Lasts...

We are in our last week before we leave, and this week is the week of lasts. Last High Ground for me (Scott), last growth group, last mom's in the park, and the last time we'll see different people. Heather was giving some things to a good friend on Monday, and suddenly the friend stopped and began to cry "you're leaving!" Heather didn't want to go into grieving mode at that moment, but we will be grieving the lost of friends and family over this next week at unexpected times. After growth group today, we pulled into our driveway and both of us began to cry over the loss of our amazing group. We will miss you all deeply. When talking to Jonathan Martin and Rakel Thurman today they compared moving overseas to a marriage, in that when you get married you need to leave and cleave. To the extent that you are able to do that, the chances of success increase. Which I think is hard not only for us, but also for family and friends. With modern technology, it is very easy to stay connected via Facebook, Skype, blogs, email, etc. But at the same time, many young people moving to a foreign land get so sucked into social media, that they lose sight of where they are, and get more focused on where they're not. Heather has a wonderful saying, "Comparison is the thief of joy." So as we leave for Germany we're not going to completely shut ourselves off to our wonderful family and friends, but we are going to make a conscious decision to be where God has placed us, to embrace learning the language and culture, and to discover what exciting adventures God has for us in Germany. In the meantime, we'd love to see or hear from you before we go. We will probably be having a pantry raid on Friday this week for people to take extra food and toiletry items that we have, aren't going to take with us, and shouldn't be packed up for 2 years. Watch Heather's Facebook page for more details. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and have a great day.

Getting Closer to departure

Wow, this last week flew by! I finished summer school on Thursday, Steve and Sue got home Thursday night, we had round 2 of our estate sale Friday and sort of Saturday (it rained all day). Now we are into the final homestretch and there is so much to do. We are still trying to figure out what will happen to our house. Fortunately, God is bringing things into place, we just don't know what the final product will look like yet. We still need to get rid of stuff, pack, get out, and clean our house. Plus try to spend time with family and friends. God is good, and He's giving us the strength we need. I added a countdown timer to when our plane takes off from PDX next week. Pretty crazy.

Last night, it was neat to see God provide for us. We were both stressed about everything that needed to get done. I was actually on the phone with my mom sharing the stresses and how I didn't think I could handle another thing. At the end of the call, a family that Heather had talked to earlier came over to buy one of our car seats. When we told them we just needed to get rid of stuff, they ended up buying stuff and clearing out many boxes for us. One of their daughters and her husband work at a church in Kaiser that could use the kid clothes for families in their congregation so they took probably 5+ boxes worth of kids clothes and blankets. Afterwords Heather and I looked at what was gone and we praised God for meeting us where we were at and providing what we needed (getting stuff out of our house). It was like He was saying "I've got you covered, trust Me."

Estate Sale

We just finished day 2 of our estate sale. We decided not to be open on Sunday so we can go to church and have some family time. Please be praying for our house situation in Sandy. God really needs to open the right doors for what do do with our house. Rent? Rent to own? Property management company? Family or friends manage? Sell? New homebuyer's credit? Lots of questions. So far God has provided in every area, we're pretty sure He will do the same here too. We sold both of our cars on Friday (the Volvo sold at 11:45 pm Thursday night). Huge answered prayer there, and we sold them for our asking price. Praise the LORD! Please sign up for our prayer team. So far we only have 26 people on the list. We're aiming for 100!

God shows up again- Plane Tickets

God does it again in providing what we need. On Sunday we were trying to get plane tickets. We found tickets on Friday, and by Sunday morning those tickets were $200 more per ticket. Plus all we could find at that price was a flight that had two layovers. Heather was able to contact Condor (a German company that has just starting flying to the USA), and found a flight from Portland to Seattle to Frankfurt. But we were trying to do this as we were getting ready for church. We got out the door late. Then as Scott was taking Stanley to class, they had a collision (Stanley was going straight at full steam and Scott was trying to veer Stanley left). Stanley got a bloody nose, which took awhile to clean up, then he was having post tramautic issues from the bloody nose and couldn't calm down when we tried to drop him off. By the time all was said and done we were 30 minutes late, Stanley wasn't calming down, and Heather had not eaten breakfast. We decided to go home, give Stanley a break and a new non-bloody shirt, get Heather some food, and on Scott's mind was plane tickets. At home, we were able to get the first two done, but the third one wasn't happening. We tried to order the tickets, by using our credit card (we haven't used a card in over three years) and it would not go through. Bummer. Then we tried the debit card and that was rejected for some reason we couldn't read because the error note was in German. Finally we just had to leave to get back to church in time for second service. We did get there a couple minutes late, and during the worship we were both able to refocus and be reminded that Christ needs to remain on the throne of everything we do. After church Heather had lunch with Megan Schiffner (Knoll), and Scott had the kids at home. He was able to look at the information with a better perspective, and was able to learn what we needed. We were trying to buy tickets for Tuesday that were $300 more per ticket than the flight on Monday! Plus, through Condor the price for all four of us was less than one of us on United or Delta. The flight Monday is in the afternoon to Seattle, then we leave Seattle at the kids bedtime straight to Frankfurt. Plus, by flying with Condor, we were able to get a good deal on train tickets from Frankfurt to Weimar. God was able to make things not happen in the morning, but we were also able to make it to church (we definitely felt as if there was spiritual warfare trying to keep us from going). It's amazing to see how He orchestrates things together if we'd only stop to watch.

Thank you again for taking the time to follow our story. Please sign up to receive email alerts and to be on our prayer team. We're looking for at least 100 people on the prayer team. We'd like to hit that number by this upcoming weekend. There is a link on the right side of the page. Also, our estate sale is this weekend. July 8th, 9th, and 10th and we will open at 9 am.

New Direction

Our life has suddenly taken a turn in a whole new direction and with that change, we thought we should get this blog going again. It is sad that the last time we posted Holly wasn't born yet. So here we go, welcome to our new Odyssey.

Let us begin with the news, we're moving to Germany! Scott was offered a job at an international school in Weimar (pronounced Vie-mar). We said yes, and now we are leaving in less than 3 weeks. How did we get there? Glad you asked.

It started about mid May. With the economy, we knew Scott's job at Barlow was at risk. He knew that he did not want to be called to the principal's office. May 13th became that dreaded day at Barlow, where a lot of people were called to the principal's office. As I look back and try to figure out the date, that happened on Friday May 13th. 6.67 positions were cut. Most of those cuts were a class or two from a variety of teachers. Later this process was called, "death by a thousand paper cuts." Scott lost one class which dropped him down to 0.83 FTE (full time employee). At first we were shocked but then reminded ourselves that God is in control and we could make it on that salary even though it would be a challenge. Heather might need to work a little, Scott would pick up some subbing on his off period, or something else to earn a little here and there.

A week and a half later, on May 23rd, Scott had just gotten to work in the morning and received a phone call to come down to the principal's office again. This time, the news was worse. Another teacher who had seniority by luck of the draw (Scott and this teacher were hired the same summer) bumped Scott down another 3 classes. This put him at 0.33 FTE. This was a huge blow, and then he had to turn around and teach that day. He was offered the chance to take the day off, but the routine of working helped the shock not be as strong. At this point, we started to really question what God was doing. How was He working in all this? Then we began to dream. We had always wanted to teach overseas and maybe this was God pushing us that direction. We contacted the Black Forest Academy, began looking at international schools, and started to explore other possibilities.

Then on Thursday May 26th Scott's Vice Principal interrupted the class Scott was teaching at the moment and told him that she was to cover his class while he went down to the principal's office for a third time. "Maybe they're going to cut the rest of my job" he thought. Turns out that instead of cutting the rest of his job a half-time job at Gresham became available that morning, and it was his if he wanted it. Of course he said yes, and for you non-math people that is 0.33 FTE at Barlow, 0.5 FTE at Gresham for a total of 0.83 FTE, back where he originally was cut to. So maybe this was what God was preparing us for? A new ministry at Gresham High School. At that change we slowed down our exploring the possibility of teaching abroad, but that was still in the back of our mind. Instead, Scott's focus was on finishing the year well and getting ready for the changes ahead. "At least you still have your classroom" was something we held on to. Scott had been in that room all 4 years, and it was one of the best rooms at Barlow.

As the end of the year drew near, that hope of holding onto the classroom began to slip. Another teacher was being bumped rooms by a MESD (Multnomah Education Service District) special needs class. That teacher put in for Scott's room because Scott was only going to teach 2 classes at Barlow, and why leave such a great room empty? With that uncertainty looming we decided to look at the international schools a little more. We found a math job in Switzerland and another somewhere else. We sent emails to them, but both came back, "sorry we already hired someone." In Scott's mind we would leave in 2012, but Heather thought that God might have something for us this fall instead.

The week of finals Scott found another job, this one was at the Thuringia International School (ThIS) in Weimar Germany. I was a grade 6-12 position, with IB (International Baccalaureate) experience preferred. It looked interesting, so we started to gather the necessary documents, letters of recommendation, updated resume, etc. On the last day of work Scott found out that yes he was moving rooms, and he was going to share a room with the teacher who initially bumped him down to 0.33 FTE. He was also asked to teach an AVID class for the next year, which is a great program but requires a lot of outside of school time. Another teacher who was also asked to teach it described it as a great car, but when looking at your pocket book of time you don't have enough money. The overall atmosphere at Barlow that last day of work was like a funeral. At the breakfast it was one "this person is leaving" after another. Scott was a little disappointed that they didn't recognize those in his position who will still be at Barlow, but not full time.

Scott finished up the application that weekend and sent it in with a prayer on Sunday night, June 19th. The idea was that it would be in their inbox Monday morning. However, we didn't hear anything from the school. That whole week went by, and we began to wonder if they had already filled the position. On Sunday, June 26th, Scott decided that he should call the school to ask about the position and see if they had looked at his application. He dug out some old calling cards, and at 11:30 pm, called ThIS. After some time trying to figure how to make international calls, he finally got a hold of someone. It was the assistant director, and she said he should call back in an hour because the director could answer those questions better. He called back an hour later at 12:30 am. This time he was able to talk to the director and that phone call ended up being a two hour interview. At the end of the interview she said she liked what she was hearing and they set up a Skype interview for Tuesday night. That week was also his first week teaching summer school. So on Sunday night, he didn't get to bed until 2:45 in the morning, and he didn't fall asleep until almost 3:30. He then had to get up by 6 to get things ready to teach by 7:45.

On Tuesday night, Scott was nervous. We had been praying a lot, seeking God, and getting a lot of different people's opinions about the opportunity. When the interview started, the director and the Business Manager started by explaining what the pay and benefits are and how great of a place it is to work. It didn't seem like an interview but more of a job offer and a chance for Scott to ask more questions. At the end of the "interview" they asked, "So when can you let us know?" "Was that a 'the job is yours if you want it'?" Scott asked in reply. There was the job offer. Wow! Scott asked for 48 hours to think and pray about it. Then on Thursday night June 30th, Scott sent out the formal, "yes, I will accept the job" email.

What was neat about this whole process was that we spent a lot of time on our knees. Before emailing out the initial application we were praying about it. Before Scott called to inquire about the job we were praying about it. Before the Skype interview we were praying and singing to God. Two of our theme songs for this season of our journey are Chris Tomlin's "I will follow" and Matt Redman's "Blessed be your name" Some might feel like we are rushing into this, but we feel that God has led us every step of the way. It was like He was cutting the strings to our hot air balloon that were holding us down. First part of Scott's job, then more, then part time at Gresham, then loss of his classroom. We were also able to see how God was orchestrating other details to make things work for us to make this move. But in the midst of the uncertainty at Barlow, Scott was also able to have some neat conversations. He was able to tell others that he didn't want to let bitterness take root in his heart, because that would just eat him up inside and that he trusted that God was in control.

Now we are moving to Germany in three weeks, and you know the story behind the sudden, "We're leaving" that was posted on Facebook. We will share more as we go. Heather will also be posting updates on Facebook. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Valentine's Day

Everyone has different views on Valentine's day. For some, it is a commercial holiday just as an excuse to sell us something. For others, it is seen as one of the best holidays because it allows the romantic in them to come out. For Heather and I, we see it as a special day to remember why we love each other, and be thankful for what God has given us. We don't have any over the top, make it the most romantic day of the year traditions, although they wouldn't hurt. :-) Instead, we make sure we kiss a lot, tell each other "I love you," and show that love through our actions. gifts are not necessary in our "celebrations". Our only real tradition is to go out the day after Valentine's day to get our favorite candy on major clearance.

We wanted to share with you some of the things we are excited about right now. We're both excited for baby Holly's arrival. Less than 6 weeks to go now. Holly is incredibly active and moves all day long whereas Stanley did not move much at all while on the inside. So we're looking forward to seeing what kind of personality this little one has. We are also just fine waiting another six weeks for a full term baby because Heather is feeling so good with this pregnancy. She is experiencing very little pain and is constantly thankful for good health. We're hoping to work on Holly's room tomorrow as there is still so much to do in order to get it ready for her.

Heather is currently reading "Toddler Wise," and loving what she is learning. She's reading about temperament vs. personality and how temperament is what you're born with, and personality is a combination of your temperament, heredity, and the environment you are raised in. Stanley is less than two months from turning two, and we want to learn all we can and raise him the way God wants us to.

I just finished the book "Raising a Modern Day Knight," and am excited about teaching Stanley what it means to be a man. The book talks about the importance of ceremonies in marking a young man's life and teaching him core values both by word and deed. For those of you who are curious, the author points that there are 4 key values of true men need to live by.

1. Resist Passivity

2. Accept Responsibility

3. Lead Courageously

4. Expect a greater reward (live for something beyond himself)- God's reward.

I was able to go to the NW men's conference a couple weeks ago, and there they challenged each man to step up and lead, and to seek a Timothy in his life. Exciting stuff.

We are also just loving our little man so much and enjoying all the new things he is learning and doing in these sweet years.

We're also having fun with home improvement projects and now have three canister lights in our living room, a chandelier in our dining room, and a fan and heat source in our bathroom. I am learning a lot and enjoying improving our home.

That's all for now. Have a great Valentine's Day, and God bless.

Injury update: We spent all of 45 minutes at the pediatric orthopedic specialist's office and were told that yes, it is broken but it will heal on its own. Two weeks in a splint is all it should take. I'm so thankful for an easy appointment. We were expecting to have to be there for at least a couple of hours including waiting time. No re-breaking or surgery necessary, praise God! So since we were at St. Vincent's we went to the zoo afterward with my membership I got for Christmas. I can bring one friend each time I go and kids two and under are free.

The roar is back! The lions and sea lions were our favorites today.

It's broken...

But what a trooper our little man is. Stanley fell yesterday and hurt his left index finger. It swelled up pretty bad and turned red, purple, black and blue pretty quickly. After talking to a few people last night including three nurses (I love our church) we knew he needed to be seen so today we went to urgent care after church. Weekends are not the best time to get injured just so you know (we suggest you choose a weekday if you must get hurt). So after waiting for a long time, getting x-rays and a lot more waiting we told his finger was broken (perhaps at the growth plate). So tomorrow we are going in to see a pediatric orthopedic specialist. I don't know what to expect (re-breaking the finger, surgery, etc.) so I'm a little nervous. Please pray for us. Stanley has been awesome throughout the whole process. He has had such a great attitude and is happy to play and read and do everything the doctors and technicians have told him to do. We are so thankful to have such a wonderful boy and we are thankful that his pain is not enough to hinder this little one's joyful spirit. And he loves to sing if you're happy and you know it through it all.

Our Christmas...

Click picture for bigger collage...

Zoo

On Monday, we decided to take a trip to the zoo. The day was a typical Oregon day, raining. But it was wonderful! There was just a slight drizzle, and the place was empty. We didn't have to fight crowds, and there was a good number of animals out. Some of Stanley's favorites were the bobcats, the ducks, the chickens (aka bawk bawks), and the elephants. Heather's favorites were the lions, the cheetah that was really close to us, and the giraffe. Scott's favorites were the eagles, the beavers, and the tigers. It was worth it, and for Christmas Heather "might" be getting a zoo membership, and she can take one free guest with her each time. We're looking forward to using it this year!

We had to bundle up, so we didn't freeze!

Stanley's new favorite animal is the "bawk bawk" thanks to our friends Keith and

Rachel and their wonderful farm in Corvallis.

A family photo, with a Cheetah sneaking into the picture to the left. Actually, he was just taking a nap, and we got him in our picture!

Fun Google Tools

Recently, I've been playing around with some Google tools, and it's fun what is available. I'm hoping to get Google Voice, and then I can solve the dilemma of my Salem phone number when I live in Sandy. But for now, I've learned an easy way to post on our blog from my iGoogle home page. Pretty nifty. Have a great day!

Recovery

A big thank you to everyone who was praying for us, asking how we're doing, and providing different things for us. We are now fully recovered from our week of Swine Flu! Well, almost. We still have some lingering coughs, Stanley is still a little fussy still, but we're feeling so much better. Our mothers/mother-in-loves were awesome. Both Cinda and Sue would bring us Gatoraide, drugs, food, flowers, and more. It was weird waving to them through the window, and not being able to give them hugs to say thank you. When I went back to work on Friday (fortunately it was an enter in grades day) I had a lot of coworkers asking how we were. We also had a lot of people praying for us from Facebook. Thank you thank you thank you.

Now Heather is in full swing with her Dove Chocolate business, which she is enjoying. She had her first party today, and another tomorrow night. If you want more information you can see her Taste and See blog.

Last night Good Shepherd had its kickoff on a new thing happening. It's called "The North," and it's a new type of service in the North Auditorium. It's geared more towards the younger generation. The music is a little louder, and the focus is more relationship building. They provided a great place to hang out before and afterwards to meet people and to "do church." It will be great to see how God uses this new venue. Seth lead the worship and it is always fun to see his heart and what God is doing in his life.

Thank you again, and we'll keep you posted on what else happens.

Swine Flu

We've all been hearing about it. It's been in the news, and spreading like a pandemic. WHO (World Health Organization) categorized it as a phase 6 pandemic. Well, it made it's way to the Overby home. That's right, myself, Heather, and Stanley all have (had) the H1N1 virus. It started in the Gresham-Barlow School District at an Elementary School. Then it made it's way to Barlow where several of my students were out with it. Then I got it. I started feeling crummy last Thursday. By Thursday night I was out. They are not officially testing people because if you do have it they don't want you at the doctor's office. But I had a high fever (up to 103), aches and chills, cough, sneezing, runny nose. No vomiting or diarrhea though. That's the main sign of swine flu (which actually isn't related to pigs). All the other symptoms of the flu without the nausea. Well, I was out all Friday, and into Saturday. Heather and Stanley were trying to stay away from me, Heather even wore the mask when she brought me something. I started to mend by Saturday, but by Saturday night, Heather and Stanley were starting to show the signs. Which means recovering dad is now caretaker dad. I've been tending to my two sickies since then. Stanley mended mostly by Sunday night. He had a slight fever though Monday night. We're most worried about Heather since she is pregnant. She gets to take this nasty Tamaflu which helps battle the H1N1 but adds the delight of extra nausea and vomiting in the mean time. So be praying for recovery. I still have a slight cough, but God's definitely given me the strength to press on. I'm taking Monday-Thursday off work to heal completely myself and care for Heather and Stanley. It's weird waving at Grandma Sue or Nana when they drop something off from the window and not be able to go give them a hug. That's what we're up to now. Here's a picture of what Stanley has been doing a lot of as we're in quarantine. Watching Movies :-)

With Autumn's Arrival...

I have a few pictures of Stanley to share with you.

I'll have these and some more on Facebook if you want to check them out. And Picasa for Beth.

Chocolate anyone?

Hey everyone! Click on over to Heather's Blog to learn about the new adventure she has just begun! (And place your vote on her poll to make her really happy.) Hope all is well for you.

What's Stanley Getting Into...

We thought it would be fun to post some pictures of what Stanley's been up to...or into. Enjoy.Here I found Stanley climbing into the cupboard at our old house. This was a cupboard that he was allowed to get into. He just took that one step further. You can see the two little Gerber jar lids on the floor. We had a stash of them hidden away in the back of the cupboard because they were a pain to clean up. Stanley finally found them...

As we were packing, I couldn't resist putting Stanley into the box that had all his stuffed animals in. He loved it, as you can clearly see by his expression. :-)

Stanley loves playing with the pots and pans and mixing bowls. He thought it would be fun to use the mixing bowl as a hat (or did daddy think it would be fun?). Either way, it ended up on his head, and resulted in some laughs and good pictures.

Hope you are doing well. School is in full swing for me, and Heather's body is still adjusting to the new baby. Here is one last picture of the newest (or soon to be) addition of the Overby family.

At first glance this new baby might seem to have a very predominant Overby nose. If you look closely, those are actually his/her hands up by the head.

...and summer is over

Wow, the summer sure went by fast. This has been a huge summer of change, and a lot has happened. I won't go into a lot of detail but here are a few things that happened.

• Heather got a facebook account. Another reason we haven't updated this recently. I (Scott) might take it upon myself to keep our blog updated for those who still read it :-)
• We bought a house!!! We are now residents of the booming city of Sandy. :-) With our mortgage, home insurance, and taxes we now only pay $40 more a month than we did in the house we rented. Not bad, and it's ours. Although I've been doing a lot of home improvement projects. More on that later.
• We went to Tahoe with Heather's family. It was a blast seeing Beth, Thomas, Andrea, Gavin, and Kade. Little Bentli is to be born any day now. It was also interesting having 10 people staying in a two bedroom condo. Well worth the time and memories.
• We found out that Heather's pregnant with our second baby!!! ETA March 20th.
• Scott worked with the Multnomah Education Service District (MESD) on some math test question writing. Not very exciting, but it paid well.
• Scott ran the Hood to Coast Relay. I ran with a group of Barlow teachers/counselors plus a few others. I surprised myself by running mostly sub 6:30 minute miles, and on my 7.72 mile leg I was able to pass 34 people. Although I did get passed by someone who was running sub 6 minute miles maybe even 5 minute miles. It was a great time, and I'm hoping to do it again next year.
• A few days after we moved into our new house we had Urska (pronounced Ursh-ka, Stanley says are-da) stay with us for a week and a half. Heather met Urska in 2003 in Slovenia at Heather and Urska's first Josiah Venture English Camp. In 2006 when Heather and I went that was Urska's fourth and last English Camp. The relationship has continued, and when Urska was visiting the United States this summer (she worked at a summer camp in Connecticut for most of the summer), Heather invited her to stay with us. She was very helpful with Stanley, and we really enjoyed having her stay with us as our first houseguest. She flew out this morning to visit San Fransisco, and when Stanley woke up he was calling out "are-da, are-da." Yes Stanley already misses Urska too.

Now that summer is over, we'll be getting back into a routine for the school year. Our "normal" always changes, and "normal" this year will be much different than what it was. As Heather grows around the middle with a new baby forming inside of her I will be tackling one home improvement project after another while trying to balance work and family, and with Stanley getting bigger and more vocal, things will never be "calm" around here again. But we are so thankful for our home and family. Hopefully, I can keep you more updated on some of our adventures to come. Hope everyone is doing well and please let us know if you read this blog or if you only do facebook now.

Summer is Here!!!

Yes, it has been a long time. We hope you are doing well, and that everyone in your family is healthy. Right now, we are enjoying the summer. These last few months have been very crazy with Scott coaching the track team at Barlow, Stanley starting to run everywhere, and Heather chasing after him and working on a lot of new crafting projects. Now that summer is here, Scott is at home, and life is good. While we are resting, we are not sitting around doing nothing. Scott is starting to run more with his new free time, and is taking Stanley with him. They are enjoying those morning excursions together. While they're doing that, Heather is working on her business endeavours. She is planning on opening a shop on Etsy (a giant craft fair online) and planning on doing some music classes with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. We're spending time with our families, and hoping to go on a few trips this summer too! We'll try to keep you more posted this summer on our activities. In the meantime, stay cool, safe and have fun!

A Status Update...

Our little boy is walking everywhere! He has been walking for a while now but as of Monday he is walking all the time! It is soooooo fun to watch our little boy just stand up and walk. He toddles all over the house and when he loses his balance, he just pushes himself back up into a standing position and walks some more. I love it!!! By the way, I love this season of our life. He is also improving on how he communicates his desires and needs with me. Often times I give him a few options and he points to what he wants. Did I mention I'm having fun? I love this boy! What made my Mother's Day a happy one is Stanley Mac Overby. Thank you Lord for this wonderful gift.

Sorry I don't actually have any walking pictures. I'll work on that. Here's a new family pic though. Hope you like it. And check me out on Facebook some time. -Heather