I'll start off with where the Starkey's are in life right now. At this very moment, we are both relaxing at home waiting on brunch to finish cooking. You may remember from the last post that Slone's old employer, Texas Power, sold their business to another company and he took the dive into becoming a coach. Little did he know that would lead to becoming a teacher, so we are both enjoying the summer together. This past school year, he was the head coach of 8th grade basketball at PCA and assistant coach to the Varsity team. With that, came the responsibility of teaching bible, technology, and personal finance to certain grade levels. Both of us agree that we would have NEVER imagined Slone becoming a teacher. He DID NOT like school and now he absolutely loves the position that God has put him in. Funny how things play out as you never expected them to. We are very thankful that God had something better planned for us when he lost his job last September. He has also been coaching camps and AAU all summer and I've not seen him happier! With a pretty big loss in income in this whole process, the Lord still provided for us every step of the way. THANK YOU, LORD!!
I am still at Hutcheson Junior High (and LOVING it!!) but received saddening news this past school year. First, our principal retired in March and that was really hard. I've only known him as an administrator since I've only been teaching for 2 years, but he was very relaxed and trusted his staff to get the job done without watching over us all the time. I've heard plenty of teachers at other schools that would say otherwise about their administration, so I appreciated his style. With that came news that Hutcheson was part of the bond that would be passed in Arlington that would require the school to be torn down and rebuilt as a career and technology center (I might be a little off on the new site building, but I think that's the city's intention). We were told we would be sent to a new school with the students (Workman Junior High) which is no longer within walking distance to school for our students. There were mixed emotions about this and uncertainty about what would happen to my job, but I can say that I've continually prayed for peace about the situation and have received it. The superintendent advised us that we will be in our building for one more school year (2014-2015) and then the transitions will begin. Lots of our teachers decided to go ahead and transfer to a new school, but I am going to stick it out for the next year. It would be easy for me to panic and have anxiety about what will happen (and from time to time that creeps in) but I know that I know that I know that God is good and will provide.
The biggest event this summer so far is putting our house on the market. We talked about it from time to time and once we started researching the market and learned that it was a seller's market, we decided to sell ours. That wasn't the only reason though. When we first bought the house on our 3 year anniversary we had a plan. Since the house was a foreclosure and we were getting instant equity in the house, we planned to live there 3-5 years and then sell it to make what we hoped to be a nice profit. Slone and I both had to put ourselves through school on student loans and there was always the thought that if we made enough profit, we'd use it to pay down those student loans. The market is in just the right condition to allow us to sell and make a very nice profit on the sale. However, the Lord can do what He wants with this home and the funds and we've prayed continually for his guidance and wisdom. Our aunt, Stacy, put the house on the market this past Wednesday and we've had 8 showings since then. She is very optimistic in that traffic and believes things could play out well. This is all very bittersweet. This is our first home as a married couple and we love the neighborhood and city of Mansfield. We have a field in our backyard that provides instant tranquility for reading or fellowship with family and friends when they come over and that is so hard to leave. But, this is not our home. It is one simply shared with us from the Lord and we will forever cherish the memories in this first home He allowed us to be blessed by. This move is part of the initial plan we had when we purchased the home and one step in our 5 year plan at this time. We plan to move back to Arlington, closer to both of our jobs and hope to spend a few years there while Slone finishes up his degree, then transition to Tennessee. I hesitate to say the last part because I know family (and ourselves) get excited about that, but the reality is anything could happen in the next few years and it may not be within God's plan or timing for us to move at that time. However, we will continually be in prayer about it and know that wherever we are, we will move in His Word and timing and nothing else, for that is what has proven to consistent and true through all things we've experience in life so far.
At the beginning of this year, Slone and I decided to start following the Dave Ramsey principles for getting out of debt. We are not frivolous spenders and don't live beyond our means, but we do have debt; school loans, car loans, and one credit card. We started listening to the Dave Ramsey show on the radio and it was so encouraging to hear people call in and tell their story about getting out of debt. Real people. Real solutions. It pushed us to begin the baby steps in April of this year. We had always used a budget sheet but still didn't know where a lot of our income was going. Low and behold it was eating out, movies, golfing, and shopping. We pulled the reigns on all of that and got strict with the budget. It was exciting and still is as we watch the debt dwindle away. As teachers we don't make much money but we are seeing progress and that's what counts! Selling our home will play a big role in paying down this debt, but we will have to wait and see how that plays out!
Lastly, there are exciting things happening in the near future:
- I head to Tennessee in 2 days
- Along with being head coach of JV bball and asst coach on Varsity, Slone begins his football coaching career next week at PCA (more on that later)
- I begin graduate school in September
- Slone turns 30 in October
Well, that's enough catch up for now. I always promise to post more but the truth is, I don't always feel like writing. I'm not a natural writer, but when I sit down to begin a post, I enjoy it. It's just that initial step of getting started. Look for more in the future - who knows when!? LOL :)
Life is good,
Starkeys
