The Manning family has been through a lot of changes this last year. If you keep up with us at all, you know a lot of what I'm talking about. I don't ever really want to wish time away, but I am SO glad that this past year is that--in the past. It was so incredibly hard on all of us, and I am glad it's over. We were lucky enough (blessed is the better word) to have Warren at home with us all summer. He resigned from UMC in mid May and was able to be stay at home dad while I accepted a part time job--four hours a day. But......
this post is NOT about the past, but about the present and the future.
Even though Warren was out of work all summer, he kept busy by tirelessly looking for and applying for jobs. The first couple of months of the summer were 'lean.' No calls for interviews were coming in, and needless to say, we were getting nervous.
But late July, Warren received a call from Magnolia Regional Health Center in Corinth, Mississippi asking him to come interview. Prior to this, he had been on about four or five other interviews, but he came home from each one a bit depressed. He just didn't "feel it," you know what I mean? But that wasn't this case after the interview in Corinth--he came back a totally different person. He said he left there with a really good feeling. Not meaning that he knew he got the job, but just feeling good about the process. He even made it to a second round of interviews.
Well, about a week or two went by, and during this time Warren accepted a job here in Columbus, because hey, we needed it. But, after only working two weeks here, Corinth called and offered him the position of Director of Cardiac services. Can you say woo hoo? :)
We took some time to think it over (although, I really didn't think there was anything to think over), but in the end, he accepted the job. The only really bad thing about this....yep, you got it...we would be apart again. During discussions with our realtor, we dropped the asking price on our house to something we could live with. When no offers were coming through, we told our realtor that we would take a renter, just something to get us all together again.
We got word about two weeks ago that we had an offer, and while it wasn't necessarily the best offer, it was an offer, and at this point, I just wanted to break even and get our family back together. That was/is my main priority.
We are scheduled to close on September 19!!! Warren worries that it will fall through, and of course, there is always that chance, but I just have to have faith (and know) that God is in control. He didn't send the Corinth job Warren's way to have us back in the same situation.
Psalm 31:24 says "So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the LORD!" During this past year, I can definitely say there MANY, MANY, MANY times when I was weak and my faith may have weakened, but I never lost hope that God would see us through. After all, He doesn't want to harm us and if He brings us to it, He'll get us through it! :)
I am very very excited about this new chapter. I had been excited about Jackson and was so frustrated when the house didn't sell last year, but God knew that Warren's job there wouldn't work out as he had wanted. Sometimes we really do need to thank God for unanswered prayers. If He had answered them the way we wanted, we would be 'stuck' in Jackson trying to sell a house. NOT a good situation.
I will do my best about staying keeping up with the blog better. It probably will be a while before I post again. We are trying to purge as many things from the house as possible, and we'll need some time to really get settled.
I would ask, if you don't mind, to just remember our family in your thoughts and prayers as we make this move. Thanks!
