I Know a Little German!. . .

. . .he's sitting over there.





The S's are heading to Germany!  We're learning "a little German"! :)  Get it??? Germany, though?!?! How did we get here?!?!

Well...

Jason lost his job back in October.  His "position was eliminated" during a re-org and well, he's been hunting for a job ever since: local, out of state....internationally!

Ideally we wanted to stay local, in our home.  When J lost his job we hadn't even been in our house for an entire year yet!  However, we largely chose our house based on location: it's proximity to Jason's job and the boys' school. Well. . .

A few months into this period we pulled the boys out of school and I began homeschooling.  Jason has always dreamed of being foreign missionaries one day and, well, homeschooling would likely be a part of that scenario.  I was always anti-homeschooling, I honestly did not ever see myself doing it.  And then somehow, with the position we found ourselves in, we didn't see much other choice and I was happy to try homeschooling out.  The position we "found ourselves in"?  Well, the boys' school was a mess.  I was concerned about what they weren't learning: they had huge gaps in their educations.  I was concerned about their safety: the school had some questionable practices.  Teachers and families were leaving left and right.  The place was falling apart and we really wanted to get out of there before the kids suffered too much and the place totally imploded.  But where to go?  Most families who left transferred to other schools.  With Jason's non-job, things were too uncertain....we didn't want to transfer to a new school, only to have J get a job out of state and have to transfer them to a 3rd school in a single school year.  So, homeschooling it was. 

Oh wait....I was talking about Germany.

Anyway, J applied for bunches of jobs all over.  It was really slow going over the Thanksgiving - New Year's holidays.  Finally things started happening again.  He's had a few face to face interviews, many phone interviews and screenings, and somehow, in all of this, a job in Germany found him.

That's right.  He didn't apply for this one directly.  He applied for a different job...in Canada. 

And now?  A timeline:

2/27/14  Jason gets an email from the company in Berlin saying his resume had been forwarded to them.  They'd been looking for "a Superman" . . . based on J's resume, they suspect they might have found him! They wanted to talk to him!

3/3/14 Jason has a phone interview with a guy (from Spain!) in Berlin, it goes well (really well!) and he's anxious for J to talk to another CTO

3/4/14 - 3/5/14 Jason flies out to Ohio University for an interview for a totally different position

3/6/14 Jason has a phone interview with the aforementioned CTO (in Calgary), it also goes quite well.  That very same night Jason gets an email asking if he can fly out to Palm Springs for a face to face interview on Sunday the 9th.  Both the Berlin guy and the Calgary guy would be in the States for a conference and they wanted J to come out there.  It was moving so fast!  But, the day they wanted to see him was Jason's birthday.  Plus, it had gone well in Ohio and we were wanting to hear about that one as well as a local opportunity. So, J said he couldn't go that Sunday. I think it was partly a test....would this turn them off? Would they continue to pursue him?   Almost like: if this is where God wants us, it'll keep moving forward.  He said he was free beginning Monday.  Well then we didn't hear anything.  No response at all . . .

. . . for a week.

3/13/14 finally hear back "no big deal that you couldn't make it, it was last minute, we'll have you up to Canada perhaps in April." 

April?

3/18/14 we get wind (from J's references) that an offer was coming from Ohio. With that news, Jason contacted the local position and Berlin that he was expecting an offer from somewhere (in other words, "if you're interested in me, best move things along").  The local job was like, "sorry, nothing we can do" but Berlin was like, "Okay!  We'll get you up here stat!"

3/19/14 Jason indeed gets an offer from Ohio University and also a plane ticket to Calgary to interview for the Berlin thing (for 3/25).  The Ohio offer was sort of an answer to prayer in that it was not what we'd be willing to relocate to that tiny town for.  Other than J liking the idea of the job (quite a lot, actually), it felt like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. We just didn't have any sort of peace or leading that this was where God wanted us, except that it was the only place we'd gotten an offer from in nearly 6 months. But, we asked Ohio for a week to consider and pray about it further (and interview somewhere else *wink*). We mostly just wanted to see if God worked on us further with that opportunity.

3/24/14 my mom invites me and the kids to join her and Lauren for "Muppets Most Wanted", J stays behind to prepare mentally for his big day in Canada the next day.



So, the rest of us head down to Aurora for the movie. The Muppets are going on a World Tour. Guess where it kicks off?

 Yup . . .Berlin!





Believe it or not, my German is already so good that I can translate that. It says, "The Muppets in Berlin" ;)

That was not the only "sign"/coincidence we had noticed, though.  When the unemployment first started, we prayed and prayed that we get to stay local but also that we wanted to go where God wanted us if He happened to have something else in mind. We also prayed He please make it clear because, well, that's how we are. Sometimes it's hard to know what is God and what is not, am I right? In the meantime, Jason and I were more and more drawn to the idea of Germany. Somehow, with the company seeking him out and with nothing else really feeling like a clear choice we started thinking about it more and more. I mean, this company was looking for a "Superman" and admitted to having a very hard time finding someone suitable for the role. And then they talked to Jason and it seriously went so fast (at first). We began looking at schools and neighborhoods and cost of living and such. Could Germany be where we supposed to go?  Did we have a "mission" in this liberal, post-Christian society that we could also fulfill?

Jason has always had some sort of pull to Germany. Well, first of all, there's our last name which basically means "to set" in German. I always thought J told me it was more of a stone mason/brick layer type of set but looking into it recently it's more of a price setter at markets or, more likely, a type setter.

Jason's dad was once stationed in Germany so, of all the places in Europe, that's the one he grew up hearing the most stories about.

Jason studied German in college. 

Jason's pastor from home was once a missionary in Germany.  We are still in touch with him and a few of his kids.

Jason and his ex-wife went to Germany on their honeymoon.  They named our first cat Blitz...German for lightning.

And then there was the whole fact that this Berlin-based company sought Jason for the role.

As Jason was praying one night recently he just really felt a strong urging, if you will, for Germany.  (And also at another point when he was not praying--just looking in the refrigerator!)

There were other silly little signs as well. After they first started talking to Jason, I was watching a rerun of "Friends" one night. The episode? "The One with the East German Laundry Detergent."


When we watched "Star Wars Episode 2" the same day we went to see "Muppets Most Wanted", I happened to Wikipedia Hayden Christensen. The picture Wikipedia features? He's in Berlin:


Sitting in our usual spot at church, this is what I see when I look up:


The very first episode of House Hunters International we went to watch?  In Berlin.

Teaching the kids about the circulatory system in homeschool, they asked about artificial hearts. I was all, "There's no such thing as putting in a mechanical heart in someone!" and Jason was all, "Yuh huh, there was that first dude back in the 80s!" So, who do we ask for help when we don't know who gets to be right? Wikipedia! Turns out we were both kind of right: no one has ever gotten a fake heart and sewn back up and walking around and living regular life and all but yes, there are ones people have been hooked up to them in the hospital while they wait for transplants/healing. Anyway . . . in learning all that, we stumbled across something called:



There were actually other things as well that I didn't bother to remember, Bible verses that spoke to us, references in pop culture, etc.

Okay, anyway, back to our timeline . . .

3/25/14 Jason flies to Calgary for the day to interview face to face with one guy while they briefly Skype the Berlin boss in.  I read about Berlin at the library with the kids that morning:





Jason calls that night saying how well it went and that the Calgary guy left it with, "We like you. We like how you think.  All that's left is to make sure you and {Berlin boss} are on the same page as far as compensation."  All that's left?!

We were totally expecting an offer!  This is how Easton took the news that night when I told him:




3/26/14 With the great Berlin interview and feedback under his belt, we officially decline Ohio's offer.  They're bummed, offer to sweeten the deal a smidge, and ask J to contact them if he changes his mind.

We didn't hear anything from Berlin for awhile.  In fact, as I told Jason, I didn't "feel" it anymore.  That Thursday the 27th just two days later I no longer felt the "push" or whatever it was I had been feeling.  Jason didn't agree with me, of course, but it was weird: whatever supernatural feelings I'd been having in regards to Germany were gone. 

Eventually Jason sent an, "Hey what's up? Why haven't I heard from you?" email and while the kids were having a sleepover at my mom's, he got a response (1:30 a.m. which is 8:30 a.m. in Berlin)

3/31/14 (technically 4/1 since it was after midnight): suddenly Berlin had found two more candidates to interview :(  J got the email before he came to bed and he really did not sleep that night which is a shame because the kids weren't here.  What a blow that must've felt like to him.  After they'd been so super excited to have finally found their "Superman"?  Was it not such the homerun Calgary guy acted like it was at the interview?

4/1/14 Jason sends basically a "don't forget about me" email in response to their "we're going to interview these other people over the next week or two and get back to you" email.

Radio silence.  Jason friend requests the Berlin boss on LinkedIn. :)  He's wanting to stay in the forefront of their minds.

4/7/14 Jason decides (much to my chagrin) to send the contact info for his references (unsolicited) along to Berlin. 

4/13/14 sitting down to do a little reading during homeschooling, Dalton just happens to open up the World History Encyclopedia to Germany:


4/14/14 that night's episode of "Bones", the first few minutes of the show they talk about an opportunity to relocate to Germany and how great that could potentially be.

4/16/14 Jason writes Berlin again asking for a status update.  I've explained how unnecessary it is, that I didn't "feel" it anymore.  He was the one that felt the more supernatural urgings.  All I do is notice Berlin when it comes up in media. :)

4/17/14 We get the news that they've selected one of the other candidates.  Jason came in second. :(  We're confused and disheartened a bit.  Confused because at one point, we (Jason still) really thought that's where we were being led.  We didn't look for this job, this job found us.  Nothing local was panning out at all ever.  J goes back to square one in this search for employment.

4/27/14 We decide to treat ourselves to lunch after church.  Without a job, you can imagine how infrequent such "splurges" might be even though we went to a cheap(ish) place with coupons. :)  As our pastor said, "We were stepping out in faith."  That night we headed back to church for a meeting for volunteers.  The new senior pastor (a friend of ours who is also the former senior pastor's son) wanted to share his vision with the church.  Talking with him before hand he was like, "God must be planning something big for you guys!" and "Hope you get to stick around for the church stuff I'm envisioning".  During his presentation to the church about how we're going to be a "sending church" sending people out all over the world for missions, local missions, church plants, etc. I begin to have that supernatural feeling again and thinking, "Hmmm, we might still end up in Germany after all.  I feel it happening again."

The very next day...

4/28/14 my car needs fixing.  Great--more money.  Jason bikes to pick up the car from the shop after lunch.  When he gets home, he's running up the stairs making this annoying whooping sound.  This is not like J at all. Before I can roll my eyes too far back in my head, he thrusts his phone at me where I read the email that "The Berlin job is still available, are you interested?"  It came at, like, 9:30 at night Berlin time.  What's with that?  Being as it was only 2:30 here, Jason wrote back that we were indeed still interested.

4/29/14 We get the offer.

4/30/14 Berlin boss offers to put J in touch with some of their Berlin-based American employees and H.R.

5/1/14 We pitched our counter offer after their close of business. 

5/2/14 I wake up and look at my phone.  The image of the day on Bing's search page is . . .


Berlin!!!


I was seriously speechless.  I was like, "Ummmm....J! J! Isn't this Berlin!?!?" A bit later we get word on our counter offer and now have the final offer.  It's acceptable.  Decision time!

5/4/14 On the way home from church, we're officially decided.   We've been heading that way for awhile.  We call our parents and my sisters.  Take passport photos for me and the kids. 

Our friend from church (the new worship pastor) is looking to relocate from Colorado Springs since he works up here and all.  They want/need to rent.  They homeschool their 5 kids.  We meet them for dinner and they come back to check out our house in case we want to rent it out vs. sell.  It's a shame we're moving since their youngest 3 are the same ages as our 3 and they hit it off like the best of friends and had such a blast together that evening.  So fun!

5/5/14 We accept Germany's offer officially.  We tell other family and close friends.  We apply for our passports.  (Jason's the only one who already has one.  Mr. International.)


That woman was funny.  Jason was like, "Aren't I supposed to take a picture for your blog or something?" but we were already pretty much done with the process!  She put all the forms back up for me to pretend and then hid out of the way for, like, 3 pictures.  What a sport!  She once lived in Germany herself.  Not one person has been like, "Oh, how lame!  Sucks for you guys!" except for the sad part of leaving my family, everyone is super supportive and excited for us.



5/6/14 Autumn greets me 100% in German when she sees me this morning, "Guten morgen, Mutti!" all on her own.  We tell the rest of the world: you know, Facebook and my blog.  My sister Lauren shares that this picture was in her feed today:


As a side note, Jason also gets a generic email from the Ohio University people that they've decided not to fill the role (that they offered to him . . . I guess if they couldn't have him, they didn't want anyone. Ego boost!)


So, that's the beginnings. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.  I am already planning another post very soon with answers to some questions about the house, schools (homeschooling is illegal there), how our familes are taking it, how the kids are taking it, when we leave, how long.  But there you go! We're off on a new adventure!