Dear Note to Note

So I got a message from someone who reads my blog.... only I don't know who it is because they sent it from note to note. (For those who don't know note to note sends anonymous email messages). At first I didn't want to read it (due to the earlier anonymous email) but this email was really well written and well thought out. It wasn't a bad message or mean. In fact, it did spur me to think a bit more about what I am doing now and what is best for my family. The email just stressed thinking more about the possibility of moving to get another job somewhere in a church. And because of the email Catie and I started discussing that possibility more last night.

It was a good discussion, it was similar to many we have had before, only this time we were searching all over the country for a job. We didn't really find any (on churchstaffing.com) except maybe one in Texas (which I will most likely send my resume to). BUT we still ran into the same issues with moving that we always do.

Here are our reasons.... not excuses just true feelings and thoughts

#1.We want our kids to have family around them. We already often wish we had grandparents closer to us because we want our kids to have that relationship with them.... and most of them only live an hour or 2 away at most. The further away we move the more alone we will feel... even more than we do now (and there is no way we are going to be paying for 5 plane tickets every year).
#2. We really don't want to move from the area. Although we like our friends around here; that is only a small part of what keeps us around here. We really love Holland and love Michigan... even on days like today. I love the seasons (although I would consider moving to Tennessee or one of the Carolinas maybe).
#3. Catie has a job at the city she loves... with people that love her (after a little more than 6 months).... that is a good job and rare... and there is a good chance she will move up in the next year or two too.
#4. We can't sell our house. For a couple of reasons. First the market is crap and we would lose a bunch of money. Second, a lot of the work we did (to even get our house) was through the county and was supposed to be almost 85% paid for with grants BUT for some reason they only paid like 60% of the improvements (and told us that after the fact). So we have thousands of more dollars added onto our house on a second mortgage. (Now that mortgage has no time period to pay back and no interest... we just would have to pay it back if we sold our house). So if we sell right now and don't make any money then we would be paying back many thousands dollars out of our own pockets... instead of waiting for the value of the house to increase (although I have heard house values will only decrease for years to come). But still being $10,000+ dollars in the hold sounds like a bad move... the job would have to be somewhere in the range of 50-$60,000 a year to make it make sense to try and move.
#5. Because of some rough times we have had lately, our credit is probably not nearly as good as was when we bought our house..... meaning we would live in an apartment or pay a ton of money to a lender to get a house (because we are now "high risk")


What you have to realize is both Catie and I have thought about moving quite a bit... me more than her... but we are almost literally stuck where we are for now. It all seemed like a good idea when we did it. Everything fell into place to buy the house and we just felt like God had blessed us with more house than we could have ever imagined for a really good price. In hindsight, I still might have done it... although there are some things that would make me think twice about it now... moving being one of them... also the housing market crash (but hindsight is 20/20 right?). Anyways, I would have to get the perfect for it all to work out... but I know God is a perfect God and He can do whatever he wants. (In fact Catie said that last night). I also know that if we moved we would make friends. I know that, I make friends pretty easily where ever so the state doesn't matter too much to me.

So all of that said. If I had a job opportunity somewhere else, I would seriously look at it... it just has to be worth the move.... also I don't know if I want to work in a church... but I might, if the church was the right church.... I do miss ministry and church a lot of the times.

It is all so confusing. It makes me tired.... but hopefully I will snag a job somewhere some how soon.

The basic idea of the note was to seriously consider moving if I could find a job doing video some other place