He is employed! (the long version)

A few weeks ago I felt like I should begin looking for a teaching job. I resisted. I need to stay at home with my children. They need me. I don't feel like I can be a good mom unless I am there for them each morning, available when they need their homework they left at home, available when their tummy hurts or when they just really need a ski day break from school. I continued to resist until the impression was so strong that I couldn't resist it.

I looked for a teaching job. First I looked in Utah and found the perfect job. I imagined teaching there and what it would be like to do again what I went to school for. I imagined how it would feel to plan important high school history lessons and be praised for my teaching skills. I imagined talking to teens instead of toddlers all day long. And I really wanted to do it. But it didn't feel right because I am a mom right now and the timing is all wrong. I couldn't actually apply and I didn't feel like I needed to.

Next I looked in California. Based on some research it would be much easier for me to begin teaching again here so I looked for a job. I found several but I couldn't apply for them. It didn't feel right. I wouldn't want to leave my children all day yet. I can't turn over their care to anyone else. As I was looking I found a position that I thought Cameron might want to apply for. Something about the requirements made me think of him. The job didn't say Civil Engineer. The position was asking for someone with landscape architecture, architecture, or related background. It asked for someone with administrative experience. He didn't have any but I left the position up for him and when he got home we read it together.

It's funny because I felt like I needed to apply for jobs so strongly that I finally began looking but once I saw that job I never looked at Ed Join again. I never felt the need even though we still didn't have a job and we weren't sure this position was one Cameron could every qualify for. If I hadn't been looking we never would have found the position because it was not posted on any of the regular places we looked for work. I know that was an answer to my prayers.

Cameron felt that he really didn't qualify and I pretty much agreed with him. That was supposed to be the end of it. But I couldn't stop thinking about it and I brought it up with a friend over dinner. Our principal friend encouraged Cameron that he should apply for the position. He made Cameron sound perfect for the job and so Cameron had the energy to apply.

Two full days later Cameron completed the long application. He dropped the application off after a monthly visit to the temple and we waited. We figured that nothing would come of it. Fast forward to the 11th. Just before 5:00 pm in Arizona Cameron received a call asking him to come into an interview at 8:00 am on Tuesday. We were shocked to even get an interview for the position and Cameron's mind began turning.

Our weekend plans changed a little as we realized that Cameron needed a suit to interview in. We needed to buy the suit Saturday and get it tailored same day. It all worked out and the manager of Men's Warehouse was great working with us. In fact we got two suits for the price of one. Cameron researched and talked to different people trying to learn as much as possible about the position.

Monday he spend the entire day preparing for the interview. He worked harder for that interview than I thought was possible. He talked to several people his dad set him up with and learned what he could about what he would be doing if accepted for the position. (His dad was a principal in a nearby school district for many years and these people love him so much they were happy to help his son even though it was a no work day for them) Then that evening his dad spent his time practice interviewing his son and preparing him. I am grateful that he was willing to suspend his Valentine's Day plans to help us and I know that it helped.)

Cameron first had to write a mock memo and then they called him in for a panel of 6 interview. He said it went as well as he could do and now we would just have to wait and see. We didn't have to wait long when he got a call that afternoon for a 2nd interview the next morning.

The first interview was amazing to get but getting a second meant that he was the closest he had been to a job in 5 months. I asked everyone I knew to pray and I spent the night fasting and praying. I don't think I really believed that anyone could pray all night for anything before this. But I did. I know that many other people did the same thing for us. I could feel the prayers and I know that Cameron could too.

Cameron said that the second interview went well and he did the best he could. We just had to wait. They called later that day to say they were going to check his professional references. All day I felt worried and needed to pray and felt the need to plead for the job if it was Heavenly Father's will. I really wanted to know Heavenly Father's will. When my fast was finished, I felt peace and I knew that everything had been done to procure the job. I just felt peace and was positive that everything would work out the right way. I didn't worry anymore. We had to wait one more day and then Cameron got the call. He was offered the job!

It is funny to see things from hindsight. It is 20 20. It is easy to see the lessons we needed to learn that Heavenly Father helped us to learn. It is easy to see his hand in it all. It is easy to see that while we didn't have a job we were being taken care of and that everything was perfectly within his control. It is easy to see the ways we were loved and sheltered from the full effects of unemployment. It is easy to see that we would have never found this perfect job without Cameron being unemployed. It is easy to see that we never would have had the faith necessary for fasting and prayer to work without the struggles we went through. I am grateful for this experience which was not easy to go through but which produced results that could not have come in any other way. I hope that I can continue to keep the lessons in my heart and continue to feel the way I feel.

Some scriptures that have been in my reading recently are Jacob 2:17-19.

Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. But before you seek for riches, seek ye first the kingdom of God. And after you have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good- to clothe the naked, and feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

I think that we first had to seek Christ fully before we could be ready to have a job.

I also like Mosiah 2:22

And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

I am very grateful for what I believe to be a miracle. Cameron obtained a job that I feel he is qualified for but that without the Lord's influence and blessing he could have never obtained. I am grateful that we can begin a new chapter in our lives which I am sure will also not be easy but that will be worth it at the end also.