All Downhill From Here

As of the posting of this blog, all our furniture and the majority of our possessions should be out of our apartment.  There's a little bit left to try and sell, and there's the cleaning that remains.  We should be en route to our storage unit, to unload tomorrow morning and return the truck.

So a short post today.  Mainly to say thank you.

Thank you to those whose thoughts and prayers have been getting us through this time.

Thank you to everyone who came to our moving sale and bought things through Facebook marketplace.  We're glad to have helped those pieces find new homes.

Thank you to those who shared the Marketplace posts to help get them sold.

Thank you to the businesses who donated boxes to help us pack.

Thank you to our parents who are letting us store stuff in various places.  And who we are looking forward to spending more time with until we find a permanent new location.

A special thank you to everyone who came and helped us load the truck.  We could not have done this without you.  Physically and mentally.  I'm getting so sick of going up and down stairs, I'm going to be glad to be on flat ground for a while.  I think climbing the decks on the cruise was preparation.

We are blessed beyond measure to call you friends.

Thank you as always for reading.  This next week is going to be a little hectic getting everything finalized, but I hope to keep up with this semi-regularly.

The Mitchuation

For a while after law school, I moved in with my sister in Austin and slept on her couch while looking for document review positions and considering taking a few more science classes in order to sit for the patent bar.  After a while, a friend of hers inquired about the Mitch situation, but it came out Mitchuation.  The term has been used since to refer to the Mitch situation.

So, I thought I would pass along an update on the Mitchuation.  Where we are now and where we are going.

I am still going through the process of sending out resumes, applying to job postings, and going through interviews.  So far, there have been promising leads, but no firm offers.  It's been humbling to remember it has only been a little over a month.  To me that feels like it has been going on for a while, but as recruiters have reminded me, that is fairly short.

I am applying all over.  From outside Boston, to North Carolina, to Montgomery, Alabama, to a remote position that would be completely work from home.  It's exciting and terrifying to still not have a direction for where we are going next.

Which brings up the biggest change of late. We are moving out of our apartment in Wills Point and plan to be out by July 25.  This will be just a couple of days before Jamie's family road trip vacation and we are looking to clear out by then.  We want to save the expenses, we're using it as an excuse to cull through a lot of stuff that we've accumulated, and we're getting ready for the future move, wherever that may be.

After we're out, we're going to stay with family, likely alternating between mine and Jamie's, trying to enjoy as much time with them as we can, particularly if the move is farther off.  This will let us spend some time in Buna, Austin, and Winnsboro over the coming month, with Winnsboro more of a home base.

To that end, we are having a Moving Sale in our apartment at 124 N 4th St, #3 in Wills Point, Texas 75169, on Saturday, July 20, from around 8 am to 4 pm.  Jamie is already posting pictures on Facebook and Facebook Marketplace of things we're trying to find good homes for and that we do not want to take with us.

After that, we're trying to enlist help to finish loading the truck after church on Sunday, July 21.  We're upstairs, so any help needs to be able to carrying loads downstairs.  Plus there are a couple of particularly heavy pieces that we would especially appreciate some able-bodied help with.

A bit of chaos, but a pretty wonderful time as well.  We've been able to take some needed breaks, that I'll be sharing over the next couple of weeks.

I've also gotten the needed reminders and grounding that have kept me calm.  In preparing for the stewardship blog, Matthew 6:26 hit home.  "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not more valuable than they?"  

Are you not more valuable than they?  

I have to admit, there are a lot of times that I don't feel more valuable.  That it would be easy to wallow in self-doubt and delude myself into thinking that He does not have this under control.  To give into the worry of "how much longer," "how many more interviews," "am I really qualified?"

To give in to that worst fear of "what if?"

But He does have this under control.  He has a purpose for this season.  Whether to learn a lesson or to prepare us for something different, there is a point to this time.  Even if it is just to see how we handle it.

And He will take care of our needs.  Not our wants, not our wishes, because those can betray us.  But He will provide for our needs.   And there is great comfort and rest in that belief.

So, in all, the Mitchuation is the same but changing.

Isn't it always?