Leaving Las Vegas

That's right. In July we'll be leaving this....
And going to this.....
The news has already been out for a few weeks, but I haven't officially put it in my blog yet. So here it is, and of couse, since I'm me - the story along with it. Some of the details are a little personal, hopefully I haven't shared anything that is too personal - I don't think so, but then again, my life is an open book, I don't filter enough sometimes:).

In late October/early November I was talking with a friend whose husband was going to be graduating with his Masters degree soon. (Yes, Korina, this is all your fault) Her husband is a teacher and earned his degree online. Jerry has wanted to go back to school, and get his masters for quite some time, but we could never figure how to do it with his busy work schedule. I wondered if maybe doing an online degree would work for Jerry. That way he could work it around his schedule a little better, and it would be cheaper too. All the sudden I got really excited about the idea and couldn't wait to share with Jerry.

I didn't want to wait till he got home, so I called him at work and told him about our conversation, and wondered if he'd like to do that. Truly, he was kind of doing other things at work while I was talking to him, and I thought it might be in one ear, and out the other. But I felt good after talking to him. So, as a side note - one thing I've learned about Jerry in our 8 years of marriage is that sometimes he needs time to kind of process things, then decide it on his own. He didn't bring it up that night, so I decided not to push the issue, but let him think on it for a bit, then bring it up again in a few days, to see if he thought any more about it.

I was shocked the next morning when I got a call from a university asking for Jerry. They said that he'd requested some information online yesterday, and wanted to talk with him. WHAT?! So, long story short, he thought it over and decided that he felt it would be best for him to go back to school and get his MBA, rather than doing it online. And he really didn't want to go to UNLV, that's where he got his undergrad. So, yep - changes all around. That means quitting his job and moving somewhere else. Believe me - I shed lots of tears almost every night thinking about leaving my friends down here, my children leaving their friends, being so far away from Jerry's family, and my kids being away from their grandparents. Many tearful prayers were said. I needed to know that we were making the right decision, because when I'm feeling lonely and life is hard, I need to know that even if it's hard - it's the right thing. I always felt comfort, and peace after I prayed.

So we started the whole application process. First he needed to take the GMAT - YUCK! Since it's been 6 years since he's been in school he decided to do a study course online to help prepare him for the test. He studied, and studied, and studied and finally took the test. He'll be fine if he never has to think about that test ever again:) Then he started applying to different schools.

During this time we got pregnant, which we were ecstatic about, but it also was weird to think we're having a baby, just don't know where yet! Applying and waiting and trying to plan our future was a frustrating process. It seemed like nothing was working out like we wanted. He wanted to go to Purdue, but I was kinda unsure about it. It is SO far away. One thing did make me happy, and that was that my brother, John is going to Purdue right now, and I'd be able to be close to him and his family. But other than that I was really hesitant about it. Purdue seemed to kind of fall through, and then the plan changed to Utah. We planned to go to U of U and do the professional program, so work during the day, school at night on Tuesday and Thurs. It felt right, and it made sense. So our focus shifted toward finding a job in Utah, because once he had a job for 4 months he'd be able to get in-state tuition. I was so happy because I'd get to be in Utah close to my family headquarters, and close enough to Vegas that we could visit often. It wouldn't be quite so hard to leave. For about 5-6 weeks we looked diligently for jobs in Utah and were so frustrated. He got a couple call backs, but nothing really materialized. Even though he has 6 years of management experience in the uniform industry, he wasn't qualified for some jobs because they wanted 5 years of experience in their specific industry, like the healthcare, or power industry. It was so frustrating, and it was very hard on Jerry as well.
We prayed and prayed through this whole process, that we'd get a good job so that he could go to school and we could get started on this next step in our lives. Nothing happened.

We kept praying and praying, but one night the focus of our prayer turned to, helping us to go where we were supposed to go. The place that would be best for our family, where Jerry would be able to thrive the most. And, if we're thinking in one direction, and it's not right - make it obvious cause we aren't seeing it. The VERY next day Jerry got an email from Purdue saying that they'd like to do a skype interview with him sometime that week. WHAT??!! We hadn't heard anything from them in over a month. We thought that door had been closed, and I was a little bit relieved when the door closed before. Now what do we think about this? I was in shock, then started crying. (I'm pregnant - that's my excuse for constant crying) We had been so focused on Utah, and pictured it happening, but now the Indiana door had been opened again. And I couldn't help but remember the previous night's prayer. This seemed "obvious" to me. And I knew, once they interviewed Jerry they'd be nothing but impressed, because - well, he's amazing, and he has great experience to bring with him. (But I am a little biased I guess:)) Once again, that night after Jerry went to bed, I stayed awake to think and cry - some more, and pray again. I prayed that if it was right for us to go, that I'd be ok with it, and not just ok, but even a little excited to go there. The next morning when I woke, I was fine. I wasn't stressed or very emotional - probably because I'd used my quota of tears. I even started thinking of the positives - and got a little excited about the prospect of a new adventure for our family, being close to my brother John and his family, living somewhere completely different than I've ever lived, and it's only 2 years, that's gonna fly.

He had his interview a few days later, and then we waited. We didn't want to get too ahead of ourselves, but it was hard not to picture us moving there. We didn't plan on hearing anything for 2 weeks, that way we wouldn't get frustrated if it was taking too long. Three days later he got an email of acceptance. We are very excited. I know I've already gone into tons of detail, so I'll spare you the details of everything else that's happened since then, but it just seems like ever since that first email, everything has fallen into place. We know it's where we are supposed to go. It doesn't mean that life will be just hunky dory, and I'm not expecting that I won't still get lonely and homesick. I know it will be hard having 4 kids including a newborn baby, while my husband is going to be at school or studying constantly. But it does help to KNOW that we are in the right place for our family. We're excited. And I'm feeling more and more ready to go. I'm ready to go, but not ready to leave. I just want to take everyone with me.

I hope I haven't shared too many personal things. This has really been a testimony building experience for us, and in a way I wanted to share the up and down experiences of this all. Even though at times, we felt like we were swimming aimlessly around, we know that through this whole process the Lord has always been aware of us, guiding us, and letting us figure things out and learn as well.