Major blessing and change time

Last week and today have been full of news and I am still wrapping my head around all that is going on.

It seems all of our novena´s are getting answers, but not exactly in the way we thought, but in some case even better.

DH´s work, my work and our appartment are probably all moving into new directions at the very, very same time on top of our coming adoption.

Our heads are spinning from all that is happening right now, but all of this looks like big blessings, just different from what we envisioned.

DH WORK

DH had the job interview on Thursday and we still are not 100% sure what roles he will have: teacher only with a few classes, many classes or a coordination role and all with very different incomes.

We only know that he will be a teacher, but this alone has made a major change in his spirit. One worth by itself all the money in the world and I really did not expect it to be so radical.

On Thursday they introduced him to everybody as a new member of the team at this institute, but told him that they were still making the decision of all he would do next. More waiting. ARghh.

So right now we still just know he has a new job BUT even with the uncertainty he is absolutely happy. Glowing.

Actually I have never seen him happier about his job life. Never.

Its like a weight has been lifted from him, even if its a few classes and we still depend on my job its is truly God sent to see him like this. It makes a world of difference to his spirit.

Thank you all very, very much for all the prayers last week.

Its a new beginning for him after suffering many years trying to be what they expected him to be.

My DH job story starts with a family that put a lot of pressure on their children to study specific things in order to be successful.

A lot of DH aunts and uncles were extremely successful individuals both in the academic and business world (3 uncles studied in Harvard, 1 aunt at MIT (doctor in physics and a teacher there) and one of my DH brothers has 2 master degress from Stanford and this is just the academic part. The pressure from this type of family is inmense and can be extremely damaging to those that do not fit the mold)

So my MIL and FIL both put a lot of pressure on the boys of the family to study first engeneering and then have an MBA at a top university like many of the uncles did.

And my DH and his 2 older brothers all did this. And it made them all very unhappy, but my DH specially since this is not by far his true calling.

So for many, many years my DH worked at jobs he hated with pressure from his family, but with this job he has the opportunity to do what he loves.

Teaching, working with people, not machines (he is an industrial engenieer with an MBA) and making a difference in people´s lives.

He will have another meeting tomorrow at this institute and then will leave for a whole weekend of classes in a week and a half and will probably start in a few weeks part time at least. We pray this is the beginning of a new career, one that will take him to a place where he is both happy and successful.

MY WORK

On Thursday also I had a lenghty talk with my boss.

The summary of the talk was: I have been offered officially to expand my Latin American job position to the USA and Canada. To manage my team in Mexico and Brasil, but also the one in the USA. The opportunity of a lifetime.

My boss adviced me not to take it as there would be no salary increase, just more work and specially at this time where we are expecting to adopt.

They would probably hold this against me in the short term and it would hurt my career, but I had to take the risk of saying no.

And my answer was going to be no.

BUT on Friday I got the call from a dear friend within the company and both the head of marketing in USA and the boss of my boss had asked him to call me and go over the proposal.

Basically its a first step for me in taking on over several global teams and not just more work. If I am successful with the USA/ Canada team I will later handle several remote teams and have the opportunity to grow in my postion to the level of my current boss or higher and most probably move to another region.

But the key thing here was to move from an operational role to a strategic one. He assured me this would not mean more work, but actually more freedom to work from home and even be more compatible with a family since what they needed was a strategist and not a manager like I have been up to now.

All weekend I could not make a final decision. I was very torn. It sounded too good to be true.

But then today, a few minutes ago, I received a call from the boss of my boss and we had a candid discussing. Actually I was very surprised by her attitude and a weight was lifted from my shoulders and she offered me an option I had not thought about at all.

She is over 40, very, very work driven, divorced on a long distance relationship with a man that travels almost 100 % of the time. A woman that perhaps would not understand about motherhood since she had told me specifically she never wanted to have children.

She actually was 100% supportive of me leaving for maternity for 4 months and told me not to make any decisions about this position until I have been able to experience motherhood and that they will wait for me when I come back to make a final decision.

As they stood now they do not have a person ready for the position other than myself and are willing to wait.

I was speechless.

We agreed on the following:

I would help the US team in the mean time until the baby comes and they will put an interim manager until I come back from maternity.

Once I come back they together with me will decide if I take on the role or not and its future.

So I would have the best of both worlds.

Motherhood and also the opportunity to grow professionally.

It probably is too good to be true and it might change once I come back from maternity leave, but I was very moved by her attitude of understanding that I am not at the point of making major professional decisions and that my focus right now is motherhood.

This is a major, major blessing. One that not many women have and I am extremely thankful to God for this.

APARTMENT

At the very, very same time all of this is going on we are also being offered the purchase of our appartment without even planning it. Yep, also this weekend.

I had written here that I lived in a three appartment building with an unusual arrangement.

DH and I lived on the top floor, my brother and his wife on the second and my brother´s BF on the 1st. A big happy family. I had found the building a few years ago right before my marriage and in a matter of 3 weeks all of us agreed to the purchase. It was an ideal setting for a family, but you all know what has happened to our plans.

My brother left his appartment a couple of months ago to move to a beautiful house he had built and had been thinking about renting when he decided it was best to sell.

Well in a matter of 2 weeks he had found a buyer and was about to sell the appartment when another buyer offered to purchase it at a higher price.

Since he had promised the appartment already he called me yesterday to check if we would be interested in selling.

At a top price. Cash. Now.

The buyer has been looking for over a year and wants the appartment at any price.

My DH and I know that we will be very tight regarding space once the baby comes and actually were thinking about selling in a couple of years at the most so this might move our plans. I am still too stunned to think.

With this opp we probably could rent an appartment very near my job (5 min), invest the money and make the transition to motherhood even smoother as I would be able to keep an eye on the baby and work. We currently live 45 minutes from my job and so this could be really helpful.

DH in a new job he loves, me with the opportunity to grow and also be a mother and a new appartment.

I cannot even believe that our luck has shifted so dramatically in just a few days.