Sometimes a Closed Door is a Window

It's been a whirlwind of a week.

Long story short, Chad and I have been sending out resumes and looking for a new job for almost a year now, with very little success, We'll just say, we've learned how to ineffective job search and about 4 months ago we really buckled down and pulled out all the stops, we've had interviews, made some fabulous connections and learned a lot about what we want for our family. It's been a very trying, very beneficial few months of growth.

With all the resumes going out and references we've utilized, I'm surprised it didnt happen sooner but some bonehead called Chads work and asked for a reference from his current employer...whom we have not yet notified that we plan to leave when we find the right offer.

Chads work has been struggling. The put on a happy face and make lots of empty promises to keep their employees working in hope that the longer they stay the more revenue they'll see but after being within the company for 2 years, we're able to clearly see what was masked when we applied for this job in the first place. the company doesn't have a secured or even structurally sound (ironically) financial base. They spend too much money on unimportant "morale building" meetings, (i for one don't think ;meetings' and 'morale building' goes together). They don't secure their employees interests and in turn, they've lost a lot of their most valued employees just this year and we aren't sticking around either, (This decision could have a post all its own but I'll leave that to my written journal and save you the boring details).

With his company being in such stress already the news of Chad leaving didnt go well. I'm not saying Chads the companys MVP, he's only been there 2 years but Chads been trained to fill 2-3 job titles, he trains EITs finishes everyone elses work that they don't want to do and stays over time..all the time. He's a hard worker and he's honestly the ONLY guy in his office that can carry an adult conversation for longer that 2 minutes that wont make you want to stick pencils in your eyes. They love him over there. Here's the kicker... They pay him the least. That's why they love him so much, he'll do twice the work of an 10 year employee for a fraction of the pay.

Finding out that Chad was thinking of leaving set his boss into panic mode, He called Chad in and accused him of being uncommitted. He told him that he felt blind sighted and that Chad was being unprofessional. This was confusing and frustrating for us since Chad had had multiple conversations about unrealized promises and the lack of progression and vision he saw in the company, not to mention the multiple written correspondence he had that explained his needs and desires as a COMMITED employ. Two years of unrealized potential is two years too many though, ya know.

His boss further provided us with the confirmation that we needed to leave this company. His threatening and hostile response to Chad leaving left us hanging by a thread, hoping we had a job each day this week. A good leader doesn't treat people the way Chad was being treated. We want a company that wants us too, in a monetarily visible way! Wood/Patel isn't concerned with us, they want to keep themselves afloat just enough to take care of the guys on top. Not what we believe in or what we want to invest in as a family.

Needless to say, there was a lot of stress on Chads shoulders and in our home over the past month. I had been working Chads resume like crazy, talking to everyone I meet about possible job openings that would be a good fit because while we had some good leads, I'm the Debbie downer in our marriage, I had to assume that things weren't going to work out and have a back up for all our plans. Chad had a very promising interview with a company the Thompsons hooked us up with but I had to have something else just in case. Chad interviewed with a company right in our neighborhood and it went perfectly. The company wouldn't be the BEST fit for us but it was a job. We had to have something in case we were fired and Hansel Phelps didn't work out. As out of control and volitial as it all was, we were completely at peace. Chad was POSITIVE he would get the job at Hansel Phelps, I was less sure, but I exercised faith while logically creating a safety net for our family. We were happy and we knew things would work out.

Chad had a  2nd interview with Hansel Phelps, a 2 day wine-and-dine style interview weekend in Phoenix. Lots of prayers were said and Chad and I both agreed that if we didn't get the job, the Lord would have something better in store for us. I think the peace we felt was a direct reaction to our dependence upon the Lords will for our family. Its amazing how letting go of our worldy need to control different aspects of our lives gives us the peace and confidence we could never find on our own.

Chads interviews went better than we could have hoped for, Chad said thier conversations were so fluid and natural and they finished eachothers sentences most of the time in terms of thier expectations, desires and work mentality. After the first day of interviews he was pumped and the second day was even better, he called me as he finished to let me know he was on his way to Cali to join us on our family vacation. The recruiters told him not to expect a response for a couple of weeks until all the interviews were complete. 2 more weeks of walking on egg shells at Wood/Patel and even if he got hire, we didn't see them starting us right away since he was interviewing with students who wouldn't start working until January (after their last semester ended). We braced ourselves for the most probable scenario, we get the job but we don't start until January and we possible get laid off at WP and have a laps in pay and insurance.

Before I could even start the prep for that scenario, Chad called back 2 hours later and said they had called him and offered him the job, he would start as soon as possible! Very uncommon to receive an offer so early but a magnificent answer to pray and tender mercy to receive the news so soon and in the way we did. They told Chad they recognized he would probably want to respectfully leave his company and wanted to give him the time he needed to do that but that they wanted him on their team as soon as possible. They even told him where he'll be working from... Phoenix! No moves for us! Our first reaction to that part of the news was a tinge of disappointment, I think we just assumed we'd be moving ( and we LOVE the idea of moving around...anywhere!) but after a little reflection we realize how mindful the Lord is of our situation. longs story short with that, it's definitely to our advantage that we stay in AZ for a while longer. The office is only 10 minutes further from his current office so we aren't increase the commute by too much either.

I could go on an on with the ways we've seen the Lord answering our years of prayers and concerns. I'll just say this, for years we tried to fix all the things that were going wrong in our lives, we felt out of control and like we were missing something. I genuinely believe it was our giving up of the our worldly expectations of success and desire to achieve something we thought we deserved and wanted that we realized that the Lord has greatness planned for us in HIS time and on HIS terms. It's not what we wanted, it's better, it's smarter and it makes for a more beautiful life for our family. Without everything we learned at Wood/Patel , the good and the bad, and the way the "door closed" there, I don't think we would have been ready for the "open window" that Hansel Phelps has proven to be for our family. We didn't know everything we wanted going into Wood/Patel and once we got there, we realized how far off a few of our desires were and how . A lesson we could have only learned from the experience we gained over the past two years. Good desires have been replaced with better desires and the best dreams the Lord has. We're learning so much about the Lords will and how to better align our family with His dreams for us.

We're so grateful for the job opportunity, lots of changes are coming our way, longer hours, more weekends away but we're investing in something we truly believe in! We're excited for new challenges, were excited to be excited again! We feel so good about this change and can't believe how blessed we are!