Road Trip...#2!

Adam, Mickey, and I pulled out of Loveland at 9:00 am on Sunday with pie in the sky dreams of contracts-both house and teaching career. We arrived in Madison on Monday evening, met our realtor on Tuesday morning, and viewed 10 condos by Tuesday afternoon. The race is on. We are closing on our Loveland home on August 13. If we are lucky enough to obtain a typical 30 day closing on our Madison home, we need to sign the Madison house contract in three to four days in order to negate extended, pricey, hotel stays with a loaded moving truck in the parking lot.

We are at a crossroads…well…more of a three-prong fork in the road with the scariest tine pointing back to Colorado with no job, no house, and 47 days until Adam’s start date, staring at us from August. Next in line we see a fantastic job working at an after school program. I interviewed for the position today and thoroughly enjoyed meeting and speaking with my potential bosses. At the same time, the salary provides just enough money for us to live in a condo that we only like a little, at best. Condos are a risky purchase in Madison as it will be difficult to sell when we are ready. And the cherry on top? Our “favorite” condo probably won’t allow Mickey, taking it out of the running.

The last glorious tine is gleaming, reflecting our dream house, the continuation of my teaching career, and the least amount of change to our current lifestyle. Are you ready for this? Tomorrow I have an interview at a local high school and the interview is completely God’s handiwork. I applied for this Social Studies teaching position and all four (yes four) of the volleyball coaching positions back in April when we were first called to Wisconsin.  I emailed the principal...a few times. I applied again when all of the positions were re-posted a few weeks ago. On a whim inspired only by Jesus, Adam and I decided to drive to this school with fresh resumes. Sadly, the new principal was at a district meeting. However the delightful receptionist provided me with the principal’s contact information and I emailed this new principal when we arrived back at the hotel. In the midst of the discouraging condo search, I received a phone call requesting an interview on Thursday at 9:00 am. I have had that anxious, sick, excited, feeling since I received this phone call.

Despite the dramatic prongs, we have a plan. We are leaving Madison on Saturday. On Friday, we are going to look at house-houses, not condos, in case the Lord blesses our socks off with this teaching job. We will decide on our top condo choices and our top house-house choices. We will continue to pray and pray and pray. Ideally, I will hear back about the job by Friday and we can make an offer-house or condo-depending on the outcome. Typing that sentence gave me nauseating butterflies. Oh how my heart craves that teaching job!

In the mean time, I am enjoying the fact that Mickey now walks up to walls expecting them to open like the elevators or the automatic doors to which he has become accustomed in our Midwest hotel hopping. We discovered that, ironically, two double beds are cheaper than one king bed. Opting for frugality, we chose the doubles believing our six foot selves and our 55 pound Pit-bull would snuggle in one bed. That fantasy lasted for about three minutes. I was secretly devastated when Mickey followed Adam to the other bed. Last night Mickey jumped in bed with Adam, laid down, looked at me, sat up, and soared from Adam’s bed to my bed without touching the ground. I did not even attempt to hide my absolute delight. I am enjoying the one on one time with my husband. We went out for drinks last night and to the Madison Botanical Gardens this afternoon. Today I was thrilled when Adam found his way back to our hotel without the GPS.