Big News and a Little Background

To make things a little more clear (and for you to be able to be fully excited for us), I thought I'd give a little background for how we got to where we are.

Two years ago, Josh and I really began to feel like we were being called to get married. We had always planned on waiting until after graduating college, but more and more we felt like we needed to move the date up. However, neither of us had jobs, our parents were paying for our schooling, and we had no idea how much it would cost to be married! So, we sat down and made a budget, and began praying that God would provide us with jobs if we were supposed to get married. In response to this, God was overwhelmingly gracious, and provided me with two jobs! Josh had applied to a position that he was under-qualified for on a whim, not expecting to get it. But, God in His great mercy, provided! Josh began working as an intern for a company called CDW-G. For the past two years, he has helped the company to grow their presence at the University of Washington, and has made great strides in his own professional development. Because of the Lord's provision, we were able to get married on June 18, 2011!

As we both began looking toward graduation, we prayed again for God's provision. We knew we wouldn't survive on our savings for very long after graduation, and prayed that we would be able to have jobs. We have loved CDW-G over the years, and were excited about the prospect of Josh getting to come on as a full-time employee. But, we also knew this meant the prospect of moving to Chicago. Starting in December, we prayed that God would put a calling on our hearts for where He wanted us to be....Seattle, Chicago, or even a different city. I prayed that God would make it so clear where He would have us go next, and that we would be able to have joy in wherever we ended up. It was a long process of waiting and wondering "what-if" before the position he had been waiting for was finally posted and the interview process started. We prayed all the more that even beyond this job, that God would give us a heart for Chicago.

Josh left for his final interview on May 4th. When he came back, we continued to pray. We prayed that Jesus would be enough for us no matter what the answer was. We prayed to be able to trust that God would continue to provide for us, even if it wasn't with this position. They had told Josh that they would call him within a week with their answer, and as Friday approached, we knew it would be coming soon. On Friday May 11, Josh dropped me off at school, and I told him to call me if he heard anything! At 9am, my phone rang in the middle of class, and I ran out the door to answer it. My heart was pounding, my whole body was shaking, and I honestly felt like I was going to throw up as he stalled as long as possible before telling me "we're going to Chicago!".

It felt so crazy to have an answer. After thinking and praying and talking for months and months about hypothetical situations, we finally had a "yes". I was (and am) so proud of Josh for all his hard work, and really excited for him to have this opportunity with such a great company. Josh came and picked me up and we celebrated with lunch at our favorite restaurant!

We are still awaiting an official start date for the job before we will know the actual date of our move. We will surely keep you updated, along with the roller coaster of emotions during this crazy transition!