My friend Kilikina and her husband are about to start the official post school job hunt. (He's a PA, so this has been a long time in coming.) I know that they'll end up in God's will, because I know the couple and they are both very strong, committed Christians and very intelligent people.
It reminded me of Hubby's job hunt though, about four years ago. Talk about a nervewracking time. You spend so many, many years going to school, and then it suddenly hits you that this is it. You will have to go out into the world now and make it on your own, because there will be no nice professors to give you help for the tests that will come. (Of course, there aren't the lousy ones that make you want to scream, either, but that's a different story.)
We knew we wanted to stay close to home, which is to say, western Oklahoma, but the options out here are limited, to say the least, for aerospace and mechanical engineers. When Hubs got an interview at a certain unamed large oil company, we thought, "This is it!" Not just anyone got an interview. It was a weekend long process where they paid for your travel, lodging and all food. We figured that this was as close as we would be able to get to our home town without giving up engineering as a career. Two hours is pretty close, so we were counting our blessings. Hubby had a perfect 4.0 all through college, and was an excellent worker. Who wouldn't want to hire him? The interviews went very well, so we waited back in Stillwater for the news to come... and it didn't. Finally we got a letter saying that, although he was impressive, blah, blah, blah. I was very upset. I thought that was our only chance to live close to our families, and I had prayed and prayed for God's will to be done, by which I meant, for him to get that job.
With the semester done, and nowhere to go, we migrated back home like we had every summer, and Hubby started working for his father on the farm. I got a job nearby in an office, and then I was pregnant with Zaya right away. Now the idea of finding a place near home was more important than ever. I remember crying myself to sleep one night because it looked like we might be going to California to interview. No disrespect to anyone who lives there, but that and New York are about the last places in this entire country that I would want to live. I had been encouraging my husband all this time to apply at a plant in nearby W'ville, but he hadn't yet. It turns out that his father had been talking him up, though, to an acquaintance, and to make a long story slightly shorter, they requested an interview and he got the job! Only 15 miles away from our hometown and at a salary and benefits that we had not even imagined he would be able to get his first year out.
Of course, like any job, it hasn't been perfect, but we have really loved being so close to our families for these first critical years of our children's lives. Who knows what the future holds, but I'm so glad, to quote a corny phrase, that "I know who holds the future."
4 comments:
That is awesome! Donnie and I both felt that it was time to move back home near our families, but we did not have a clue how we could do it because Donnie was a War Game Simulation expert, and there is NOTHING in MN for him in that field. There were some Military Intell stuff in Wisconsin and Missouri, but not really what he wanted.
I found a job in Minneapolis for him to apply at, and they happened to be interviewing while we were on vacation in Minnesota! Hows that for a God thing?
They offered him the job, but we turned it down because he would not leave his work with only 2 weeks notice.
But later they called him back for another position, and it was perfect!
He's been there 6 years, and it is great pay and benefits, though Donnie doesn't like the work, he is good at it.
Guess what happened last night? I went to a friend's to wash my diapers and she had told another friend that I was coming and why, and that friend has a washer I can have! I totally forgot she has a couple of washers in her garage that are just sitting there.
God is good! And I thank you for your sweet words and support.
Being near family is the top on my list. Especially now that I have children it would be so hard to move away. I hope that Kilkina and her husband are able to find a location and job that fits them well. In the end, everything does work out because you are right - He holds the future, and He will always take care of us.
Best wishes to your friends. And that's a great story about y'alls situation there and how you were able to stay near family.
I don't know what has always compelled me to move away. I never liked my hometown much, though the people there are wonderful. Even as a boy, I dreamt of, and knew that I would move away. I had no idea how far, but I wanted away from that town.
My older sister is like you. The thought of moving farther than an hour or two from family, well, she just couldn't even imagine it. Consequently she's still there in town, just a mile or so from our mother. A couple of years ago my younger brother moved back there from having lived in North Carolina for 10 years.
I'm the only hold-out, but my heart is still the same. I love the people, and visit when I can, but moving back there? Probably not. (I've learned the hard way over the years to never say never.)
I'd certainly go back if Gob led us there, but he would probably have to pull out some pretty serious strong-arm tactics for me to be clear on the message though.
Is is a sin to misspell God's name? Or should I just act like I always call him Gob, as if that's just a personal name between Him and me?
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