Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Move, Part 2

This is where we really started to see God's plan for the steps we've been taking for the past 5-6 months come together. I think it's best expressed through a timeline...

Wednesday, 7/27/11
8am - Load up the cars and drive to FL from Lynchburg, VA
11pm - Can't sleep. Check FL schools job websites. See a posting for a counselor at Indian Trails Middle School (ITMS). Apply for Job. Send principal email with resume and cover letter.

Thursday 7/28/11
2pm - Take nap and put phone on silent
2:45pm - Miss phone call from ITMS about scheduling interview for counselor position.
5:30pm - Wake up from nap. Listen to voicemail from school. Flip out.

Friday 7/29/11
8am - Call school. Am told my application is not visible.
8:01am - Call HR dept. Am told my certification is not visible, therefore my application isn't either. HR person contacts dept of education and finds certification - fixes problem. (sidenote: this could explain why none of the other schools have contacted me at all)
8:05am - Call school back. Application is now made visible to them. Schedule interview for 9am Monday morning.

Saturday & Sunday - wait impatiently....

Monday 8/1/11
9am - Interview at school.

Tuesday 8/2/11
9am - School calls. Set up 2nd interview for 1pm that day.
1pm - Second interview. Am told they can't tell me anything until Thursday when they submit their decision to HR.

Wednesday 8/3/11
3:45pm - School calls. They offer me the job, even though they haven't gone through HR. I wholeheartedly accept! (We've been in FL one week and I have my dream job...)
5pm - Go out w/Andrew, Mom & Dad to celebrate. I am FINALLY a school counselor!

Thursday 8/4/11
9am - Visit school board office. Get fingerprinted, drug tested and fill out a variety of paperwork. 1pm - Visit school, meet with principals and office staff.

Friday 8/5/11
10am - Visit school again, am told I can officially start Monday.

Monday 8/8/11
8am - My first day of work as a Guidance Counselor.

It is now Saturday and I've been a counselor for a full week. I absolutely love it! The school staff is great - very helpful and supportive. I already feel right at home. Praise the Lord!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Move, Part 1




I desperately want to document how amazing this move has been so I'm going to just start writing.

Packing and getting the house ready was a mad rush and required an enormous, gigantic amount of work and effort. I thought we'd done a really great job of packing little by little from May-July, but boy did we have a lot left to do when it got down to the wire! We literally could not have done it without the help of some amazingly wonderful guys who helped up load the PODS.







Ask any of them - it was nothing short of a miracle that everything fit into the 16x8x8 little storage container. (Sidenote: If any of you Lynchburg folk plan on moving, call Marcel. The man is brain and braun, he masterminded how to fit all of our crap into one big rectangle.) We began exploring additional options at one point, and I even entertained the idea of trading my teeny tiny Jetta in for some kind of SUV just so we wouldn't have to leave anything behind! (I wasn't really in my right mind at that point...)






But - it all fit.

Every day we were bone-tired, painfully, supremely exhausted. We slept on a raft-like air mattress but I really think we could've slept standing up at that point. It was an adventure and we chose to see it as such. I've heard packing and moving can really put a strain on your marraige, but we grew closer and our marriage was strengthened by working together and choosing to be a team.

Ok, so we got the PODS packed and the house spotless and loaded up everything we'd need to live (while @ my parents') into our 2 cars. Both of the dogs were in my back seat. They tried to fit in the front with me, but as you can see, space was limited...




Meanwhile, Andrew's car was so packed, he couldn't see out of the right side of his car. Our solution? Walkie talkies, of course! He'd buzz me to ask if he could get over, and I'd let him know. I had the GPS and lead the way, and we worked well together.

Our 9-10 hour trip turned into 11 hours once we hit Georgia. The rain was in-freaking-tense. It was the kind where you'd put your flashers on, drove 25mph on the highway and prayed that you didn't veer off the road. We hit 3 20-30 minute patches of that madness and it was nervewracking, to say the least.

I was so thankful when we pulled into my parents' driveway! I had to peel my hands from the steering wheel, and I doubt the dogs (who did so, so well by the way) will ever want to go for a ride in the car ever again, as long as they both shall live. They were real troopers, honestly.


So in one word, I'd describe the process of getting from VA to FL as "exhausting." I'd also like to say that we were so, so, SO thankful to have arrived safely and with everything we'd need for the next who-know-how-many-weeks. We felt so blessed and were just thrilled that the hardest part was officially behind us!