Praise the Lord!

Mitch got his job offer from Dart Container today! We're so thankful for this blessing, and for all the support of our family and friends. His tentative start date in September 10.

Praise God!

So anxious

No word yet. I don't do well with the unknown, even though all signs point to an eventual offer from Dart. They don't tell you to call them if you get an offer from another company before hearing back from them if they don't want you; they don't review benefits with you if they don't want you - but if they want Mitch, they should just call him!

I'm struggling so hard to be patient. Sometimes I want to break down and just rage with frustration that things are taking so long. Then I hear that little voice that says, Trust, and the urge recedes...until the next time I think about it and get anxious all over again. I seem to pray equally hard for progress and patience.

Changing the subject: Saturday was move-in for all the freshmen! For the first time, Admissions was a formal part of the check-in process, providing students with a decal for their cars and a card with some pertinent information (like where their first advisor meeting was taking place). And there was one priceless moment: standing in Newberry lobby and hearing the first strains of Tenacious D's "F*** Her Gently" blare from the iPod. I hopped over and skipped past that one very quickly!

I also went waterskiing this weekend for the first time all summer. Yes, pathetic, given the amount of time I've spent at the lake, but the water has never been nice enough for my spoiled tastes. I lucked out this time, though: after dinner, when the lake was clear and flat, my dad took me for a pull behind his Chris-Craft, an old wooden boat he reconstructed. I think it was really cool for him to drive the boat he resurrected from a rotting pile of wood, pulling the daughter he taught to ski so long ago. At least, that's how I interpreted the huge grin he was sporting each time he turned around!

Now it's Monday and I'm back at work (sore from biking and skiing) but less stressed than last week. Well, there seems to be less work-related stress, anyway. Here's some background and then an explanation of what has been waking me up in the middle of the night:

This year, we started planning our Admissions publications very early. We always seem to run behind on them and then scramble at the last minute, and we were committed to not letting that happen this year. Because we wanted to revamp everything, we decided to hire a copywriter to give our pieces a new voice: something a little spunky that would appeal to our students while still accurately getting the important information across. I was pretty pumped about this, because I wrote the copy for our viewbook last year (in 24 hours!) and I didn't really want to get roped into it again, especially as the deadline approached and I was neck-deep in other projects. So we got this guy from Massachusetts, and he made some phone calls to interview people, and he sent over some copy...and it was terrible. Literally awful. And the clock was ticking. And we were fed up. So the project ended up on my desk, and though I really want to be modest about it, I think I turned out some of the best copy we've had in a long time. (I think it could have been even better, though, if I had more than a couple of days in which to do it.) The piece on which I worked is the one all us reps will be taking on the road with us and handing out at college fairs and high school visits. Now we've moved on to our viewbook, and because the copywriter really just took a lot of our old text (written by me last year) and tweaked it, I only had a couple sections to rewrite. Actually, I'm supposed to be working on that right now. Shoot. I'm currently fresh out of inspiration.

The interview is done...

...and now Mitch is just waiting for a call. It was more intense than he thought it would be, but he left feeling even more confident than he did after his second interview there. He did tell them he was expecting a call from American General later this week, so hopefully that makes them move quickly.

Thanks for all the prayers and support. I'm working hard at having patience and faith!

The waiting game

Tim, you're about a week ahead of yourself: Mitch's third interview is next Wednesday (Aug. 22). Don't worry, I'll post details as soon as we know. He's really antsy, but has been keeping himself occupied with a lot of guitar playing and biking. His goal is to log 100 miles this week, which he will have no problem accomplishing. The wind has been fierce here, so he's getting a heck of a workout every time he goes out.

Since we think a move south is impending, we started looking at houses and actually went to see a few on Wednesday. One was awful, two were pretty bad, and one was great! So great, in fact, that if/when the job offer does come through, we will be making a return trip with all the 'rents to see it. Unless someone else buys it first or there is something major wrong with it that we don't see, we may have found "the one."

Digression: There's a part of my personality that I've only recently accepted and stopped fighting: I have this tendency to get very excited about things and start making plans in my head, and then when they don't work out, I get really disappointed. This happened at least three times with the house hunt in Mt. Pleasant and I've figured out that while the disappointment can be pretty piercing, it doesn't last long and actually provides me with an emotional outlet. While I used to try to avoid this, fearing the let down of having things not work out, I've now realized it's just something I do that's not necessarily bad, given my faith and the ability to move quickly past the disappointment.

Back on track: Work has been nonstop busy with tons of different things. We're interviewing candidates for two rep positions, and I'm preparing to take whoever we hire to the UP for training in mid-September. My OCs move back on campus this Sunday, so I'm getting everything ready for them and helping the co-chairs with their roles. I'm planning my own travel season in the Oakland-Livingston-Washtenaw-Lenawee-Monroe area, making web updates, editing new publications and of course, still trying to get all my new freshman ready to walk in the door in a week! Yesterday I went to a workshop in Chicago with some folks from advancement and PR on market segmentation and using the web. Very cool stuff! The bad part: 5 hours in the car each way, and no stopping for dinner!

Oh, and here's my plug: Everyone should read Robin's blog and listen to Grant's sermon!

Praise God!

That's the only appropriate title for this entry. You all know Mitch has been increasingly unhappy in his current role and has been seriously job searching for a few months now. Yesterday he had two interviews: one with American General, a lending institution in Mt. Pleasant, and a second interview with Dart Container in Mason. Both went well; the Dart one lasted two hours and he succeeded in making all four interviewers laugh when they asked him if he knew why manhole covers were round. When he gave the actual reason, they were amazed that he knew it and he confessed to being a "bank of useless information." Yes, that was his exact response, and he had them cracking up. They also asked him where else he was interviewing, so he told them about his interview later that afternoon. That must have given them a sense of urgency, because later that day...

...they called him back in for his third interview! This one involves "business casual" dress, a tour of the plant, and lunch with his "peers," all of which says to me: "Job offer!" He will undertake this adventure in a week and a half.

Onto the American General interview: that one also went well, and he left there with the sense that a job offer is also impending there. Maybe it was the fact that his interviewer said she had to run a background check but would call him next week. They don't do background checks until they're basically ready to offer you the position...yessssss!

So, should both job offers come through as anticipated, which one would he prefer? Obviously he would be thrilled with either, but it's the Dart job that really grabs him. It's a marketing and financial analyst position, which would allow him to do that geeky analysis stuff he likes so much without having to deal directly with angry customers who can't balance their checkbooks and want to know why you can't reverse their fees. We'll see how it all plays out - I'm breaking my rule here by posting about what I think is going to happen before it actually does, but I'm so excited for him that I can't contain myself. For all he's put up with, he deserves this.

Thanks are in order for everyone who has been praying for us. I know prayer works, just as I know God will open and close doors as he sees fit. Faith is a glorious thing, and even though there are times when you have grip it tighter to keep it from drifting away, the effort is well worth the deeper relationship with God that results. I'm thankful for his blessings, even though they sometimes don't seem like blessings at the time.

"So keep 'em coming, these lines on the road,
And keep me responsible, be it a light or heavy load,
And keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise,
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes..."