Rick Faulk

Christmas Week

2009-12-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

Wow! Having the house full is a great feeling for Christmas! Christmas day was pretty bleak on the gift giving side because we needed to save money to use on fixing up the house to put in on the market in a couple of weeks. However, from the viewpoint of enjoying our time together, I don't remember a better time. We, all 6 of us, played games for six hours Christmas day and had a blast! I felt sad to not be able to give them many gifts, but the afternoon time together made it my best Christmas as a father!

The work has begun for our move which is still eight months away. The kids have been purging their belongings, as have we, keeping only what is absolutely necessary. It is a moving experience. Finding things that provoke old memories. Finding things that we can't remember why we still have them. Scanning family photos so that we can take them with us on a disc instead of in so many frames or albums. The girls gathering around me to look at the photos before they are put away for a long time (the photos, not the girls:). Laughing at the way we looked or what we were doing.

Ramblings

2009-12-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

Well, we got online and found some photos of the apartment in which we will be staying when we get to Maturin. It does appear to live up to its 'spacious' description. That is encouraging.

Tomorrow is Kate's and my 23rd wedding anniversary. Wow! The one thing I can point to that makes it difficult to complain about the unfairness of anything in life is my family, and more specifically, my wife. God was really looking out for me there!

A little later on tonight, Karissa will be home and the whole family will be reunited. It will probably be the last Christmas for a while. Garrick will be in San Diego this time next year, Season will be in China, and we will be in Venezuela. Our plan is for Karissa and Annalyse to come to Venezuela for Christmas break next year.

I told my boss about our decision this last Thursday. He was wonderful about it. He said that he loved my work, loved having me there., but that he understood. He said that God knew this was going to happen and, if he knew it was happening, he had someone in mind to take my place next year. Praise God.

Purpose?

2009-12-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

I found a purpose for the blog other than just to share my thoughts with you. Just a week into the blog experience, I was searching through the list of bloggers in my area and found a friend's blog. On it, I noticed that he had shared that he had been struggling in his spiritual walk. I am confident that God led me to his page so that I could share maybe just a little bit of encouragement with him. I don't know how much of a difference my sharing will make in his life, but I am encouraged that God works in this way.

We are investigating how to ship a vehicle to Venezuela now. It appears it may be difficult. Apparently, cars/trucks are expensive there and shipping a used vehicle into the country may not be possible as a protection to their industry. We will see. I have asked the question of some people at the school to which we are going.

We will spend part of the Christmas break getting a few things taken care of in the house so that it can be put on the market in January.

The beginning of an adventure

2009-12-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Kate and I went to the recruiting fair for the Association of American Schools of South America (AASSA) and came away with jobs in Venezuela for next school year. We will be living in Maturin, Monagas, Venezuela beginning in August 2010. She will be teaching science and I, mathematics, at a small school called International School of Monagas(ISM).

We went to the recruiting fair with some targeted schools in mind but found out while there that they required international experience before they would consider us. We had resigned ourselves to waiting on the positions in Asia that we were also considering. I had also thanked God for allowing us the opportunity and had told him that I accepted his guidance although I was disappointed. Then, the next morning we got a call back from ISM and a few hours later we were on our way to being international educators.

We are simultaneously excited and apprehensive. Anxious to get started, but still needing to live in the moment as well.