Starting a new chapter

It's interesting how life can change so much from one small event. A few months ago, we had no idea what life had in store for us. We knew that James would be graduating with his Master's of Accountancy in December but beyond that was anyone's guess. James decided that he would like to work at one of the Big 4 accounting firms to gain experience as an auditor. He really wanted to learn from the experts and start his career strong. But it is not easy to find a great job in this economy so I was very worried about what would happen (obviously, since I worry about everything).

But around late July/early August, we talked with some friends of ours that worked at one of the firms and they offered to pass along his resume. From there, James had a phone interview which was actually pretty short. We waited several days to find out if he would be formally interviewed. We found out that he would be going up with a small group of students (mostly wanting to be interns) to be interviewed at the firm office in Houston. It went really well and James learned a lot about the company and really liked it. A few days later James heard that he was being offered a position beginning in January! It was exceptional news and we were elated.

I want to express how grateful we are for this opportunity. I hope what I say next makes some sort of sense. We really feel that it is a tremendous blessing in our lives and we feel like the hand of the Lord was definitely in this process. From being able to register for the appropriate courses and getting certain transfer classes accepted, to placing someone in our path who could help us get a foot in the door, and simply the availability of the position (most people don't start this job in January, usually it is in August). It just seemed like everything really fell into place and it was a great reminder for me on how merciful the Lord really is. It happened too perfectly to be the result of our own doing. Yes, we worked hard to get James through school and made a lot of sacrafcies to do it in the way that we did. Yes, he did well in his classes. Yes, he is capable and has a variety of work experience. And just like with anything in life--the Lord does bless us for our hard work and obedience and in some small way we "deserve" it.

But then there is the other side, where essentially we are all indebted to the Lord for the amazing gifts He has given us and some of the amazing things that happen in life are just plain above and beyond what we REALLY deserve. And He does it because He loves us. Sometimes He witholds opportunitites and blessings for the RIGHT time so that we can fully appreciate them (so that means sometimes we are living righteously and are good people but that doesn't always mean we get what we want). I believe that is the case with us. We have waited for this moment for James to find something he loves and to really begin his career and now that we are finally done with school I honestly do feel like we appreciate this job offer more than we would have if we had taken a different journey.

We realize how important and what a blessing it is to have a job that you enjoy, in a promising field, that can provide and support your family, especially in the current state of the economy. So we truly are grateful. This is more than we could have hoped for and is exactly perfect for our family. So we are approaching our upcoming move to Houston with a lot of excitement and joy. That's not to say that we won't miss our family and friends here in Corpus. We really will. This is the only place we have lived during our married lives, where I earned my Master's, where I had my REAL first job and learned so much, the only Church ward we have attended as a married couple and learned a ton serving others in various capacities, the place where our first child was born, where he learned to do so many things, with amazing people that have been by our side through all of these exciting events. Change is difficult for me and now is no exception. But I can honestly say that I am a person that likes and wants to keep in touch with people. So take me up on that! Call me! Email me! Invite yourself to our house for a visit! We would LOVE to have you (unless you are some freaky stranger reading this, haha)! We really won't be that far. :)

With that said...we are going to build a house! We've done a ton of research on home buying in the Houston area and the benefits and disadvantages of all of the options available to us, and we got a really good feeling about this particular neighborhood we visited. After all of our searching we just kept going back to it. We prayed about everything and felt that we would be very happy in this area and it would be okay to go forward with it. Buying and building a house is a HUGE and scary commitment! I still wonder if we are crazy but we signed the contract yesterday to build the house. We picked out our floorplan and the lot. I LOVE the lot! It is one of the reasons we fell in love with the neighborhood. A lot of the new developments in the area don't have too many trees because obviously they cut them down to build houses. But this neighborhood has a wooded area that is designated to NOT be built on. Originally there were not any lots open by the trees, but when we visited yesterday, some had become available so we were able to snag one! The trees are technically not on our property but it means that we will have privacy and NEVER have neighbors behind us. Here is what our lot looks like:

Yay for trees! And here is the floorplan we have picked out! James and I had a few different ideas on what we wanted and thought would be best for our long-term plans and we finally agreed on this:

We will get to pick out everything in the next few weeks...the floors, cabinets, colors...everything! THAT is the part I am VERY excited about! We will post more pics as things come along. :)