We got the call....

We got the call. Tuesday April 6, 2010.

Well, actually because of the technology these days, we got a text message. Chris sent me a message to call him. I was at Radner Lake with the kids and some good friends (very bittersweet) and I gave Chris a quick call. "Is Houston still ok?" he asked. My stomach immediately did flip flops. The feeling you get inside when you know something is about to happen. Change. Something unfamiliar but something exciting at the same time.

A few months before, he had talked to a friend that might know of a possible job opening sometime in the future. So we had talked about Houston. We had already discussed the pros and cons. We were good with it if everything fell into place. Chris is in management now. He is an operations manager. His next goal is, and has been since we took the job in Nashville six years ago, was to get a director slot. He has to have two disciplines before he can be put on the list to move into a director's slot. When it was time to start looking for that second discipline in the company, the recession hit. Verizon didn't layoff at all but jobs were harder to come by. Then last year they purchased Altel and all the employees from Altel came with the company and they had to find places for them. Jobs were even harder to come by. But we were good. We are very happy in Nashville. He has a great job with a great company and we are settled here. But it was time to start looking elsewhere outside the southeast region.

So he told them we were still interested. Now we had to wait for the job to post. A week later, the facilities management position posted that it was available to apply for. We got his resume all updated, talked to all of his superiors and got their blessing and applied.

Now more waiting. We had to wait for the job to close. It closed 7 days later. Then we had to wait to find out if he would get an interview. For that we had to wait another 5 days.

The waiting time was hard. There were so many things going through my head:

Excitement! A new city to explore! A new house to look for! The conversations about what we wanted in a house this time! The fact that I would only be 16 hours (or a two day drive) from my side of the family now.

Sadness: the friends we would be leaving, our church family, our house, Nashville and White House cities we have come to call home, the only home the kids have known, all of the kids first friends, the special group of women I share much of my time with, soccer, softball, swimming, gymnastics, our school and preschool......hairdressers, mechanics....the list goes on.

Fear: starting over, making new friends, finding a new church family, finding our place, how the kids will understand not seeing friends.

I can picture us moving. Honestly, I enjoy moving. I enjoy the process, the cleaning out, the packing up, the searching for houses, the exploring new places. But when we are at Softball I still think...next year when we are on the Shockers... and in the fall Nathan will get to be in Christy and Kim's class just like Jessica.... and I can't wait to see how Jessica does in first grade at HB.... and how will we celebrate our first snow day of the season next year with our friends ...and the thoughts go on.

This time it was an e-mail. "Can you come to Houston for an interview this week?" Well absolutely. I had already had his suit cleaned and ready. On Monday April 26th he made a flight reservation. On Wednesday, he flew down and on Thursday he arrived 15 minutes till 9 and started interviewing. He interviewed for almost six hours. First a director, then another director and then the executive director. As he was leaving...."You did a good job and you are strongly being considered. We will make a decision tomorrow or Monday at the latest."

Then the waiting began again. Chris seemed to stay calm but I was a mess on Friday. Every time a text message came through or my phone rang I was sure it was going to be him. Did he get it? We found out only two candidates were interviewed for the job. The other candidate we understand was very strong and has much more experience in this particular position. But Chris is a new face that can come in and be a problem solver.

Second guessing is never fun. It is nerve wracking!

No call on Friday. I put in the back of my mind over the weekend, and went back to my old mindset of when moving was not anywhere in the game. The rain came, the news was on for three days straight, he was very busy at work, there were cell sites down. Not really the time to think about going somewhere else.

But then Sunday evening it crept back in.... what if they didn't decide on Friday and hadn't already offered it to the other candidate. What if we would get the call on Monday.

Second guessing what they were thinking again.

Monday was bad again. I kept waiting for the phone to ring and it be Chris. He called but still hadn't heard anything. They always notify the candidate that did not get it as well as the one that did. We should have heard something by now! More impatience.

I really need to know! I need to call a realtor. I really need to get my booty in gear if I have to sell this house

Tuesday....no call

Wednesday......no call

Thursday .....no call

Friday May 7, 2010...... Chris said this was the day. Positive thinking. We got home from working out a little after 5pm and still no call. Guess he was wrong. Then the phone rang. It was his friend. "Have you heard anything yet? " he asked. Well no. He said hang in there. He said I can't tell you but you should get a call tonight or Monday. (Yes, they said the same thing last week!) So is that a yes?? Well, he couldn't talk about it.

Houston, here we come?? More waiting....

There was no other call that evening. That led to another long weekend. Do we start working on our moving to do list or do we just enjoy the weekend?

We moved into another week. Chris left for Chicago on Monday...no call. Tuesday ......no call. Wednesday he finished his meeting and was flying to Houston for another meeting completely unrelated to the job interview. Wednesday... no call. Would we find out on Thursday when he was there and would be seeing his potential new boss again?

The answer to that question was a resounding......yes. They pulled him out of his meeting and told him that he had the job! The paperwork has not come through yet so it is not signed on the dotted line yet but the job is his! I was at the grocery store when he texted me and I had a steady stream of texts for the next several hours of all the thoughts going through his head and things that we needed to do and get done!

He was so excited and I am so excited for him. The job has a lot of "opportunities" going into it and Chris is going to be the guy to get them all straightened out and heading in the right direction again. It is perfect for him and will be a great challenge.

But......we still don't have the offer in writing yet so we still aren't mentioning it yet till we get that final piece of the puzzle.

On Friday May 14th, we met with Debbie, our realtor, for three hours and we are armed with a three page list of "things to do" and we are hoping to put the house on the market on Friday the 21st. Just praying now that the house will sell quickly so that we can be in place in Houston for the beginning of school in mid August.

The weekend was a whirlwind. We worked much of the day on Saturday after a soccer game and then Chris had a photo shoot in the afternoon and the we headed to Chattanooga that evening to celebrate the kids birthdays. Got home on Sunday evening and started working again!

Monday....no offer. Tuesday...no offer. But wait, a call came late after Nathan's soccer game. That was what we were waiting on. It is official. He has a June 14th start date!

Praying for our family on our next new adventure together. Praying our house will sell in a timely manner. Praying for our kids that we can make this transition as easy as possible for them. Praying for our new home and neighbors. Praying for the people that God already has planned to place in our lives. Praying for the church he is preparing for us and praying for our new schools and teachers.