it.

I thought we were going to make a great family of our own someday… we will, and I can hardly wait for it!

The way that God has worked in me and you is inspiring. He has taken the two of us and molded us into exactly what the other person needs. You are more perfect to me now than you even were on our wedding day.

I love how you kiss me on my forehead to say goodbye in the morning when I’m not even fully awake yet.

I love how you pick up our kitty and hold and kiss her each day when you get home from work at night.

I love that you call my mom and dad just to talk, because deep down I know you are the son that they never had.

I love how when I’m mad at you for not doing something you said you would do, you simply meow or make some other obnoxious noise to make me laugh and all is good again.

I love how I’m more in love with you today than I was 3 months ago on our wedding day. I

know you better, for good and bad, and somehow that has turned into loving you more deeply now than before.

And finally, knowing that I love you more now than ever before makes me so excited and more in love with you and anxious to see how much more my love for you can grow.

the first days...

Well the first two days of school have come and gone and I find myself thinking that there are a lot of days left! Don't get me wrong, my job can be fun, rewarding and somewhat challenging, but not yet. During these first few days I find myself wandering the halls, helping cute and lost kindergartners to their rooms, fiddling around on my computer and the usual walk across the hall to Renee's room to see what's going on.
I finally was able to start pulling some 1st graders today to test. The test that I give to them is 6 parts, most of the parts get quite repetitive and I want to strangle the author of the book The Hippo in the Hole. It might be a good book if you didn't have to listen to a bajillion first graders read it to you over and over. I forgot how much these first few weeks of testing really do stink!
I'm ready to get into the teaching part of my job and done with the monotonous testing part. I'm ready to see students learn to read and see their excitement when they figure out that they actually can read!
I'm also ready to tell some exciting news...however Matt has put the kabash on letting it slip out yet, so a few more weeks and I'll be letting everyone know! (no mom, it's not baby news, not even close or in our thoughts yet, so relax!)
Another thing I'm maybe not excited for but anxious for is grad school. In about a month Renee and I will be starting our first of the Friday/Saturday classes and I'm ready to get them started. The sooner we start the sooner the end is near! I don't mind school but I am definitely not looking forward to being in class on Friday nights and all day Saturdays, yuck!
Even though I find my life to be somewhat boring right now I had a "moment" the other night. Matt and I were sitting in the living room, we had just made an awesome dinner, the kitchen was cleaned up, we had finished taking down all of our incredibly hideous borders in the house during the week, and had just finished painting the kitchen that night...and all of the sudden we found ourselves laughing hysterically, to the point of tears. (I'm not sure what it was about...ok, I lie. I do remember, but it involved flatulents and you really don't want to know the whole story, trust me.) It was at this point that I realized life is good, and I couldn't be more happy if I tried right now.
It still amazes me that every night I come home to actually be with Matt, and that I'm not waiting for the weekends to see him anymore. I'm pretty sure Matt has probably heard at least once a week something along the lines of, "It just still hasn't hit me that we're married, it's so crazy!" He probably thinks I'm crazy since I keep saying that, but it's true... it hasn't hit me yet. I'm glad it hasn't hit me to be honest, because every time I sit and realize how awesome our lives are right now and how much fun we have together and that we are actually married, I get happy. And I like that feeling. So I'll take the boring job for a few more weeks and try to concentrate on the happiness.

the old man takes a dive

My dad called me last week and informed me that he was going to go skydiving on Sunday and wondered if I wanted to go along and watch. The "airport" (aka little shack in a field) is located in Vinton, about 5 minutes from our house. So I of course said yes, pick us up. So this past Sunday dad picked Matt and I up and we headed out to have dad pushed out of a plane. We sat around and watched a video and dad signed some papers that in summary said: if you die because of us, or our equipment, it's not our fault. right!

Dad getting his harness on (watch the boys, right dad? =):

After the video dad got all strapped up, and I mean TIGHTLY strapped up, Matt and I were actually laughing watching it happen. A man named Don Briggs, you may know him for several reasons. He used to be a famous wrestler, he is currently a teacher at UNI in the physical education department, and this past winter he was the guy that attached a hose to the top of our silo and made it into an ice climbing wall. Anyway, he is a trained sky diver and offered to take dad up on a tandem jump...which is how we got to the point of Briggs tightly strapping dad's harness on.

The sweet football helmet from 1950:

After they were all hooked up and ready to go they loaded the plane and took off. About 10 minutes later we finally saw a few of the people start dropping through the clouds. At this point they all looked like little birds so we had no idea which one they were. We soon figured it out since they were the only tandem team, and therefore the only ones with 4 feet dangling down.

Dad & Briggs coming in:

Dad & Briggs walking in ( i think this picture is way sweet with the plane

just leaving behind them):

And so another wild and crazy event crossed off of dad's "Bucket List". Below you can click on the blue link to watch the video that Matt made of dad's jump. (the song in the video is Dad's FAVORITE song, it's from Forrest Gump and we've seriously listened to it a hundred times in the car, #18 on disc one, incase you were interested!)

Click the link below to see the video Matt made of the skydive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh16BgHnaLo

don't mess with God's plans...

I received an important lesson today, and I'm pretty sure it was sent straight from God.

This whole "lesson" started last week. I had a voicemail waiting for me last Friday. During my lunch break from class I listened to the message from my principal to call him as soon as I had time. I called him and he proceeded to tell me that there was a good possibility that the 3rd grade teaching position would become available during the week, and was wondering if I was interested in it. After he told me I had 30 seconds to decide and I laughed out loud, he told me to get back to him over the weekend with my decision.

Third grade has always been the grade that I dreamed of teaching. They still like school and their teacher, they are just starting to really get into some fun and interesting science units, they are more independent than 1st and 2nd graders and they are starting to understand my humor (let me tell you, 1st and 2nd graders are a tough crowd!).

After spending all day Saturday and Sunday running to the bathroom because my nerves were going crazy, except for when we were out at the skydiving place watching dad jump (more to come on that later this week after Matt gets the video posted) I knew I had to make a decision. I had JUST decided last week to start grad school this semester and I was really worried that with grad school and starting a new position a week before classes started that I wouldn't be able to put all of my energy into a new position. I went back and forth all weekend and eventually came to the decision that I couldn't let my dream position pass by. However, it is important to know that even if I had decided to take the 3rd grade position it wasn't guaranteed to me because the principal would have to find a qualified candidate to take my position. Meaning, that the applicant would have to have a reading endorsement or minor in order to teach reading, otherwise they would only be qualified for the 3rd grade job.

So I got a hold of my principal and told him that I would like to move to the 3rd grade position, assuming that they could find a replacement for me (ha, like anyone could really replace me, I am pretty much the most fun reading teacher ever! =). He told me that that sounded great and then he explained that the interviews were to be Monday morning and that only one candidate had a reading endorsement. I left that conversation feeling a bit worried. However, he said that he would let me know the decision by early afternoon Monday (today).

About an hour ago I received a call from him... the teacher they would like to extend a contract to does NOT have a reading endorsement. Bummer. However I somehow knew this morning when I woke up that I would not be scrambling to set up a classroom this week, I had a calmness about me that knew I would be in my comfortable and somewhat more relaxed position again this year.

So now I sit, knowing that life will be a little bit less hectic this year than I had hoped for. That I won't be spending weekends at school setting up fun science experiments and picking neat books to read aloud to the class. (when you only have 3-5 kids at a time, read alouds don't really happen too much) And to be honest, I'm okay with all of this. I know that SO many things in my life have worked out EXACTLY as they were supposed to, and I'm taking this decision as another one of those things.



I'm ok with life

and life is ok with me.

Things are rolling along just as they are meant to be.