Every time I start to write one of these blog posts, I try to keep it short. But there is so much to say, so many exciting things happening, or just plain craziness, so I have a hard time keeping it short.
I've shared our decision to move to Texas as we continue our search for our next ministry position. And a few weeks ago, we were a scattered family as we moved our physical possessions 1,346 miles from one state to another.
Monday, April 15th, we were rejoined and got to enjoy the insanity of merging two households. Another God-moment in all of this is the blessing of moving in with my parents while we get our feet on the ground in a new state. They are "empty-nesters" as of this year, so got to enjoy that for about nine months before once again having a daughter living upstairs. And it's been about 18 years since they've had toddlers living at home. But they're loving it. Before coming, my mom and some local ladies helped prepare the bedrooms for us. While Nathan was making the drive to Texas, my dad and I worked on cleaning out and rearranging the barn and some storage space upstairs to hopefully fit all of our things so we didn't have to rent a storage unit. Once again God made things possible, and all of our things fit in the house/barn!
The inside of the house is a little crazy this last week though... new flooring is being laid in the main living areas, and it's taking longer than anticipated, so we halted unpacking and have spent a lot of time outside on my parents' five acres, or visiting my grandparents and sisters...
The exciting news in the life of Nathan: He has a job, starting tomorrow! Nathan had his first job interview down here on Wednesday, April 17th. Yes, you did the math right, it was less than 48 hours after getting to Texas. A few weeks before that, while looking on snagajob.com for a transitional job down here, he saw a posting for an assistant manager position at a local Chick-Fil-A (my parents live in the country, and this is only 15 miles away, pretty much as close as you can get for a job) and applied. Got an immediate call for an interview, but obviously was too far away. Called back the week of the move, and they set up the interview for the 17th. Nathan worked for Chick-Fil-A in highschool/college, so he thought maybe this would be a good fit.
That interview took two hours. Two hours of me anxiously awaiting word of how it was going. When we loaded up the moving van, he had to set out his suit on top of boxes in the van just so we knew he had it ready to go. He called me once the interview was over and we had our first Texas God-moment: both managers at the store really liked him and shared their need for a manager-type person to oversee team-building and employee care at the store. They wanted him on the team if they could work out a position for this. Thursday he was called back in for a meeting with the owner on Friday.
The meeting with the owner went really good as well, and it should have, because it lasted almost three hours. So more praying and fingernail biting (well, I don't really bite my nails, but I would have!). A three hour meeting is a good sign, right? The owner really liked Nathan's resume, especially his heart for encouraging and investing in others to see them reach their potential and would like to see him in management as well, but needed to figure out details. He is a believer and shared that a big part of why he owns the store is to invest in the workers and people who come through the doors, and he wants his managers to do the same.
So this last week Nathan got a call to go back in to discuss the details. For right now, he is hired for an 8-week trial period and will be learning the ropes of every aspect of working there, from the cash register to cooking the chicken. The route they would like to take is putting him on the fast track to learning the store inside and out, while not telling everyone he is a potential manager, so they can see how Nathan performs, as well as see if he meshes well with other employees. At the end of 8 weeks they will promote him in leadership. We're not sure at the moment what that next step will look like, or what the time frame might be, but are blown away that in the two weeks we have been here Nathan already has a job. It is full-time and will pay more than a normal retail/food chain position and will cover our monthly expenses right now.
I am just still amazed. We have been job searching like so many others for months now. And to have this happen so quickly as we took this blind step of faith is incredible. God provided a job at a local place (no long commutes), somewhere that is closed on Sundays so we can get plugged into a local church & also are available to candidate somewhere when those doors open, will financially cover our monthly expenses, and on top of all that, the owner and managers want him to encourage and invest in others, even share his faith with others. Yeah. Wow moments.
God is at work!
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