I’m Back! In Arkansas!
Aug 30th, 2007 by Bethany
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Hello! Someone may have noticed that my blog and all other web sites on our server were down for a couple of months. Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, our server is now plugged in again (this time in California) and good to go. So, Colin left for work this morning with the words "Blog Bethany!" I'm definitely overdue for a post.
Since my last entry, we've had a major adventure and moved to Arkansas. Colin got a job here and, more than that, we felt spiritually prompted to come. We had a lot of help with the move from people in our ward in Utah and our new ward in Arkansas and we're very grateful to all of you. We got to Arkansas, moved our 2800 sq ft of furniture and stuff into a 1200 sq ft apartment, and Colin started his job as Director of a hair styling college. Three weeks later, Colin lost his job. I can't think of a brief explanation that would be approriate for such a wide audience, so I think I won't give one except to say that Colin's a great guy and wasn't at fault and I think his former bosses who let him go would agree with me. The experience with the fashion industry was really intriguing and we both learned a lot and have a totally different perspective on art and fashion now.
We still felt like we're supposed to be in Arkansas for an unknown reason, so Colin started looking for a job here. After getting a priesthood blessing, he did get a job as a middle school Spanish teacher in downtown Little Rock (the first place he interviewed at). He started teaching on the 20th of August and I think he's enjoying his work despite a little bit of culture shock. Getting through all the red tape to do the school, district, and state paperwork to go from "you've got the job" to "we'll pay you to do it" has been an irritating and expensive and time consuming process, but we think it's just about done. You would not believe how much bureaucracy is involved in getting a teaching/government job. All I can say is that after this I simply can't believe that the government is qualified to be in charge of anything that involves efficiency or effectiveness.
We moved into the North Little Rock Ward and Colin was quickly called to be the Elder's Quorum Secretary. He got 100% Home Teaching last month, too. I just got a calling, but I haven't been sustained yet so I'll tell you about it in a week or two. People in our ward have been very friendly and supportive as we've been dealing with the stress of moving, living in a new place, and starting a job and losing it and starting another one. It's been interesting moving to a place that has comparitively so few and so many new members of our church. But religion is important to nearly everyone here and I think people here in the South are much more public in and expressive about their beliefs than in the West generally and it's been fascinating to meet people who introduce themselves by telling you which church they go to.
We're still working on selling our beautiful house in Orem and hope to be able to move into something a little bigger than our apartment in the next couple of months. Colin's cousin, Mark, is our very patient realtor and has been very helpful during this process, too.
