Monday, September 10, 2007

Adventures in Moving/Life

So, I've decided to give myself a therapy session and recount a portion of the details of our recent move back east as my father has reminded me that it would be good for my posterity if I wrote it down. I'm not really sure what it will be good for but a bit of entertainment for you readers out there.
Shall I begin with the phone call that started this whole thing. Do understand that this phone call was an answer to prayer before I begin, lest you think I'm complaining. I've just learned a valuable lesson that answers to prayers do not mean that things just magically fall into place and are all better like a mother's kiss on a wounded knee. We had sent probably 15-18 job applications throughout the school year hoping that someone might hire Rob even though he's not quite done with his degree. You see, his Assistantship had run out and, despite many pleas from his voice teacher and himself to the powers that be, there was no chance of renewal. So, we were faced with a whole year of no financial aid, and Rob trying to finish his degree and possibly searching for a job at McDonalds. Well, I'm not sure it would have ever resorted to that. But it probably meant that I was going to really have to commit myself to my Mary Kay business to completely carry the financial load of this family. That would have been fine if I hadn't just completely burned myself out with a massive Mary Kay tour out west to get us through the summer. I had made myself physically ill over the summer (there were other things that transpired that added tremendous stress that I cannot divulge) and did not feel equipped to be the breadwinner until I could recover somewhat.
You can imagine my shout for joy when we received the call from the University of Delaware requesting him to fly out and interview. So it all sounded great until they informed him that they didn't even have the funding to fly him out for an interview. Not such a good sign... Now, a business major would have run the other way or tried to "negotiate" other alternatives. Unfortunately, in the world of music such things are not always negotiable if the school just simply does not have the funding. You must sometimes just take what opportunities come your way. So, since we were not expecting to hear from anyone this late in the game, we did not have the funds to just whip out and buy a plane ticket. Some family members heard of his opportunity, and graciously bought the plane ticket. For which we will be forever grateful! At this time in the summer, I was really struggling with my health which affected our pocket book in a bad way. I don't remember another time in our marriage when things have been so tight. It's amazing what you can live without when you are forced to! We were certainly trained to understand what "needs" and "wants" really mean for our family!
So, his audition went well. He says he really felt the Lord's hand in his performance especially when he taught the voice masterclass. Those of you who know Rob, will understand how talking for large groups of people can be terrifying for him. They were so impressed with his interviews and teaching abilities that they hired him on the spot. He was the last of 5 people they had out to interview. So, although the offer was less than appealing to all those MBA majors out there with a whopping $()*&)#(#*& for 10 months (Rob didn't want me to post the actual amount :)), we knew that the Lord wanted us in Delaware(well, at least in the vicinity). We figured that we had managed to live on half the salary offered so we could make it work. We also knew that this was only an interim position. So anyway, just as we thought our troubles were all over, they had only begun. And, since this is getting really long, that's where I'll leave you hanging until next time...

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