Wonder of Wonder, Miracle of Miracles

I live here now.

Well not exactly here. More like here.

Getting to this point in life has been full of unexpected paths and detours. However, once I made the decision to accept the job offer and move east, miracle after miracle came and witnessed to me that this was the right decision.

• Making it to the Denver airport at the exact moment my sister needed to be picked up. You see, I left Utah a bit later than planned (surprise, surprise) and I feared she'd be waiting for me, which is never a good way to start a road trip. Her plane from Dallas landed 30 minutes late and we met right on time.
• Getting my new cell phone the day before I was supposed to leave Utah. Lesson learned: never port your number in or out of your employer. Utter nightmare.
• Squeezing one more eye doctor appointment in and having significant improvement in my vision. Good thing too since I was about to start a 3000 mile road trip. More on this later.
• Having my moving POD dropped off at the perfect time and picked up the next day to be shipped to Virginia. It all worked flawlessly. I also couldn't have done it without good friends helping me pack.
• Have you ever driven across country with anybody? My sister and I laughed, joked, talked, gabbed, slept, etc. for 60+ hours straight without any arguing, bickering, eye rolling, etc. Miracle!
• Being able to stay with cousins in both Denver and St. Louis. What a blessing both of them were as my sister and I traveled.
• Arriving at your destination with ZERO car problems. That's 3000 miles. No trouble whatsoever.

  

  Somewhere in Ohio

• Finding a place to live that I like, that's close to work, that's affordable in only two days. Mission accomplished.
• Having a seven minute commute...in Virginia.

  

  Traffic one night when I was safely at home.

• Figuring out how to get first month's rent and an equal security deposit as a money order from your bank in Utah. Let's just say the US Post Office saved the day after direct inspiration from the Lord. Huge miracle!
• Moving into a gated condo community was a hassle, especially with restricted moving times and the $500 charge to move in on a weekend. What's a girl to do? Go visit the POD company, arrange a same day delivery and pickup, and convince your new co-workers to help you unload on a Friday morning. 35 minutes later and the moving was completed. Even the POD people were surprised with how quickly the guys unloaded my stuff.

  

  Fit perfectly in my parking space

• Being able to stay with my friend in Leesburg for two weeks during the condo application process and moving coordination. It wasn't in the plan but I became great friends with the entire family.

  

  My surrogate nephews

• Getting permission from my boss two weeks into the new job to work remotely so I can be with family on Christmas.
• Running into friends from years past the first week I was in town. I've had an immediate friend base since then.
• Attending the family ward the first time and know that's exactly where I need to be. How does anyone move without the church? Instant ward family!
• Having a Relief Society President be inspired to tell me about the closest macaron store without knowing how much I love those little treats. Plus she spoiled me on my birthday. The Lord watches out for us in all things!
• Feeling no homesickness and absolutely certain with each step that this move was exactly what I needed in my life and that the Lord was involved with each detail in my life.

More pictures and stories to come. I have much to say and have kept quiet for too long.

And so it begins

1. Old job - I started out the month helping interview for my replacement. No one really stood out to me and my friend in Palo Alto reminded me when I was there visiting in September that "It's not my problem." Having multiple friends in HR has been very helpful.

My friend Annie

My friend Karen

My "Legit 50" crew

Domo rooster

So I can remember when they make it big

2. New job - The old job ended on a Friday and the new one started on a Monday. I didn't quite know what to expect and since I hadn't heard from my new boss, I spent the day packing for my move across the country. The next day I flew to San Francisco for our annual users conference where I met too many people and spent too much time helping people from the old job figure out what I had been doing. Apparently my efforts the last few months to do knowledge transfer fell on deaf ears. 

Advocate friends from Deer Valley ski trip

3. Running - In the middle of all of this, I was training for a half marathon. I really enjoyed starting the race with two of my sisters and my niece. They finished well ahead of me but I still finished close to my goal (only five minutes slower). 

Halloween Half

Finished!

4. Last minute things - I had time to get in one more cabin trip, one more BYU football game, and one more last goodbye. Tears fell multiple times.

My home :(

Cabin time

Cabin memories

Skyline drive at sunset

One more football game

One more story with Max

One more Fairbanks group hug

One more Woolston group hug

5. Eyes - I was at the eye doctor every 2-3 days. I was there so often the receptionist would call me out by name telling me she had already checked me in as I walked through the door. The doctor prescribed two different types of antibiotic drops, two different types of steroid drops, and multiple natural tears drops. My wallet hurt. My eyes hurt. And I still couldn't see clearly. I could only see clearly once I used the natural tears. Yes I drove. But my vision was only slightly worse than before the surgery so I knew how to compensate. Gratefully, the infection cleared and I had minimal to no scarring on my eyes. I continued the steroid and regular eye drops until Christmas when I saw the doctor again. Everything healed beautifully and I can see perfectly. It just took a long process to get me there.

Too many drops

6. Moving - My sister stepped into my mom's shoes and helped me drive across country. I decided to have everything shipped since I didn't know exactly where I'd be moving. Best decision! I had two cousins (one in Colorado and one in Missouri) who let us stay at their homes. Early November 1st, my sister and I rolled into Virginia...my new home. (See post here about the moving process.)

Eastern Colorado

Western Kansas

Eastern Kansas

St. Louis

California

June 2013 was basically split into two parts: family reunion and job interviews. First the fun part, my mom surprised us all and flew to Utah to help my sister with her new baby, which meant she got to join us for out family reunion in California. I think it says a lot about my family that even with my parents in another country, we still worked out a time to spend a week together. Sadly we still missed having my brother, his wife, my brother-in-law, and my dad with us. For the drive out, I had my niece and nephew in my car, and I had a great time introducing them to 80s rock music. Needless to say, my niece had a new list of music groups and songs she wanted to download. We gathered in Folsom at my siblings houses and spent time in San Francisco and Yosemite. The pictures capture the great time we all had.

Grandma is in town

Alcatraz

Boat from Alcatraz to San Francisco

Lombard Street

Yosemite

Hiking the Mist Trail

Hiking the Mist Trail

To be two again

Yosemite Falls

Playing at the campsite

Taking a break from hiking

My kids

Yosemite redwoods

Practicing the musical number for my nephew's baptism

Happy Father's Day

While my mom was visiting, I had an accident. We were watching the kids play in the cul-de-sac when a car turned the corner. I saw my two-year-old nephew in the street and ran towards him to make sure the car didn't hit him. My feet got the better of me and slid second base style over the paver stones. I'd never been to the ER before nor had stitches. It was weird having someone other than my dad take care of me. But I got all stitched up and a year later (as I'm writing this) the scar is barely visible.

ER shots

My niece wrote me a cute note after the fall

While in California, I had the distinct impression that I should go to DC (well Northern Virginia) soon with the intention of seeing if I could live there. I had a job interview lined up the Monday after the reunion in San Francisco for a position located in Virginia. The interview was fine but I wasn't in love with the role or the company, but I felt I should move in this direction. I came back from the interview with the prayer that I'll go where the Lord wants me to go even if I'm not in love with the job and that maybe it's just one more step to get me to where I need to be. Then the miracle. I arrived at work after having this conversation with the Lord (we do that a lot while I'm driving) and saw an email from the SVP at Eloqua (the company I went skiing with back in February). He asked if I was interested in a job. Within a week I was chatting with a Sr. Director for a product management position. They basically said, "We can teach you to be a product manager. We can't teach you to think like a marketer. And we need a marketer." I knew this was my answer. This job was going to happen. It was based in northern Virginia and I already had a ticket to fly there the week after to see if this was going to be a good fit for me. The wheels were in motion and my life was about to change in a fantastic new direction.

Seeing a Shadow

I came back from Mexico not quite sure the next steps in life. I had turned down one job without having a clue as to why except I didn't feel it was the right move for me. I did know one thing that would happen after coming home. Time to move again. My friend and I found a place that was perfect for us: two bedrooms with connecting bathrooms, a nice kitchen, a garage, plenty of storage space, and a month-to-month lease. While packing up, my little niece commented that I moved too much. My defense started sputtering out when I realized that I four times in the past four years. She was right. I needed to find something more permanent.

New view

After moving and settling a bit, I had decided that maybe I needed to stay in Utah and started to toy with that idea a bit more. During that time, Eloqua invited me and 10 other customers to their Advocates Summit in Deer Valley. We had meetings in the mornings and activities in the afternoons. I noticed that the CTO and SVP of Product Development were skiing both days and had the distinct thought that I'd be stupid not to ski with them. You can see where this is leading. After two days of skiing together, these two execs knew me pretty well, and gratefully I impressed them with my meager black diamond/mogul technique. But as far as a job, nothing was discussed and I continued on my path of staying in Utah and staying at my current job.

Deer Valley

Babysitting; Feeling a bit parental

Babysitting nieces and nephews. We had a good time!