Yes, I'm moving to Thailand.

You know I LOVE COWTOWN, love love it, but it's time for a change of pace for awhile.  And so I'm moving here:

At the tip top of that map is Chiang Rai where I'll be living for the next 10 months.  I'll be teaching 1st or 2nd grade at Chiang Rai International Christian School (CRICS), and I'll be living in a little apartment there near some other teachers/missionaries.  I'M. PUMPED. 

Here's how this all happened:  

I had been considering getting another job for awhile (had some health problems, I'll save that for another post), but hadn't considered going overseas again until later in the Spring.   *SIDENOTE - if you're thinking "wait, overseas AGAIN??" read the rest of my blog, it'll clue you in*  I was also open to staying at my school for another year if that's where God wanted me to be, but I juuuuust wasn't feelin' it.  Things even started to point toward closure within my classroom and the school, but, still didn't want to close that chapter of life until I was certain about it.  Actually, the decision was made when I ran out of Expo markers MAJOR BUMMER.  "No more Expo markers?!?!  THAT'S IT! I'm outta here! BYEzzzz."    

Kidding... that's not how it happened.  Although I did run out of Expo markers.  =]  And my projector broke. and my printer. and my school ID.  yada yada yada (who got that reference?).

We had to lose a 1st grade teacher at school due to numbers decreasing, so my team all applied within the district for another job.  The day before my first interview, I texted my sweet friend, Ami, :) asking for prayer for wisdom.  I was uneasy about the interview and was beginning to think more seriously about living somewhere else.  She sent me a sweet reply and that was that.  The next day (the day of the interview), she texted again and said, "You're not going to believe who just emailed... The Pennington's in Thailand still need 1st and 2nd grade teachers for this next school year and asked if I knew anyone interested."  

Ok I didn't credit it as God's divinity JUST YET.  ;)  I was sort of hoping for a completely different turn, maybe something outside of teaching.  However, it made so much sense, and it got my heart excited.  

• I wanted to try living in Asia at some point in life. 
• I left Kenya thinking, "I need to do this again...but in Asia."  
• I wondered if the reason I felt so uneasy about traveling to Haiti this summer was because God was POSSIBLY sending me out in the Fall.  
• God knows my heart.  He gave me a desire to work with international students.  He has ordained my days and knows each one of them before they come to be.  
• And considering the rest of this crazy year, of course I would move to Thailand, right??!  ;) 

After thinking, praying and researching, I decided to apply for the job and was accepted.  I feel so peaceful.  

I am a volunteer teacher so it is an unpaid, support-based job.  How humbling.  It will be good for me to sort of "detox" from worldly things and live in simplicity again.  I'm looking forward to it.  

I am sad to leave Cowtown YOU KNOW I LOVE IT, but thankfully it will still be here when I come back.  And maybe with some of the construction finished?  Have to admit, I kind of like seeing the construction - change is good.  :)  

I will try to update frequently so check back soon!