The New Job

So I guess I haven't really explained all that happened during the last few months of 2012.

Back in mid-September Paul had a phone interview with a recruiter for a Spain-based company, who had an office in Austin, Texas.  I wrote in my journal that Paul wasn't sure if he wanted the job.  He liked being on this side of the interviewing process though--the side on which he already has a job and is maybe looking for a step up, instead of wanting any kind of job.  He did seem interested in the company though--and he liked that they were interested in him.  We then had to wait to see if the company would contact Paul.

Early October, they did!  Paul had another phone interview--this time with someone from the actual company.  This man was interested in Paul and told him more about the job.  Paul was pretty upfront and such about how much he would like to be paid.  He also mentioned that we had just moved, so it would need to be worth it to uproot the family again.  The man seemed fine with that, and scheduled a time for him to talk with one of the head guys in Spain.

So later that month Paul had another phone interview with a man in Spain.  I could hear a little of what he was saying and he was really interested in Paul.  He liked Paul's resume and his skill set.  Things were looking good!  He then asked if Paul would go out to Austin, TX to see the office and meet the people that he would be working with if he got the job and all that.  Paul said sure!

So early November, Paul flew out to Austin to meet everyone there and see more about the company and the projects he would be working on.  He said that it went really well and he was really excited about the work he would do.  I could instantly hear the excitement in his voice when we talked about it on the phone.  They didn't offer him a position during his short visit, but they said they would let him know by Thanksgiving.

Well Thanksgiving came and went and still no word.  We were getting kind of nervous--what if they didn't want Paul anymore?  What if Paul's expectations were too high?  Paul was still in contact with their HR person and he tried to keep Paul up to date about the process.  Sometimes though it was just later than we expected.  The last day of November we finally got a call from Kyle--the HR rep. who explained the offer to Paul.  It was the official offer--that would be coming later so Paul could sign it, but it was most of the details about it.  Paul was very happy about it!  It was even better than what he expected!

We assumed that the offer letter would come within that next week.  Nope.  It didn't.  Again we were just waiting and waiting.  It was hard to make solid plans because we didn't have any.  We knew they wanted Paul to start work early January, but we still didn't have a date.  So not until December 18th did we finally get the official offer with all the details.  We saw that they wanted him to start work on January 14th--that was less than a month away!  So we had a lot to do.

So that's how it all happened.  We had mentioned a possible move to some people there, but didn't want to tell everyone in case something didn't happen.  So when we finally did tell people--it seemed so sudden!  They were all really shocked.  We were excited about this new opportunity--we would have a few months of training in Spain, so that's cool--and about the higher salary.  But we realized how quickly we would have to say good-bye to our friends.  

We didn't start packing until after Christmas--we wanted to enjoy that holiday without having stacks of boxes everywhere.  And so I guess we didn't start packing until January 2nd.  And that was only a few days before we actually moved out of our apartment--on January 6th.

So then our apartment became a maze of boxes!

 We bought some Banker's Boxes to use the space in the IKEA bookshelves while in the moving truck.  We had a fun little assembly time, doing it all together.  When we stacked them all the way to the ceiling, Glenn said, "Look!  It's Jack and the Box Stack!"  

Saturday January 5th, we loaded the truck--with the help of 10 or so men (and some kids) from our ward.  Isn't the Church great?!  No matter where you go, there is always a network of people there to help!

I felt kind of bad that I didn't take any pictures while it was happening, but I was a little busy. : D

But we did take a couple pictures as we said our final good-bye on Sunday.

Good-bye Remington!  You were a pretty good apartment complex.  

We enjoyed our time there, though it was short. 

Good-bye Virginia and our friends!  We will miss you all so much!