We're moving

Unlike every other time we have moved from North Carolina, we are not moving out of the country! Although it might feel like it 😆

Let me back up. Matt has not been happy in his management position, pretty much from the start. There was so much happening with it, that it made it a rough transition, and has continued to be rough. With Covid hitting not long after he took his position, then the death of a co-worker, which was bad enough, but then his co-workers supervisory duties got split between Matt and another supervisor, which effectively overextended Matt and the other supervisor. It took them about a year to fill that position, which is a long time to be overworked. So, Matt started looking at what he really wanted to do to get out of management. He started getting IT certifications. He finished all his training for that early this year. In March he put in for his first IT position with the Bureau. Things have changed since he first started moving jobs. It used to be that you applied for a particular position in a particular location, now you apply for a particular position and you can say which areas you are willing to move to, but anyone from any office can ask you to interview for their office (he said he was willing to move to Cincinnati, Cleveland, OH, Pittsburgh, and a few other places he doesn't remember). Matt never heard anything from that position. So, in May we started talking about where we would be willing to move. Matt is 13 years from retirement and he is wanting to be able to move up and not have to be in management. That is not an option in the Charlotte office. We decided (and the kids as well, although Elijah quite reluctantly) that we would be willing to move to the Clarksburg, WV office. There are plenty of options for Matt, not just in IT, but in other jobs that he has previously had, and we would be closer to Kayla (only 3 hours, instead of 8+) that we are now.

Matt started putting in for jobs over the summer and made the short list for several jobs in WV but hadn't been called for an interview. At the end of July Matt called me and told me he had a high priority email from Cleveland asking him if he would interview for a job there, in IT. It took us off guard because we had completely forgotten about the job from March. We prayed about it and he told them yes. After going back and forth in emails his interview was set for August 24th. We had already decided that whether we moved or not we were going to be selling the house. I am tied of taking care of almost 3300 sq ft, when Kayla's away at college and Matt and Elijah are gone 50ish hours a week. I'm practically the only one living here and I am gone for odds and ends jobs as well. So, I reached out to my favorite realtor Jen Wetzel on Aug. 22, (our realtor for 11 years) and asked her about listing our house. She is currently taking a break but set us up with her partner, Ruth. I set up a meeting with Ruth for September 1st, at 10am. 

Matt had his interview on August 24th @2pm, and he felt like it went pretty well. They were only interviewing 3 people but he did not feel like he had enough IT experience to get the job. They told him they would let him know in 30-60 days if he got the job.

When Ruth walked through our house on the 1st she gave me a laundry list of things to do: Paint 4 rooms, take 3 bookcases out of the living room, take a bookcase out of the office/music room, center the piano on the wall it is on, center the desk it is on, pack up the keyboard, take down and pack up the pull-up bar and equipment, take the bookcase out of the dining room, take down my "This is how I fight my battles" wording on my DR wall, take down all religious items from walls, clean off all my kitchen counters, remove 2 bookcases from the home school room, remove the small bookcase in the front room, move the love seat to a different wall, remove the treadmill, in my room I needed to take the pictures off the wall, move my bed, and the sewing table, clean out the sewing closet (declutter, not complete clean out), in Elijah's room we needed to declutter his bookcases, and remove everything he keeps on his floor (I refused to do more than that because of his anxiety), in the playroom we had to pack up a ton of stuff to declutter, Kayla's room just needed posters and a little bit of decluttering because she had already headed back to college, and I think that's about it 😂 In the week since she has been here we have rented a storage unit,  and completed this list of things (I am BEYOND exhausted, it has been an extremely long week). After she left I texted Matt and asked if he wanted to talk about what Ruth wanted us to do, I was more than a little overwhelmed! So, he called me, we talked through everything and I was about to get off the phone when he asked if I had a few more minutes. I was like "of course." And he said, I got the job in Cleveland. I was STUNNED!! I asked him several times if he was serious. I simply couldn't believe it. He had found at at 9:45 am but hadn't called me because I was getting ready to meet Ruth. I told him I couldn't believe he didn't start the conversation with that!! He said, "Well, I didn't want to distract you and wanted to be sure you had your say with all that." I immediately thought "I need to call Kayla and tell her!" So I told him I was going to let him go and call her, but then thought she was in class, so went to check her schedule. She was in class. I was bummed I couldn't tell her right away because I KNEW she was going to be excited that we would only be 2 hours away from her. I texted her toward the end of her class and asked her to call me when she had a chance. When she called me and I told her she said, "I knew you were going to tell me that." She said, "I was sitting in class and the thought popped in my head that you were going to call me and tell me daddy got the job in Cleveland." That was a God touch, it was around the time I was thinking of calling her. Matt told Elijah that evening, I wasn't home, I was working, and Elijah didn't take it very well. He really doesn't want to move, but understands this is what is best for us. He is coming around and I think by the time we finally get there he will be okay.

And, back to my comment at the top, Cleveland is a new country to us, LOL. Matt and I will have to get used to driving in snow again, Matt will actually have to go to work when it snows (they always cancel here, since we don't get snow very often and people don't know how to drive in it), and Elijah will have to learn how to drive in snow. Plus, we will actually have four true seasons, we won't know what to do with ourselves 😂 I think (and hope) Cleveland will be better for my allergies too!

I can see God's hand all over this situation. Sometimes He truly does give you your hearts desires (to be closer to Kayla, for Matt to get a job he will enjoy more, the opportunity to explore new places). God's timing is truly perfect and worth waiting for. I have no doubt this is one of the reasons I have not gotten the jobs I had been trying to get. If I was working 30+ hours a week I wouldn't have had time to begin to pack up our house and get everything done. We don't know the exact timing of everything yet, Matt has only had one chat with his new boss, but we think we will be in Cleveland by Thanksgiving (our best guess at this point). Ruth comes back on Monday to take some pictures of the house and finalize paperwork and then she will put the house on the market. I don't know if it will sell quick or sit for a while, but that will affect our leaving date.

Could you pray for us about all this? Pray that God would continue to ready all of us for this transition. It is bittersweet. We hate leaving friends behind and saying good-byes, but we are thankful for new opportunities. Will you pray that Elijah makes friends quickly at his new job (hopefully a Chick-fil-A in the Cleveland area), and friends he can hang out with after work? Pray that we will find a great Church in our new location, and the right house? Pray for the strength and energy to get everything done and deal with the emotions that come with all this? And pray that Matt and I will have friends we can hang out with too. 

"To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Philippians 4:20

 

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17