Good news and bad news

I've been struggling to get myself to start this blog entry because it carries with it some sad news. As some of you already know, Rhein International Academy will close at the end of this school year. The president of our parent organization, the Network of International Christian Schools (NICS), came to the school to meet with the staff and parents to deliver the news. The decision by NICS was not an easy one - NICS has never had to close a school before. It was a decision that broke the hearts of the board and needless to say, it broke our hearts also.

In the end, the sustainability of the school just wasn't there. Over the last five years, NICS has faithfully supported the school and covered each year's shortfall. Last year, RIA was able to finally have a year when no outside support was needed, but several of our families, some with multiple children attending RIA, were rotated back to North America or other countries and we just could not make up the shortfall.

Our focus right now is to continue to deliver the very best education possible for our students and to finish the year well. We are also working diligently within the international school community to insure that each of our students has a place to attend next year. This can be especially difficult as we support a number of special needs students. We would ask our praying friends for their support as we move forward with this tremendous task.

On a more personal note, Delynn and I have made our decision for the next chapter of our lives. We had been pursuing several ideas which included staying in the Dreiländereck region or returning to the States. When Delynn returned from her trip back to Vancouver during the Christmas break, we spent much time in discussion and prayer over where we would be in six months. I had my CV (resume) submitted to some companies in Switzerland as well as back in the U.S. We began to sense that our next home should be back in the Washington-Oregon region so that we could be close to family; to be close as Delynn's father battles cancer. To remain here, as much as we love the area, the relationships, our church, seemed a little selfish. But, as most of you know, the economic climate in the U.S. is not exactly stunning to say the least. Still, we felt a sense of peace, a peace which passes understanding.

Our answer came in the form of an offer from my previous employer, Intel. I had sent off an email to an old colleague seeing how the job environment stood. Once my former boss found that I was interested in perhaps coming back to the OS group, he and his boss went to work on a job requisition to which I could apply. The request for hiring had to get approval at the group's general manager (this is the person that reports directly to our CEO, Paul Otellini). In this environment, it was a miracle to get the approval. I was really humbled when they came back and made me an offer. It was truly and offer that I couldn't refuse and was an answer to our prayers.

We feel incredibly blessed to be moving forward with this decision. It is and will be a bitter-sweet time for us. We appreciate the prayers, responses and emails from family and friends as we work through the next several months. Thank you for your support.



Next week I promise to post some more beautiful pictures of our staff retreat. Promise.