A few weeks ago, the Stake Presidency visited our branch to conduct five temple recommend interviews. During that Fast and Testimony meeting, Raena and I had very different impressions about our remaining time here in Seminole. As I enjoyed the Spirit of the meeting and the fellowship with our branch members, I felt very comfortable about our role in the branch and in the community. After all, two members of my staff are rotating to Houston so certainly they wouldn't consider transferring me at this time. Raena, on the other hand, felt a great sense of urgency. So much so that she talked to President Shumay after the meeting. He too is concerned about the void that would be created if we were to leave.
About the same time, Raena got a phone call from Jane Bearing, the Gaines County librarian. One of her staff had just submitted her two week notice and she remembered Raena saying one of the first times they met how much Raena would like to work at the library. Well, here was the opportunity. We threw the idea around for a couple of days - trying to decide if the income would offset the time Raena would be outside of the home. We make sufficient for our needs on my income. However, with missions and college, the kids will be on the payroll for the foreseeable future. Drew even weighed in on it - he credits his Mom being home when he got home from school everyday as one of the main reasons that he is the man he is. The tipping point was when we realized that with our kids' extra-curricular activities, they usually aren't home before six most days anyway (the library closes at 6). With that epiphany, we worked on developing a resume and decided that she would apply for the job on Monday.
That same Monday, October 29, I was entertaining my boss, Charlie Bondy, and his boss, Dennis Creech during a two-day site visit to Seminole. One of the first things Charlie said to me that morning was to ask if I would consider the Supply Chain Manager position in North Dakota, replacing Geoff. I had been in Houston ten days earlier and as part of our team meeting, we talked about the North Dakota "dream team" to restaff that organization. My name did not come up. Geoff even told me that when my name had come up in other conversations, he always listed me as third because of the sibling issue. This came as a complete surprise. We were busy all day so I didn't have any time to call Raena and tell her about it. Charlie had to leave Monday afternoon so before he left, I asked if "consider" meant "throw my hat into the pool of candidate" or "the job is yours for the taking, do you want it." He confirmed it was the later.
I picked Raena up after work and as we drove around picking up kids from their different activites, she told me about the process to apply for the librarian job. I then told her about Charlie's offer. It would be a promotion plus there is a 20% retention bonus for North Dakota employees. Hess would not ask us to move until school is out so that Jacob can graduate with his class but that would mean I would be a commuter to North Dakota each week. She laughed and quipped, "If Heavenly Father didn't want me to start working, surely there was a less drastic way to give us that message!"
During Family Home Evening that evening, we dropped the bomb on the kids. There was a rare display of emotion from Corina when I told her that there are TWO wards in Minot so the YW program would be much stronger than it is here. Carson took it much better than we expected; Jacob took it worse than we expected. After all, he is leaving in the fall after graduation to go to college so he is the least impacted by this move. We asked them to keep it quiet (no Facebook, etc) until it is officially announced at work. We also decided not to tell Drew until the details are worked out. No sense getting his knickers in a bind until we have all of the details.
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