Big news that is long overdue

The week that Emily spent in the hospital was quite stressful to say the least, and not just because of obvious reasons. That was a week that Corky had received some job offers that we needed to decide on. Going from the army to civilian life is quite different already. In the army when you change jobs, the army tells you what you will be doing and where you will be going. You just deal with it. Not really any decisions on your part are required. Now that Corky has more freedom in what he will be doing, we found it to be quite stressful. We really wanted to get it right and go somewhere that we would be so excited about. We narrowed it down to 3 options: Phoenix, AZ, Fishkill, NY, or Kingman, AZ. In my head, Kingman could have been scratched completely off the list. I had only driven through Kingman a few times but it had nothing that I knew of to be desired. However, the job opportunity for Corky was really great. That is the ONLY reason it stayed on the list. It was our "backup" just in case the other places didn't work out.

I wrote this in a notebook a few weeks ago, try to follow.

"You know when something that you don't want to feel right, feels right? And the thing that you want to feel right actually doesn't feel right. So you pretend that the thing that doesn't feel right actually does feel right, in the hopes that it will eventually really feel right. That is where Corky and I are at right now. I really wanted Phoenix to work out, but I know that Kingman is where we are supposed to go right now."

We were both so ready to move to Phoenix that we went down house hunting one weekend while Corky had another interview. I looked at 11 houses that would be have been excellent and I was so excited about. As soon as I got back to my brother in law's house, I got this really stressed out feeling that I couldn't pin down. Audie and Candice probably remember me grilling them about Phoenix and that I was wearing my heart (and stress) on my sleeve. Anyway, Corky had many of those same stresses.

Then of course, the next day was when Emily had her seizure. That gave us a few more days to think more about where we should move to. After some long talks and prayer on both mine and Corky's parts, we had a very strong yet peaceful feeling about Kingman, AZ. The day after Emily was released from the hospital was the day that Corky accepted the job there. He will be a department manager for Southwire. It is a manufacturing company that produces copper and aluminum wiring for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. He is really excited about the job and there is great potential for him to grow with it.

So after accepting the job we researched homes online in the Kingman area. We went down for a day and looked at about 12 houses. After spending the entire day looking at house after house, we decided on the very first home we looked at (isn't that how it always works?) It was a foreclosed home that was in great condition. We put an offer on the home and the bank accepted. We are really excited about it, I wish I had some pictures to post. It just had its inspection this week and everything looks great. Corky now just has a "honey-do" list with little things like a leaky faucet, slow drain, etc. We will immediately be putting carpeting in throughout the house and will build a new pantry, but other than that there isn't much else to do.

Re-reading my little note I wrote to myself a few weeks ago, I have to laugh. Wouldn't life just be so much easier if we all just went with our gut more often and followed our first instinct? I know I could have saved myself from all that stress if I wouldn't have tried so hard to make what didn't feel right, feel right. I suppose though I wouldn't have learned a lesson, nor would I have such a confusing paragraph written down in my journal that I will be able to always laugh at.

Since committing to Kingman we have been talking to residents and reading a lot on the city website. It actually sounds like it will be a really great place to live. It has a lot of tourist attractions nearby, some great schools, and men, women, and co-ed sports leagues, which will be SO FUN! It only has about 40,000 people (I think?) and so it isn't tiny like it used to be but still has that small-town feel. Not to mention, it is closer to both my family and Corky's family.

Kind of funny how the very thing that I dreaded a month ago, I have completely changed my tune about.