I Guess It’s Time….

I suppose I’ll blog about Amarillo now, since we’ve said goodbye to our home, are currently riding in the car there, and Tommy’s in the truck with Mimi and Papa, and Tyler is asleep….how’s that for a run-on sentence.
It all began when Tyler was 1 week old-yes, wonderful timing. Matt’s first day back to work since Tyler was born, he sends me a text:”Hey, I’ve missed a lot. They are making some big changes. We need to talk when I get home.” That’s it. I had the ENTIRE day to think and wonder and worry about what in the world he was talking about. Brutal. So he comes home and says they are moving 2/3 of his department to Amarillo…..(my mind: sucks to be THOSE other people. What an awful place to go….) hahaha. I thought that because Matt continued to say…”BUT, my manager says they have plans for me here, there are going to be other options….” See. Done deal. Nothing to worry about. Although there was plenty of other things to worry about at the time, like helping Tommy adjust to a new baby in the house, trying to figure out if Tyler had Acid Reflux, and recovering from delivery. Well, the ‘other options’ were 1)applying for a Manager position in Fort Worth, 2)becoming a Contract Specialist, or 3)looking somewhere else like Lockheed (whom a friend said he would help him with a connection).
One by one these options depleted, obviously. He found out he didn’t have enough experience to even get interviewed for the manager position in Fort Worth. The contract specialist positions  were few and MANY people wanted those, rather than move. Also, those positions are only guaranteed for a period of time (1 year or so) and Bell does not have to renew them if they’re not needed. So it’s not a stable position and Matt didn’t feel comfortable taking that. About the end of June, right before we left to Ruidoso for the 4th of July, Matt said to me, “Maybe we should start praying about applying for a manager position in Amarillo.” (My mind: Oh crap. He’s really considering it. This can’t be happening.) Well, I prayed, thinking it couldn’t possibly be right, right? Amarillo? C’mon. Although I’ve never been there, Matt has never said anything good about it. But Matt received a blessing from Papa and felt really good about applying for it. I realized this was becoming our one and only best option and that we would have to take a step and trust Heavenly Father would firmly let us know if it was the wrong way to go. He got the position and I came to accept that fact that we would be moving, although I didn’t care to blog about it, or tell any friends. Most people in the ward found out through other people. I knew it was happening by now, but it never felt real. Not until we drove there and parked our car at the hotel a few weeks ago…..then it hit….then a few tears came….and I wanted to go home. Anyway,  he started working there beginning of August and that’s why I was in Houston for 2 weeks.  He is very busy setting up his department but seems to be liking it. I am very proud that he's worked so hard to be a manager. Bell's policy is you have to be employed there at least 3 years to be a manager and Matt just hit that in June! So he has worked hard and moved up quickly.

The hardest part is that we really liked Fort Worth. I was happy here. I loved our little home (that took us 4 months to find). I loved our ward. I loved our location-shopping, library, parks. I could go on and on. And it’s funny because a few months ago we had some close family friends in the ward lose their job along with medical issues with extended family, and it made me think about where we were at in our lives. I thought, ‘we haven’t had any major trials like that. We’re happy, things are going well for us…’ and I was very thankful, but I thought, ‘Is something going to come?’ Now, don’t get me wrong, I know just HAVING a job and it being relocated is not a major trial. What a blessing for us to be employed during these times. But for me, the moving away from family and friends is a huge struggle and adjustment.
Anywho, when I thought about getting stressed about it, Bell’s moving package covered just about everything. They have packed us and will unpack us, they covered the loss on our home, and will help with closing costs of buying a new home.  We put our house on the market on a Monday, showed it twice to the same people, got an offer on Wednesday, countered the offer on Thursday, and they accepted on Friday. Pretty crazy how fast that happened. (Oh and staging the home was probably the biggest deal and caused the most stress, just because it had to be done in such a short amount of time…and we have a LOT of stuff!)
We are now going into our last week of paid temporary housing and still do not even have an offer on a home. We are praying more homes come on the market or that we feel better about the homes we liked, but didn’t love. Most homes in our budget our 3 bed/2 bath and although they are technically 100-200 feet bigger than our first home, the loss of a 4th bedroom makes a big difference.  It will all work out….
Over the past month, we’ve gotten together with friends for some goodbyes. I wish I would have taken more pictures but this is it.
Our good friends, the Growald’s at the delicious Joe T. Garcia’s

AND again, my sweetest friend Natalie threw us a great goodbye party with some friends. I’m going to miss these ladies sooooo much! (My friend Heather was there but she left before the picture was taken;(
 

Our last day in Fort Worth, we finished packing up everything we needed for the next month and then said good bye to our first home. Autrey and Shilo were gracious enough to host us our last night there. It was such a nice night that we were able to sit out on their deck.
Love this pic

Tommy was really hungry and wouldn't stop eating raisins to say cheese:)

                    
Matt went down the street to get our house key from our neighbors. Tommy watched him and asked where he was going. When I told him, he says, “ohhh, I’m going to miss him!”
                                                 
I want to cry just looking at these pictures….. BUT….we are on to a new adventure and I know LIFE is just what you make it (side note: Donny Osmond wrote a book titled this and it was pretty good. I read it in high school because I thought he was cute:)
…and I’m going to try hard to be positive, social, and happy