Madison who, what???

Madison, Connecticut... a town I never thought of before about a month and a half ago. I had no reason to think about, even dream about Connecticut itself let alone the small town of Madison. This beautiful town sits on the Long Island Sound, about 2 hours North of New York City, sandwiched between Hartford and New Haven. It has a great downtown area filled with a cute bookstore, "Ashley's Best Ice Cream", a Maui Jim store, a movie theatre with only 2 screens, a couple art museums and galleries, and randomly... a business called McLaughlin Associates. Madison is a random, but cute little shore town.

Why do I care about Madison??? Oh... because Steve and I are moving there somewhere between July and September. WHY?!??!??! Trust me, I asked the same question a few times. Truth is, an offer was created and made that we could not resist. Come July/August/September (whenever we move) Steve and I will be the newest teachers at Grove School, a college preparatory therapeutic boarding school (see: mouth-full).

Believe you me... I was as confused as you are right now when I got an e-mail from the school for the first time. As it turns out, I have my resume posted on different teaching websites (doing the ol' job search) and the director from Grove School found it, read my resume, and then contacted me about the position. In talking with the director over the phone, I mentioned something about "my husband" and the director was even more excited about the possibility of us coming to Grove School. Apparently, the administration feels its a benefit to students to be around married couples for maturity and a different connection compared to singles. At that point the director asked us to come out for a visit and an interview which we set up for last Friday, March 27th.

So with a semi-free vacation ahead of us in Madison, we decided to attach on 2 days in Manhattan as well since neither of us had been to NYC before, and my cousin Andy and his wife Lindsey live there.

Last Thursday, we arrived in Madison in the rain and tried to tool around the town as much as possible. We drove to Grove to make sure we knew where to go the next day, drove through town looking for something to eat, and eventually, thanks to the GPS and Cha-Cha, (ask my husband if you're not sure what Cha-Cha is!) we found a little pub to hunker down in. It was obvious, as soon as we walked in, that the pub we found was full of regulars. The beep of the door had everyone turn our way to see who was walking in, only to turn around in confusion about who the random people were, especially the girl in the OSU Fleece. Leave it to me to find a way to stick out like a sore-thumb! At one point, I was the only female in the pub outside of the bartender and waitress, and every guy was completely fixed on the TV's showing the UConn game. Looks like these guys are as serious about UConn game as we are about OSU Football. After much needed food and refreshments we headed back to the hotel to get ready for interviews the next day.

Staying in the most random hotel ever (courtesy of Grove School) means Continental breakfast is a loose term! After breakfast we headed out to our interview, not knowing what to expect. We drove onto campus which looks more like a small community of homes then it does a school campus (think the Dharma/Others housing in LOST) and found the Director we were meeting with. We sat down - together interestingly enough - and began learning about the crazy school we ventured to. We took a tour of the campus, the school rooms, the wonderful art room, the dorms, and sat down for lunch with the rest of campus. We met more teachers than I could remember names for, students here and there, and got to tour/sit down with a girl named Naomi who teaches at Grove with her husband. Naomi and Jacob are finishing their second year as live-in teachers in the same positions Steve and I were looking at. We drilled Naomi with questions about what being a newly-married couple is really like there, toured the apartment she and Jacob have in a boys dorm, and spoke with her about being Christians in this school community. Talking with Naomi was a blessing to get a real perspective on how tough it is to work and live there with your significant other in the same position.

After a few hours at the school we left, knowing that we were calling the director back within a week to tell him whether or not we were interested. We walked around town, popped in shops here and there, drove the short trip to the beach to walk the boardwalk, and enjoyed taking ridiculous pictures of each other. And of course we tried out "Ashley's Best Ice Cream"! From then until Saturday evening, we did not stop talking about Grove School and what our feelings were. I was instantly overwhelmed with the prospect of the positions, and Steve was instantly sold! Come Sunday afternoon, after long discussion with each other, and a long phone call to my parents... we were pretty sold on Grove School outside of a few remaining questions.

Wednesday afternoon we called the director, he officially offered the positions, and we officially accepted. And we're moving! Crazy.... and I'm pretty sure it won't hit me until we're literally in the moving van driving across the NorthEast.

A little about Grove.... It is a school for students who have been identified as emotionally fragile or have behavioral issues. There are only 110 students, only 5 of which are day students. Students come mostly from the NorthEast states, but some also come from other states around the nation. Class sizes range from 6-10 students, with 1 head teacher and sometimes 1-2 aides.

Here's what our new jobs will entail, and the perks that go with...

-I will be teaching Art, with two teaching assistants, an UNLIMITED art budget, and a BEAUTIFUL art room.. CRAZY!

-Steve will be a teaching assistant in classrooms depending on where the need is based upon Students.

-We will be living in an apartment in a dorm, and if we live in a girl's dorm, Steve will have another small dorm/office in a guys dorm for work and dorm supervision and vise versa.

-Our housing and 3 meals a day are covered by the school (Score!)

-We will be on duty (dorm supervision) 2 days a week and every other weekend, and are encouraged to not be around other staff or students on our days off, but to take as many trips off campus and away from the city as possible!

-The whole school has 10 weeks off/year, 5-two week breaks (School is year round) in which students are required to leave campus.

-There are multiple trips throughout the year which staff supervise and some students attend. For instance... there were 3 ski trips this winter, a trip to the Caribbean for Spring Break, a trip to El Salvador in August, a sailing trip in July... etc.

-Currently there is no lacrosse team, but I will be doing my best to start one while there. Steve will hopefully find an activity to start with students as well (running... comic books... etc)

-They are willing to help with moving expenses to get us out there - Woot!!

-For Steve to finish his degree, and if either of us decides to get our masters in Education, they will pay half of our tuition as long as we get an A or a B.

-.....etc... I can't currently remember all the rest of the details.

In any case... this opportunity has God written all over it, and while we will be sad to leave friends and family for at least a 2-year commitment, we are excited, and hope that the paths between Madison and Ohio will be well traveled by friends and family. Please consider this your open invitation (yes we mean everyone!) and we'll see you in CT!

**Sorry this ended up so long... apparently I have a lot to say about this crazy adventure we're starting soon... **

I want to post pictures but am currently having trouble with the website...more to come later!