Month: April 2018

My girlie spent the night at a friend’s house last night. No nerves, no tears, no second guessing. It’s as if I have a new child. I thought for sure around 9:30pm that she would have second thoughts and need to come home, but morning came without incident.We finally had to drag her home at 10 am. This is the kid who was too nervous to sleep over at her cousin’s house at Christmas. Extra sleep and an improved nighttime routine is changing her life (and ours!).

She strolled in the house and immediately demanded, “Pictures of Ingrid please!”

Looking at prom night photos with Dad. This blur is all I’m getting from my camera these days . . . grrrrr.So irritating.

Thankfully Josh was able to fill in as photographer. Prom kids had a great night and Meels is already planning her next sleepover.

Today is prom and Carter is going with his girlfriend Ingrid. They are adorable and happy but I don’t have any photos because my phone camera is crap these days (and I’ve promised myself that I’m not replacing it until Josh has a job). But there’s a different sort of dance that’s been happening around our house for the past few weeks.

We’ve been mulling over Josh’s interviews and progress, trying to read into each conversation and measure his chances of advancing: “If you weren’t a serious candidate, would he have spent 90 minutes talking to you?” or “he called you from a business trip in South America — you must be near the top of the list!” or even “She must think you’re the best person for the job if she wants you to meet with these people too.”

And then I had a revelation: that is exactly what every single woman on The Bachelor thinks right before she gets sent home. “We had the best conversation. It was so natural. I’m sure I’m the one.” Oops.

So I can only assume that there are several other candidates out there who have had equally exciting and satisfying interviews that think they’ve also made that personal connection and are expecting to get the rose at the end of this process too.

Yesterday when we got the email about Germany our initial reaction was, “Is this the answer? Is this the job that Josh is supposed to take? Is the guaranteed job (and Germany!) better than gambling on the unknown?”

Our first instinct was to pray about it so we decided to reply and ask for 48 hours to consider the proposal, but separately we both started to feel that it wasn’t the right thing for us. Mid-afternoon, I messaged Josh, “This feels like a distraction. Just tell him ‘No.'” Meanwhile, he was feeling a prompting that he needed to reject this job before he would hear about the one he’s been pursuing for the past 2 months.

So instead of following through on our initial plan of asking for time to think it over, Josh replied yesterday with a “thanks, but no thanks” email. And this morning, what did he wake up to? An email saying, “Josh will you please accept this rose?” OK, not quite, but almost. What it actually said was, congratulations on making it to the final two and are you available for an interview a week from today in Abu Dhabi?

He made it to the hometown visit date!! We’re one step closer to the final rose. And more real than Reality TV. Stay tuned.

My bucket list military assignment has always been Germany. And once we visited, the desire became even stronger. We even picked it as our vacation spot 3 different times. If you ask Caleb where he wants to live in the world it’s 1) California or 2) Germany.

Well this morning, as we wait to hear the results of Josh’s interview, he received an email saying, “Hey, would you consider delaying your retirement to take [insert fancy job title] position in Stuttgart, Germany?” We’ve had this job at the top of our list the last 3 times we were due for an assignment change. You’ve got to be kidding me. I would love to live in a European city where I can hop on a train and visit another country for a weekend. Weekend ski/snowboard trips with the family. Biking and hiking in green mountains. Rain, actual weather other than hot and sandy . . . . #lifegoals.

But we’re passing. It doesn’t fit with our current life goals of freedom and self determination (within the bounds of God’s direction for our lives) and we’ve planned and prepared for this transition. Living in Germany would be fun, but it doesn’t get Josh any closer to his long term career goals. I told him I want piles of credit for being sensible and being willing to give up Europe to continue living in the Middle East. (Not to mention being willing to move anywhere in the world.) Oh well. It was fun to dream about for 2 minutes.

Auf Wiedersehen, Germany.

It’s fun to have visitors come and do all the exciting things that we never actually get to do because we’re busy with real life: work, school, church, sports and everything else that pops up in a normal week. And I admit there are things that tourists come from all over the world to experience that I hadn’t done until Carrie and Jack came to visit. Yay for getting to be a tourist without going to all the trouble of packing.

But we did have to clean — good thing I have a bunch of hard workers who spent several days spring cleaning every corner of our house in anticipation of our guests. I love how Camille has been taking her oversized t-shirts (hand me downs from teenage friends) and cinches the waist with a hair tie. I do not know where she gets her style from, but I have high hopes that she’ll keep me in fashion as I age.

Waiting to go to the airport to pick them up!

A big cousin slumber party. Two queen sized beds pushed together, every blanket and pillow in the house, and “5 levels of comfort” according to Caleb.

Carrie was a good sport and went to the gym with me on her vacation. And even when I didn’t go to the gym, she went running. #hardcore

Since the company Josh is interviewing with is based in Texas and we are something like 9 hours ahead (I can’t keep track because the difference changes based on Standard or Daylight Savings Time), it makes for some interesting timing when setting up phone calls.

Last night he had his 3rd interview with this company at 11:30 at night. We were about to go to sleep when his phone rang and he hopped out of bed and got to work. Good thing he’s used to being on call and available 24/7.

At the end of this week we should hear if he’s been selected as one of the final two candidates. He would then fly to Texas for in person interviews. No, we’re not moving to Texas (though I’d be willing). He’s interviewing for a position at their office in Abu Dhabi. (Yay!)