The Lansing Family

Overwhelmed.

I knew this was going to happen. I would have a very laid back summer off of work, and then BOOM everything would come at once. Yep, it happened. Feels like it's always feast or famine. 

Overwhelmed. 

That is the only word to describe how I feel right now. Just overwelmed. I have so many beautiful things before me in the next few months that it tires me out to even think about it. Like on the movie "What about Bob?", I keep telling myself "baby steps". One step at a time, moving forward, keep my eyes on Him who can provide the energy, rest, and inspiration for the next year (and I am sure a healthy consumption of coffee will help too!).  

Tomorrow, I start back at my full-time job after a glorious summer off. I have mixed emotions about going back. I hate giving up the mom tasks of picking up and dropping off kids, running errands, etc. But working also keeps me sane. It gives me something to focus on, rather than my constantly running mind. 

Our charter school for teen moms is in progress of being opened ONE YEAR from now. I can't believe it is coming so quickly. There are many things to be figured out and many important decisions to be made. Not to mention trying to fit in all the work that needs to be done to get it to the point of opening. 

Tyler has already started back to school and is in first grade! He is loving being back at a local charter school with his friends from last year. I am so thankful that he loves people and learning. Lillie will start at the babysitter tomorrow, and then begins preschool next week. She is so excited to start school like a big girl.....where has my baby gone? She also starts dance class tomorrow, which she is also ecstatic for.

Add all of the other commitments we have at church, with family and friends, and maybe getting some sleep somewhere in there, it will be a very full and busy school year! I am thankful for all the things God has provided us with this year and am looking forward to see how he moves in our family and the lives of those around us. I am trying not to feel overwhelmed by the tasks, but rather overwhelmed by God's goodness and grace in the amongst the tasks. 

Believe

"Do not fear, only believe."   -Jesus

There seems to be a theme of believing God in my life right now.  With my feeble faith, I am trying to believe God in a lot of areas... with our employment situation, with my kids being in daycare all day, with our charter school, with my sister's excruciating migraines, with our future....the list goes on. Life is difficult right now. I can't say I am enjoying a lot of things going on, but I can say that God has been so faithful to provide and follow through on the vision he has cast in my heart and the hearts of others. 

The above verse, spoken by Jesus, comes from Mark 5. He is speaking to a synagogue ruler after the ruler hears that his daughter has died. And Jesus says to him, "Do not fear, only believe." This statement is so profound to me. I can only imagine the grief the ruler was beginning to feel as he hears of his daughter's death, and Jesus is telling him to not look at the impossibility that she could be brought back to life. One thing in my life that has been a "wall of impossibility" to me was starting a charter school for teen moms. I would ask myself over and over, "Why would I be respected enough to start a charter school?" and I would think things like, "I am soooo underqualified!" and "We don't have any educators starting this school!!" All of my doubts and struggles in this have been overwhelmingly countered with God saying, "Do not fear, only believe." HE cast a vision (and continues to!) and we have waveringly taken steps of faith to follow that vision. 

Back in October and November we had the task of adding more board members to the three original founding board members. Amazingly, our board came together right before our November deadline, and as we began meeting I realized that God had brought together the best board for our school. After our December 31st deadline, we were given our time to present to the State Charter Board on February 13th, and we were the first school out of 7 schools to present to the Board. So, this week gets here. I am working full time, Travis went out of town on Monday for work, and Monday night I come down with a horrible stomach bug. Great. I am thinking, "It's okay. I will feel better by Tuesday night and be ready Wednesday morning for our presentation." Wednesday night rolls around and I feel awful. I texted the Chairman of our board and told him to be prepared to do my part in the presentation, just in case I don't make it. I was going to be devastated if I couldn't make it to the most important presentation we would make, but I also wasn't able to practice at all on Wednesday night like I'd planned. I prayed and just asked God to heal my body and help me to believe that He would work in this. Thursday morning I woke up at 5am and didn't feel completely better, but I was determined. I got myself ready, got the kids ready, and left the house to drop the kids off. I dropped Lillie off at her daycare, and as I was getting out I sat the yogurt she was eating on the driver's seat. Yes, dumb mistake. I took Lillie in and then came back and sat right on the yogurt....in my nice black business suit. I said a couple choice words and tried my hardest to clean the white yogurt off my jacket, with baby wipes. I had no time to go home, so I decided to just let it be. What else could I do?! I dropped Ty off and spent the whole drive up to the Office of Education praying that I wouldn't get in a car accident and that the rest of our board would make it on time and safely. We all arrived in plenty of time, and were ready to present. I was no longer feeling sick (God and adrenaline are the best medicine!) and I wasn't nervous at all. I had asked lots of people to be lifting us up in prayer during our presentation and I could totally tell. We did our 12 minute formal presentation without any flaws, and then the State Charter School Board had 45 minutes to ask us any questions they had. I was most worried about this part, but our team was awesome!! Everyone answered questions effortlessly! And, at the end of our time, the State Board Chairman says, "I can tell that you have assembled the exact board that is needed for your school. I am excited about this application!" WOW!! I couldn't believe it. We were ecstatic!! We left there feeling really good about our presentation and how it had gone. (As a sidenote, I felt amazing through the whole presentation and then went home and felt miserable again and took a two hour nap. God totally took care of me during that time!).

The next morning, myself and two others of our board went back to another State Charter School Board meeting to hear if we would be recommended to be approved by the State Board of Education (lots of boards to go through!). They brought up the rankings on the smartboard of the schools that had presented the first day. Our school was listed fourth and I thought, "That's pretty good." But after a few minutes I realized they were listed alphabetically, and in reality we were ranked #1! But the Board still had to go through individual schools and discuss, ask more questions if needed, and decide if they really wanted these schools in the community. Our school and another school (sitting in #2) were discussed first. And instead of asking any questions of either school they just decided to approve our schools right away. Another WOW moment! Then we waited as they discussed the other schools for about an hour. Once the Board decided who was going through, they had to rank the schools in priority for funding purposes (in case there wasn't enough funding for all the schools). There was a motion to put Kairos Academy (our school) first and the other school second, and then a second motion to put the other school first and our school second. They voted on the second motion first, which failed. Then they voted on the first motion and it PASSED!! Not only had we been approved, but we are listed FIRST to be funded by the Legislature when the money comes through. WOW, WOW, WOW! God's vision continues and I am in awe! 

Those two days were such a special time! I want to relive them over and over! God was so faithful to carry out what he started in us, and I am amazed!! As we move forward, the hard work continues, and my same fears and doubts come up. Starting a school is no small feat, but I look back and realize that God is good at trampling the "walls of impossibility" we put before ourselves. So, I move on following God's vision remembering "Do not fear, only believe!" 

***As a sidenote, THANK YOU to those of you who have wished us well and prayed for us and our school! I am so thankful to have amazing people in my life who care so deeply about the things that matter to me. And, to my husband who has been incredible in this process. Any of you who are friends with Travis on Facebook know that he was my #1 supporter the days of the presentation and the results. Even when he was away from home on a work trip, he was watching the presentation online and posting results to Facebook! Thanks Travis, I love you more than words!

December...what a month!

December was the strangest month our family has ever had. There were ups and lots of downs. But, we  survived and here it is January and we are still plugging along. 

As most of you know, for the past 8.5 years Travis has worked for the State of Utah. His boss was an elected official, and was beat in the primary this past summer by a politician from the Utah Legislature who had no experience in Accounting or managing an office of this size. In November this politician won the election and the office knew changes were coming. Long story short...Travis was interviewed by the new guy for his  position, then the whole office was asked to resign from their current positions if they wanted to be considered to be hired back, and then Travis got a letter stating that he was not asked back. There was plenty of other political drama too, but I will spare the details here. So, the job hunt began. Because I only work 15 hours per week, I found and applied for a full-time job with Head Start, just in case. Travis had several interviews with different places, and I ended up having an interview with Head Start. Two days after my interview I received a call with a job offer. I was (and still am) incredibly conflicted. What if Travis didn't get a job for a while? What if we had to rely on unemployment and my 15 hours a week? What if..what if...what if...? I accepted the job on December 27th. I really enjoy being home with my kiddos most of the week, and doing my work at home. Then, on the 28th, Travis was offered a job with a local CPA firm. Praise the Lord!!! It was an answer to prayer, but the benefits weren't as good and the pay wasn't quite what he'd been making. So, I will still need to work full-time for a while. 

I have always said I wanted to work for Head Start, but the timing is different than what I imagined. I will be a floating lead teacher, which means I will be in a preschool classroom with low income kiddos. I will float from one site to another until a permanent position opens up. One huge benefit to working for Head Start is that I will have the entire summer off with my kids...and it's paid!! :) I will start on the 22nd. 

It has been pretty emotional for me to think about working full-time. Since I've had kids, I wanted to be involved in their daily lives...teaching them, helping at school, taking them to activities and picking them up from school. Things are going to look different than what I have done for the past 6 years, and that change is a bit scary for me. Lillie will be going to a friend's home during the day and Tyler will ride the daycare bus from school to the local recreation center until I can pick them up. It will be different. It will be a change. It will be hard, but God has provided for us in this time, and for that I am thankful. 

Travis started his job on January 2nd and was actually double-employed for 3 days (Praise God!). He is gradually getting work to do, and as we head into busy season he will be working a lot and going out of town a few times. The work environment is different but he knows how to do the job. Prayers appreciated as we juggle all of the changes in our lives, especially for the kiddos.

Moral of the story? Be careful who you vote for! :)

 

Looming Deadline

Many people have asked me how our charter school is coming. We are still in the application process, which means we are refining and revising like crazy, so we can resubmit our application this Friday, November 30th. The past 6 months have been met with anxiety, thankfulness, excitement, and irritation. But, for me it has been an understanding that God is in control of this, and I am not driving the bus! I am still amazed that we made it through the first step.

So, with our start-up Board in place, and an application that is over 200 pages long, written with vision, love, and passion to see teen moms find hope in their hurting lives, we push forward. Please pray for us this week...There is always opposition to God's goodness!

A Servant's Heart

Tyler is our people person. Wherever we go, he is talking to new people and making friends. He is not the slightest bit of shy or reserved. He loves people and he wants to be your friend, whoever you are.

A couple weeks ago, I was dropping Tyler off at his classroom door. I pulled up in our van and there were a couple boys staring out the door. As soon as the van door opened they started jumping up and down and I could hear them yelling "Tyler's here! Tyler's here!" When Tyler got to the door they both gave him big hugs and walked in with him. It makes me so happy to see how well liked he is.

Tyler is always making something. When I say "always", I mean it. He's either thinking of something in his head that he wants to create at home or he's busy at the table with sticks, glue, paper, and tape. And, he is usually making it for someone else. He writes letters to friends and makes stick people for people in our family. Recently, he made a birthday card for his teacher with a snowflake connected to it by a string of paperclips.

Today, Tyler was laying on the couch watching a tv show. I was watching Lillie as she started bugging him. To avert her attention I said, "Lillie, come help me with the dishes", to which she screamed "NOOOOO!" Within seconds Tyler got up and followed me into the kitchen saying, "I'll help you with the dishes." If you know Tyler well, you know he loves to watch tv shows, and this was a sacrifice for him. He was so quick to help without hesitation. I have thought about this all afternoon and have felt very convicted. How many times have I jumped to serve when there was a need? When have I known that someone would be blessed by a kind word, needed a babysitter, or went hungry for the weekend while I ate 3 meals per day? What was my attitude when I did serve? What an example Tyler was for me this afternoon. I am thankful for his servant's heart and love for people, and I pray that he never loses the hunger to serve the people around him.

(And just in case you were wondering, this is not always the attitude Tyler has when I ask him to do something, but I have been thankful for the sweet times where I see his servant's heart and his love for people collide!)

Fourth of July!

Graduation

My amazing sister Shelli graduated from Westminster College's Nursing School this May. I am in awe at her strength and perserverance as she endured endless migraines, the hardest exams, ruthless professors, and managed to work throughtout it all. I couldn't congratulate Shelli without mentioning my awesome brother-in-law who supported and pushed Shelli forward when she didn't think she could. So, in some sense both Kelly and Shelli graduated! Congrats...I am so proud of you both!

Zoo!

In May we went to the zoo with Travis's Dad, Janice and her kids and grandkids. We had a great time seeing the new bear and otter exhibits!

YUM!

Brittany and Truce with Taigen and Kyson

Chelsea and Curtis enjoying themselves

Cheese!

Random Pictures

At the zoo!

Cousins: Tyler and Lillie with Taigen!

Lillie was potty-trained within 3 days of starting the process....so easy!

Ladies Retreat: Me, Stacie, Kyria (Rebecca's little girl) and Rebecca

My cute bikers!

Lillie and her accessories!

At Kimberly and Bob's wedding at Jordanelle State Park

Tyler and Carter

Ty and Lillie hanging out with Sara Willers

Travis's 31st Birthday!

Tyler and T-ball

Tyler played T-ball in late Spring and late Summer. He had the same fabulous coach for both teams, and he loved playing! He was actually really good too. He can now hit it when he is pitched to, and he looked forward to every practice and game. The other day in the car he said, "Mom, I want to play baseball forever!" I am sure he'll want to play again next year.

The Team!

Tyler with Coach Jack