Roller Coaster

As many of you have heard, my family was literally a signature away from leaving our lovely Lehi home to move to Chicago, the other windy city. I suppose that now it's all over, I can give a quick synopsis of the details and behind the scenes.

So a few months ago, my father found this company in Chicago while looking for new jobs, like he had been doing for a while. At the same time he was also interviewing with Microsoft in Seattle, which he had high hopes for, but ultimately didn't go anywhere. I knew that he was interviewing with both companies, and I informed him that, if it came to it, I would rather live in Seattle than Chicago. He laughed and reassured me that it was still a ways down the road and I didn't need to worry about it now.

Well the last two weeks have been the most difficult my parents have had to face, because we had reached that way down the road with the Chicago company.

Two weeks ago Monday, my dad was flown out to Chicago by the company he had been interviewing with so that they could get the feel of him in person. Two days later, they extended an offer. At first glance, my dad was ecstatic! He had been searching for a new job for quite some time now, and had finally gotten a great offer from a company he had high hopes for! And to top it off, it was in Chicago!

...Oh wait. Chicago. That's out of state.

Since my dad had come out of college, he had always expected to move out of state and raise a family outside of Utah. Whether because he had grown up in Utah himself, or was just an adventurous guy, I don't know. But coming out of college, he landed an internship in the very city he was now being faced with returning to. So it's not like it would be completely foreign to them. But moving! The costs were just too high to even consider it. So he regretfully informed the company of his dilemma, and prepared to keep searching for new opportunities.

Then the company came back offering an extremely generous relocation package. Oh boy. What to do now? Que the soul searching. Over the period of about the next five days, my parents went back and forth with the decision of moving - some days yes, some days no - but weren't always on the same page. He had to give them their answer by Monday at noon, and tried hard to find an answer by then, but he couldn't get it.

Then Monday came. He went into work that day preparing to inform the company yet again that he would have to decline, but right before noon came, he and my mom had a talk on the phone, during which my mom said, "Go for it." And so with that, his opinion changed and he accepted their offer. Look out Chicago, here we come.

But wait, it doesn't end there. After accepting the offer, my mom was still very apprehensive. She didn't know why, but she just had a terrible feeling about the whole move, and couldn't shake it. So Tuesday became the final emotional drain pipe, and Wednesday morning my dad once more called them back. He informed them of all the goings on, and the tough situation we had been in. He regretfully and very respectfully told them how appreciative he was about their extreme kindness and flexibility, but that uprooting a family was just too much of a strain at this time, and that he had to once again decline.

So imagine our surprise later that day, when we heard that he had gotten another call from them at 5:00.

They still wanted him. He could work remote. And he accepted on the spot.

Well let me tell you, it has been two long weeks for our family, but we are counting our blessings, and are amazed at the incomprehensible miracles we have seen. God loves His children, but sometimes you have to take a step into the darkness before you come into light again. Sometimes a leap of faith is necessary to jump into His loving arms, and to know that everything is alright, and everything will be alright. And He will always guide you.