An Opportunity

May 2009: Move to Mississippi for two years. Get Ted a master's degree and move back to Missouri. Get a job near family.

That was the plan anyway. Two and half years later......we're moving to Florida.

After months of being a terrific stay-at-home dad, Ted has been offered a dream position as a Fisheries Biologist. We are so grateful. And excited. And scared. But excited.

If you refer back to our plan, you might think this isn't something that we want-but that's not the case at all. Actually-if you had asked me a week ago if I wanted to move to Florida I would have said, "No way!" Two days after Ted's interview in Florida, he had an interview in Missouri. And not just anywhere in Missouri. The town where we met, fell in love, shared our first home. The job was in the same office that he had worked in, with the same co-workers he had worked with. Perfect. Right?

I wanted him to get the Missouri job so badly. We employed St. Rose Phillipine Duchesne to pray for us to get the job. She is Hannah's patron and patron of the diocese that the job is in. We prayed, not one, but two novenas asking for her intercession. I found myself walking around whispering, "Please Lord. The job in Missouri."

So we went for the interview. We hadn't been to our beloved town since the day we moved out in May 2009. Our excitement and anticipation was palpable. And when we pulled into town.....nothing. I can't put my finger on it, but something was different. Yes, the town had changed and many friends were gone-but I was prepared for that. It was something else. After just a few hours in town I turned to Ted and said, "This feels weird." He agreed. The job we had been hoping and praying for suddenly didn't seem like a great fit.

He went to the interview. He did well. I had an interview too-for my part-time "dream job" with a place I interned with in grad school. They offered it to me on the spot (oh how I love my career field!) I would have worked just two or three days a week. I just needed to find someone to watch Hannah.....Then my sister (who now goes to college there) informed me that she was looking for a job just two days a week. Wow. Perfect. Right?

As we drove back to Mississippi we were both filled with the sense that we wouldn't be returning any time soon. And suddenly, Florida started to feel like a very real possibility. By Tuesday, I knew he was going to get the job. I just knew. And I was strangely ok with it. When I got home from work on Thursday and Ted excitedly announced the good news (via Hannah holding up a little sign) I wasn't shocked. I wasn't scared. I was....at peace. A week ago I would have freaked out. But that was a week ago. And today-today I'm excited.

Excited for this next adventure. Excited for the chance to grow even closer as a family as we rely completely on each other in a town that neither of us has ever stepped foot in.

When I was searching for a novena to St. Rose I got an email about a novena for the Immaculate Conception. Something prompted me to say the novena, but I pushed it aside. "No-I'm praying to St. Rose because she will help us get the Missouri job!" Funny how I thought I could manipulate the situation.

Ted got the Florida offer on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Perfect. Yes.

The last line in the gospel at Mass that evening: "Let it be done unto me according to Thy word." Of all the passages in the Bible-that's the one I chose two years ago to display on my blog. More Like Mary. Have I lived up to it? Far from it. Is God giving me another chance? Another opportunity? Always. And this one's a big one. So I'm opening my heart and my mind and trusting that He has something great in store for us in Florida.  He has prepared my heart as only He can do. He has gently led me along the trials of this job search and brought me to a place of peace and willingness that I didn't know I could get to.

Sometimes I struggle with the idea that God is really "in control." I tend to over emphasize our free will and wrestle with the notion that God really does have a "plan" for us. But I promise you-this wasn't our plan. I couldn't have even come up with this plan! It's only from God. Ted applied for so many jobs in Missouri and in surrounding states. And many of them would have been settling. He was willing to settle on a less-than-perfect job so he could provide for our family and move us closer to family. The fact that he didn't get some of the jobs he applied for defies logic. And, as with so many things in retrospect, I can see that God's hand was in it the entire time.

So, while it won't be on a donkey and I'm not pregnant, this Advent provides me with yet another opportunity to become more like Mary. Follow my husband. Trust my husband. Trust my God. And move to Florida.