things are about to change

I have some news. 

So, a few weeks ago, Jason got a call for a job opportunity with a company we'd gotten a lead for from my sister back in February. As he has many times before, he submitted his resume and entered the waiting game.  Jason had been hired on full time doing carpentry work for the company my step-dad works at but it was temporary and we knew that, no matter how much it sucked. So he had to continue to look for other work even while working.

Around the first or second week of March, Jason got a call from this particular company to interview for a position that would use his skill set in the insurance arena. He went in promptly for an interview and was brought back the same day for a second interview. We waited a couple of days and received another call to schedule a third interview. During those couple of days, Jason was informed by HR that the company was going to make an offer. We were very excited and hopeful because this meant a job that was more along his "career path" and possible benefits. We desperately need benefits. So yeah, we were excited.

A couple of months before that, I started thinking about looking for daytime employment. I love my job at Table and Main. But the time away from my family at night and having no weekends at all really wears on us. Jason and I spend so much time apart, and we never have time for dates or just hanging out. The schedule with him working days and me working nights was not ideal, but we didn't really see a way out of it. I did look for just basic admin work, sent out a couple of resumes but that was it. And I prayed. I specifically said, "God, if you want me to work during the day you have to bring me a job. Please give me a job." That was it - nothing fancy. I didn't actively look for anything beyond that week and I didn't really pray that much about it beyond that week. I received no calls. I also never really thought about applying for the corporate world because I didn't have a degree. Any advancements I'd made in my nine years at Avaya was from sheer will and determination. I thought a degree was everything with the pool of applicants so large these days. So I never ever thought about corporate as an option... corporate salary, corporate benefits as I used to enjoy them would never be again, or so I thought. 

In the last four years of struggle, of feeling like the future was hopeless, having no real "life" or ability to enjoy it with my family and kids, I pined a bit for the "way things used to be". My therapist told me once that I didn't have to be part of the system, I just needed to make the system work for me. The perks of employment in corporate America are big when you are trying to raise a family and have a lifestyle that you enjoy. And it can be a vehicle for us, especially in our situation, to really get on our feet and move on to better places and spaces (financial freedom, a home, some land, all that we dream of). The thing is, when there's no money, it's hard. Money's not everything. That's for sure. If you can't learn to LIVE when there's no money, if you can't learn to TRUST when there's no money, what is it all for? What has all of this been for, this season? We have had tremendous support from our family, and we have sought many different and creative avenues to support ourselves. But we have grown tired and weary. We are thankful, and we have learned to let go and trust, but still, weary. We found ourselves recently in the in-between spot of making a few too many bucks a month to qualify for food stamps and Medicaid, but not enough to thrive on our own. Weary.

So then, during a certain conversation Jason had with the HR contact at the company he mentioned my background and was told to encourage me to submit my resume as they were hiring for multiple positions. This company is HUGE... a multi-national corporation with many different areas of focus. I thought I would be applying for a job in the same position Jason had been offered. So I submitted my resume. When we realized how close the offices were to our home (0.6 miles - that's walking distance folks), I thought, "hey! it would be fun to work with Jason, walk to work, make more money, have benefits, have nights and weekends back..."... all good, all promising and hope-inspiring thoughts. 

Then, on Monday the 8th, Jason talked to the HR lady again when he received his written offer. The compensation he was offered was not really ideal, but it wasn't less than what he was making doing carpentry, so we figured it was worth it. In conversation with HR it was mentioned that I was being considered for a training support position with a salary I never ever thought I would earn again in my life. It was almost what I was making when I got laid off from Avaya. I was shocked and excited. This would change our life for sure... if Jason and I both worked full time, we would be back to where we were income-wise before we both lost out jobs. It felt surreal and like God to bring something like to this TO ME, after I had asked him to do it... Like, he straight up had answered this prayer.

I was scheduled for an interview on that Wednesday, the 10th.

I went to Goodwill on Tuesday and bought a Liz Claiborne skirt and brown pumps. I found Jason's late uncle's crisp white shirt and tried it on (it fit - little Czech people :) ). I got my outfit figured out, hung it up on the door frame, and let the butterflies start compounding.

Wednesday morning, I walked into that ginormous building and went through a grueling three hour interview. Part of the interview included creating a presentation based on whatever business somethingeruther I could drum up... I chose call quality and made a five slide presentation in 45 minutes and did a 15-20 minute presentation on it (digging deep here, people!) which I felt really good about. Then I was questioned for another hour and a half by the lady who would be my boss and then by her boss... it was very intense and I was asked some very hard questions. I was asked at one point to critique each person in the room ... yeah... ... asked to sell myself unashamedly... I had to do all of that and then some. I had to work at the restaurant later that day and I was completely worn out. I hoped that what I gave them in three hours was worth something and let it go.

I received a call promptly on Thursday offering me the position at the full salary option with benefits starting day one. 

I got light headed.

I called Jason. Then my Mom. Then my Dad. Then my mother-in-law. Then my boss. 

It was happening. This was really happening. Life was about to change. All that we had hoped for was about to become a reality. All that we had struggled for, and hoped for, about to happen. All of our financial goals - not a pipe dream. About to become reality. I just couldn't believe this had come to me. 

The only downer was that because Jason and I would be working in the same basic area, due to conflict of interest we had to choose between us who was going to accept their offer. Naturally since my job was going to be better for the family, we chose for me to go, and I think Jason felt released - not offended. Our level of trust in God has become so that we don't really worry. I have had my moments wishing it were both of us going to work full time, as the week that he received his offer, his temporary assignment doing the carpentry job was completed, and now he is out of work (though his Mom has graciously provided an opportunity for him to earn money building a fence for her). But the HR contact sent his information on to a business partner who competes with them for talent, and there is the chance Jason will be able to pick up a job doing carpentry with a friend, and there is a lot of positive activity happening with the start up he is working for on commission... so who knows what God is doing? Another investment is coming in here in the next couple of weeks that he will get a commission on... so many great things, we are just going to trust. I have had my moments of worrying and feeling like my bubble got a little burst with him not working full time also as that still sets us back a little until we are able to really start paying down our debt... but again... I have to trust. 

There are so many wonderful things and signs that this is God's providence. The childcare we have for our kids is amazing. Literally the lady caring for our kids lives in our neighborhood and is so affordable, and has a degree in Early Childhood Education. The kids adore her. I can walk to work too which is such a wonderful thing, given that most people in Atlanta commute 30-45 minutes to their jobs. I can take lunch breaks, walk into the woods and sit on a mossy green rock overlooking the creek. I can explore trail running after work if I bring my shoes... And, to top it off, when I gave my two weeks notice at the restaurant, the maitre d' that had worked there when I first started and left to go to school had just asked my boss to come back and pick up shifts... so I had no one to train and my boss didn't have to worry about hiring and training another maitre d' - a blessing to him and to me. It just felt like every detail being taken care of was bringing me more and more peace and assurance that this was God's hand in this. 

My first day is Monday, April 29th. 

On March 24th (the weekend after Jason had the first two interviews), during Night of Worship at church, a lady got up toward the end of the service to give a word. She said she saw a bulb (like a flower bulb) all shriveled up... so much life and potential in that bulb just waiting to come forth, and there was someone (US) who saw themselves as the bulb, feeling like we had so many dreams and hopes that would never come to life... that the Winter season we had been in had been so intense and long that we wondered when it would ever end. The word was that the season is almost over. "Rise up, man of God", "Rise up, woman of God" - the season is almost over and God has used this season to shape you for your destiny. The life is about to come forth that you've dreamed of.

I can only hope that this is the beginning of the answer to that dreaming. A step in the many steps that we have to take to reach that place. A place that God will carry us to. Indeed, he has brought us this far. He will finish the work.