The answer is no.

I guess I'm not ready to be super vulnerable with my blogging yet, because I just couldn't bring myself to write about Todd's "perfect" job last week when they called and left a message telling him that they were no longer considering him for the position. I had to process first. And now that I've processed... and prayed... and talked it out with Todd and parents and close friends, we wonder if maybe God had a hand even in this. Maybe it sounds funny to say that. "Maybe God had a hand even in this"... you might say that of COURSE God had a hand in it! But in my mind, it has not been so obvious. The job was at a church only 10 minutes away, doing something Todd could see himself doing after seminary, working in the same building as his uncle, only 20 hours a week, etc, etc. I couldn't picture a better set-up. When Todd called me to tell me that he hadn't gotten the job, it made me wonder if we had even made the right decision to move here. We haven't been able to close on our house yet, so we're paying rent & a mortgage - and then Todd's one very promising job lead gets slammed shut.

The very strange thing is that in the midst of, and almost overcoming, those doubts and even the grief, was a peace that I can't explain. Maybe it was naivete or a numbness, but I think it may have been God's way of reassuring me that He is still in control. And the thoughts that have comforted us since last week have been many... Other students tell us that it's too much to try to work 20 hours and take a full course load, we can now choose our own church to attend (rather than go where Todd works), that job wouldn't have been very relational - it would have been more administrative, Todd will have more time to volunteer and study if I work part-time instead of him, we do have savings (although it would nice to still have some savings when we're done here!), etc. 

The plan now is that I will continue to do YoungLives part-time long-distance, and possibly here in St. Paul as well. I'm also working on transferring my teaching certification to MN so that I can substitute teach. Subbing is flexible enough that I can hopefully work two or three days a week around Todd's schedule. He will watch Bethany when he's not in class, and we may try to work something out with a neighbor for the times that he is in class.

I think the hardest part about this was the fact that we feel like maybe Todd could have gotten the job if we had prepared more for the 2nd interview... but we didn't know what to prepare for, or that the 2nd interview would be so formal, and there's no way of knowing what could have happened. It's so unlike us to not prepare like crazy for an interview. But as Todd said during one of our conversations, "Maybe it was God who made us forget to prepare, because that's not where He wanted us."

Well, that's where we are now.

On a lighter note, here are a few recent observations I've had:
-It is now in the upper 40s to mid 50s. People are still wearing shorts (with sweatshirts). I would like to tell them that that's not going to prolong summer, it's just going to make their legs cold!
-Bethany, at 15 months, is in a super-cute phase of life right now. She pumps her fist while chanting "Daddy, Daddy" (or sometimes "Mommy, Mommy") and is saying "I wub oo" (I love you) and "where aw oo" (where are you) along with our names.
-Our upstairs neighbors were visiting a couple nights ago when we (as we often do) had a rush of bubbles fill our kitchen sink. Suddenly, they realized that they had just emptied the dishwater from their sink... so they smelled the bubbles, and discovered that they were theirs.