Moving on...

Well, Matt is done with teaching as a career.

A few months ago, the administration at his school told him that they were holding his contract, due to some “concerns” about his lack of relationship skills. So, Matt went into high gear, making all requested efforts to change his approach to relationships (with both kids and colleagues). As he always does, every effort was sincere and an outpouring of his true feelings, he was just showing it in a different, unnatural-to-him way. In any other setting (i.e., not a private, Christian school), his efforts would have been applauded and respected. In this environment, it was almost as though those changes fell on deaf ears. The fruit of his labor (we thought) was that just a couple of weeks ago, they offered him a part-time position for next year. Today, though, they changed their minds (based on nebulous, undefined “feedback”), and have chosen to not hire him back.

What changed between then and now?

Who knows! That’s the frustrating part! They gave him no concrete change from TWO WEEKS ago to now. They used dumb Christian-ese like “God is leading us in this direction”. I’m going to call it what it truly is: BULLSHIT. I don’t use that word lightly. But, that’s what’s happening here.

For some reason, the administration has a picture of Matt in their head that isn’t true. I know that it can take a while to understand Matt as a person. Believe me, I’ve experienced it myself. But, c’mon! All it takes is a little effort, a little willingness to show grace, love and compassion, and you’ll get to know Matt – the real Matt. It’s not really that difficult.

Alternatively, the administration could be using this as an opportunity to cut back on their operating expenses, and it has nothing to do with Matt as a teacher, worker, employee at all. Of course, they didn’t say that, but they might not want that getting out into the world at large that they are struggling financially.

So, we’re moving on. Matt will probably try to go into catering, which he is passionate for and excellent at, and we’ll try to live the life that God has intended for us.

We do have so much to be thankful for! I have a full-time, benefits-laden job that will give us enough income to live on, and some to put away in savings. We are in Columbus, where cost of living is cheaper, and we have family that would be able to babysit while Matt goes on job interviews. We have the option of keeping Matt as a stay-at-home dad for a while…
We’ll see. Obviously, this is where God has placed us, and we’ll grow where we’re planted. Gosh, I’m full of terrible clichés today. Sorry.