Okay so after we got home from Charlotte we were just playing a waiting game for a few weeks. Terry promised his boss at Jeld Wen that he wouldn't officially tell them no until he had at least had a chance to look over the offer Jeld Wen was making, in the meantime we were also waiting for the official offer letter from the other company.
Terry had planned from the beginning of this whole job thing that as soon as we got the Jeld Wen offer letter we were going to take the kids to my parents house for a sleepover so he and I could head to the temple. He was going to have to give Jeld Wen his final, final answer within 24 hours of receiving the offer and we needed some divine help with this one!
Tuesday August 20 Jeld Wen brought Terry the offer. We had set some pretty steep expectations. If they wanted us to move our family to the other side of the continent, so far away from family and everything we have ever known, they were going to have to really want him bad . . .they did. But even with that we spent the entire drive up to the temple talking about how he was going to tell Jeld Wen no.
But rewind, before that, after he brought the offer home, we loaded the kids up took them to my parents and came home. If you will recall this was the very night Terry had to do some serious trash clean up. That experience did get me thinking about everything we would be giving up leaving Jeld Wen, including some really fantastic life insurance and health insurance. But it was just so easy to NOT move, to not DO anything, the idea of going with the other company was still very appealing, not to mention the financial security if Terry could make it go. We definitely had a hard decision!
We arrived at the temple early the morning of the 21st. We had actually started a fast the afternoon before as soon as Terry got home with the Jeld Wen offer. Before we actually went into the temple we prayed together that we would be open to whatever inspiration Heavenly Father wanted to give. Terry made it very clear that we should spend time pondering both companies and both offers.
Into the session we went. We both had two very different experiences!
FOr me the impression I kept getting was that it was not my job to drive this train. I married a good righteous man as long has I was sure he was following what the Lord would have us do, my job was to stand behind and support whatever decision he made, knowing it was a decision he felt was very best for our family as a whole. And I was okay with that, I felt a lot of peace just knowing that Terry really was doing everything in his power to be inspired and in tune with the direction Heavenly Father wanted for us. And I felt a lot of relief that it wasn't my responsibility to make such a HUGE decision.
So after the session we were sitting in the Celestial room talking about what we thought. THis was the first chance we had to speak since entering the temple. I had no idea what Terry's impressions were at this point. I asked him if he felt like he had received and answer, he said yes. It was kind of exciting, because I had already come to the conclusion that I was not going to receive an answer as to WHERE we should go, just that Terry was going to decide and I was going to support that decision. SO he relayed this
: HE was just sitting there spending time thinking about both companies and details around each one. He would think about the company in Klamath and found he couldn't concentrate very well on it his mind kept going to Jeld Wen so he would think on Jeld Wen for awhile and his mind was clear and made sense, everything he would need to do to make the Jeld Wen thing work was clear. He would try to push Jeld Wen out of his mind for a while so he could focus on the other company but found he couldn't. Thoughts around the other company just kept feeling further and further away until he was all consumed with thoughts of Jeld Wen. Yes, he was surprised by this and yes he knew it was the answer . . .WE WERE MOVING TO CHARLOTTE!!!
Well okay then I said. I remember feeling very excited about this while we were in the temple together. I was excited to go and I was so thankful and thrilled that we had received what we felt like was such a clear answer.
We went to change, I actually finished before Terry, which NEVER happens. I sat down on a little couch in the waiting area of the temple. I had been thinking on everything and not feeling bad at all that I had not received a directional answer but just wanting it confirmed for myself. I decided to pick up the scriptures and just flip open to a page and see what Heavenly Father had to show me. Now I have heard of this working miraculously for some people so I thought I would give it a try. I picked up the Book of Mormon triple combination and flipped open to Doctrine and Covenants section 37. Now the very first sentence in this section is talking about translating the Book of Mormon. I read the first 20 or so words and thought, "Oh, well that is not helpful . . . didn't work!" I literally closed the book with my finger still on the page and then had the thought, "Well it is a super short chapter, I should just read it." So I opened it back up and finished and there it was in the very first verse, and then in the whole chapter really an answer just for me to know that Heavenly Father is VERY aware of what is going on in my life right now, very aware that we really wanted help and direction and that the answer really was to move! I laughed out loud in the temple waiting room. I always know that Heavenly Father is very aware of me, but to be so personally reminded is touching and humbling and it made me giddy, so I laughed. And then right there in the last verse He tells me again that it really is OUR decision. We had felt the whole time that both options were good and both would have been blessed but there was a BETTER road for our family and that was it! Now if you look up and read this section obviously we are not moving to Ohio, but I knew what Heavenly Father was communicating.
So we left the temple, we had our answer and we were going to go with it, but it is amazing what the world can do. Immediately, like as soon as we got in the car, we started talking about the other company and how we could make it work and how we wanted to make it work . . .sheesh, just typing it I am reminding myself of a couple of brothers, who just moments after SEEING AN ANGEL still murmured and doubted what they were just so clearly told to do . . . how embarrassing, but it's true. And to make it harder (well it shouldn't have been harder but it was) as soon as we got home from the temple the other companies offer letter was in Terry's in box . . . DECISIONS!!
Terry and I both wavered and wanted so much for the other answer to be the right one. He tossed and turned and prayed and pondered all night until finally at 3 a.m. he just knew what we already knew, as much as we wanted the other company to be the right answer . . . it just wasn't. SO right then and there he replied to the other company and turned them down. Went to work the next day and told Jeld Wen we were all in and moving to CHARLOTTE!!!
So there you go the crazy story! ANd where are we now?
The house is for sale. 70% of my house is packed. We have a moving van coming. We have 6 ONE WAY plane tickets to the other side of the country. Terry is driving out with a moving truck and our animals in enough time that he will pick the rest of us up at the airport when we land. And December 31 we will spend the first night in our Charlotte house (which Terry is picking out THIS WEEK!)
How am I feeling?
It depends on the day . . . Excited! Terrified! Nervous! What an Adventure! Sad! Blessed! Very Blessed!
SO that's it, we are moving and come January 1, 2014 we will be east coast people!
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