I promised a happy ending, and it's coming, but things were not happy for a while. I don't remember a whole lot of detail from the first few weeks after I was fired. I was hurt and struggling. Josh was hurt and having to continue to go to work with the people who had fired me and pretend like everything was fine. I was asking permission and then writing emails saying goodbye to my team and their parents. Josh had to face those kids daily and field questions that might come up. Thankfully, we leaned on each other and grew closer, rather than letting this get between us.
Josh had also interviewed for the head football coaching job. We were not surprised when he did not get it. I believed he would have had a better chance if I hadn't coached, but he denied it. This just added to the strain of his job and the difficulty in going to work every day.
Josh began looking for another job. It was pretty late in the school year for him to be looking and find something, but he had a few interviews. None of them was quite right, although each place told him he interviewed well, he did not get those jobs. He even looked in public school and was a finalist there. We accepted that we would be where we were for at least another year.
We stayed. I had a hard time even driving past the school. Eventually I was able to pick Josh up in the parking lot, but I was never able to bring myself to go back into the building. Josh continued to struggle going to work, watching people waste opportunities he had not been given. I can't fathom how difficult it was for him, all I know is that I'm not sure I would have been able to do what he did.
Now, I don't want to make it seem like no one at the school cared. There were some conversations (several, I think) between Josh and the principal. He did admit that they didn't handle the situation well and attempted to make things easier for Josh. A couple of people talked to the principal on my behalf. But it was just a tough situation all around.
Josh continued to keep an eye on possible job openings that would take us closer to either set of our parents or wouldn't require a move and sent his resume to those that might have fit and some that didn't. Things continued to fall through and we started to think we would have to stay yet another year. Then Josh found out a small Lutheran grade school near his parents' place was looking for a school administrator. It was the same church his brother and sister-in-law attended. Again, it was kind of late in the school year, and they wanted someone with an administration degree, but he sent in his resume anyway.
He got asked to do a phone interview, and then a second one. Then, on my oldest's birthday (during his party, as a matter of fact), while we were visiting my parents, Josh got a phone call telling him they would be extending him the call. This was June 10. We moved and closed on our new house July 25 and Josh started work the second week of August.
You may be asking, what does this have to do with all of the bad stuff? Why did you have to tell that? Sure, it's a happy ending, but so?
The answer is this: If we hadn't had to go through so much, if Josh had been mostly content with his job and only wishing we were closer to family, if he hadn't been second in line for so many jobs in his field, we would probably still be there. But, we both knew we needed to leave and that is how God got Josh to take a look at this job that was so different from what he had been doing. God used all of this struggle to get us exactly where he wanted us. Josh has even said, even maybe 2 years before he would not have taken a second look at this job. But now he's there, learning all sorts of new things, getting to be at school with his boys every day, and getting to face new and different challenges.
God is good, all the time!
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