Ch Ch Ch Changes.... Or Not

One of the reasons I got so behind in blogging was a big decision we had to make back in March; it sucked out every ounce of my energy and already limited brain power to deal with it.  The Job at BYU, the one we've been eying for for a decade,  became available, and Gary went down to Provo to interview for it.

So would it be this?









Or this?








We lost more sleep over this decision than we have over any other single decision in our entire marriage. Painful. And no direct answers, which means that the Lord wanted us to work it out for ourselves. And (we hope) that he would be happy with either.

We agonized for two weeks, fasting, praying, going to the temple. We were trying to force ourselves to fit into the path we had always foreseen for our family, which was BYU Provo. But there were some definite cons to moving south, including the stupor of thought and a considerable pay decrease. Once we came to grips that we did not have to do down there simply because it was expected of us, the choice became fairly clear.

In the end, this is what we sent out to our family:

Dear All,

Well, it finally came - the job offer to take over the folk dance team at BYU. And we have turned it down to stay here at BYU-Idaho. It was a painful decision, but we have finally found peace with our answer. It took weeks of praying, fasting, and talking within our family until we were blue in the face and sick of the subject. The answer didn't come right away, and it really surprised us when it did. We had to piece together feelings we've increasingly had over the past year that BYU was not where we needed to be. Gary sensed when he interviewed in February that it was a no-go. Which was weird. We always thought we'd end up there, and we're still trying to get our heads around the fact that we are now Idahoans for the foreseeable future. Luckily we like it here. We are small-town kind of people. Rexburg is an awesome place to raise kids, Gary has great job satisfaction, and there's no place we'd rather be at the end of days. :-) We know Gary can do important work here at the college and he is definitely needed and valued here. The program in Provo will continue as it always has, whereas if he left Rexburg, it's pretty much guaranteed that BYUI's world dance department would cease to exist.

So there you have it. Staying here is right for our family. At least for now. Maybe if they offer us the directorship of the Polynesian Cultural Center we can go over to Oahu for a few years and you can all come visit! Or maybe we'll get called to another, as yet unknown destination. The Lord has handed us some wild, crazy, wonderful adventures and we have learned so much from all of them. And hope to learn from many more. 

love you all,

Mindy and Gary and fam

The reaction to this news was generally stupefied disbelief, but after that initial reaction most of the people who really care about us were very supportive (though I think Pete still thinks we're crazy). So there you have it, and here we stay! For now...