God

If you’re a friend of mine in real life, this information is probably getting really old, but our life was totally flipped upside down over the past couple of weeks and we’ve just made a big turn in our direction as a family.

I’m going to give you the whole story, because it’s too amazing to be passed off as a “coincidence” or “luck.” This is a complete and total work of God. It’s so clear to me that God is watching out for our family and that this is part of His master plan for us. It’s just like the story of Kennedy’s birth and my mom’s death being too close to be a coincidence. It’s big, y’all.

Okay, let’s start a few months ago. M and I take the girls out to run an errand and we had to go to the mall here in Reno. As we’re driving away from doing whatever it was that we had to do, M was given a sign from God. He stops whatever it was he was talking about, turns to me and says, “We’re leaving here. We’re not staying in Reno. This is not the place for us. This is not where we’re supposed to raise our kids.” While I agree with what he is saying, I’m a little taken aback because a) we just got to Reno in November b) my business just started to take off c) M has been with this same company for nearly 10 years and has been very successful there and d) M doesn’t make statements like that very often. He doesn’t really speak in absolutes; we always make decisions like that as a team. We decided when we moved to Colorado (2009) that we’d go where the promotions took us until the girls got in school, but this would be doing a decidedly different thing. This would be searching something else out. This would be making a career move in a terrible economy.

There have been times in M’s career where he has thought about possibly moving in a different direction, but there’s always been something to hold him at UOP. When we got home that night, M started putting his resume together and looking for possible career opportunities. Clearly this was serious. He was searching in two places (Oklahoma-where we have some family and where I am from originally and Colorado-where we consider to be home). He diligently searched for jobs and applied to the few that would be a good fit for his skill set, education and experience. No calls. Clearly, this is not what God wanted for us.

He then finds an opportunity out of Portland, Oregon (though I have no idea how since we weren’t searching there) and a recruiter calls him at work one day to talk about the possibility of him coming to work there. M and this company go back and forth interviewing and talking about possibilities. In the end, M turned down the job because it didn’t feel right and he feels secure at his current position. At this point, I know God is telling M that this isn’t the job for him. It’s a way out of Reno and they’re willing to pay for us to move there, but this is not the place for him and it wasn’t the position for him. I have to admit that I’m kinda bummed because I think Oregon would be a really fun place to live.

The day he tells them he’s not interested in that position and that it’s just not right for him, they call him back and offer him the opportunity to interview for another position (which would be a promotion) in Seattle. He is hesitant but the door is open so he walks through it. There wasn’t really any kind of rush for this process because we’re contractually bound to stay here in Reno through October and M is busy in his current position.

Now, 2 weeks ago, M starts hearing rumors at work about layoffs coming with the release of the yearly numbers. However, his campus has made a huge turnaround since he started in November and are actually doing really well, so he can’t imagine that he or his campus will be a part of any layoffs.

Monday: Everyone at work is hearing the layoff rumors but everyone keeps their job…whew.
Tuesday: UOP closes 115 locations around the US and, you guessed it, Reno is one of them. Crazy. For the first time in 10 years, my husband and myself have no job. For the first time in 10 years, M isn’t working for UOP.
Wednesday: More people at UOP are laid off. M feels like taking the job at this Seattle school is the right choice, he let’s the school know he feels right about moving forward with them. He isn’t worried one bit that things won’t work out. I, on the other hand, start to lose my mind and spend a lot of time praying about where we’re going to end up and throwing up the details of our lives to my friends. Sorry friends!
Thursday: Still more people are laid off at UOP.

We wait out the weekend on this Seattle position before we start applying for other jobs and making plans to move ourselves back to Colorado or Oklahoma with what he was given in severance. We pray a lot about where God wants us to be and we trust that He will work this out as long as we’re willing to go where He opens the doors.

Monday: Michael is officially offered the position in Seattle and he accepts. Thank you, God. If it was just M and I, these past couple of weeks wouldn’t have been nearly as scary as they were but we have 3 little kids now. I have to tell you that we kept the faith and M had an amazing peace about how this was all going to work out. Truly. If you know M, then you know I’m the calm one and he’s the worrier of our relationship. Not for this though. He just knew God was going to handle it. He reassured me over and over again. We also knew that our “situation” was nothing compared to families who have a member battling illness or to the families who have been searching for work for months…years. We kept our fears in perspective and we prayed.

So, we’re moving…AGAIN. In case you missed the first 6 posts about this, here’s a little visual for you:

Yea, that’s right. You’re looking at 6 moves in as many years. Wow. When I see it laid out like this, I can’t believe this is our life. It’s leading somewhere great though and each move as provided a little piece to our puzzle. God has a plan for us. I hope it includes an amazing church like we had in Colorado and some new friends that we love (in addition to the ones we already love that live in that area). I’m ready for this move and I’m very excited. Bring it!

PS. If you are from the Seattle area, I’d love to chat you up. We’re living in the Bothell area starting next week. I’m looking for some good churches (not an Acts 29 Chruch) and Christian schools in the area. If you know of any, let me know.