How did I get to this point?

All this craziness started with a couch...a wonderful friend of mine, Heather, was turning her second living room into a playroom and was looking for a home for her couch and big chair. As she is very generous of heart, she thought of me and offered it to us for free. It matched our decor perfectly, as she knew it would (she has a good eye for those things). So what to do with our old set...craigslist it! We had a woman come and look at our furniture. She mentioned that she wanted it for staging to sell her home. After inquiring where she was moving, and hearing Idaho...Matt and I began to dream...Idaho...ahhh! Mind you, it was the beginning of June in Texas and we knew what we were in for with the heat, so anything up north would sound good. Well that got our minds wandering about an opportunity that I had inquired after 3 years ago with a company called Sterling Medical. The find therapist jobs working with military families stationed a the various American bases overseas. 3 years ago when I applied, I didn't have the experience with the age group birth to 1 year that they were looking for. The recruiter had mentioned liking my resume, so that if I obtained that experience to please reapply. Since that time, have had the opportunity to increase my experience with the needed age group.

So there we were, thinking of cooler places climate wise and cooler places asthetics wise...and we decided to check out the website. Low and behold, a Germany position was available, so I submitted my resume...not really expecting too much and not really taking it seriously as we enjoy Coppell and the life that we have established here.

Well wouldn't you know it, I got an email back asking me to complete an application, convert my resume into a more government friendly format and submit a technical interview (lots of questions about my experience, that frankly would have been easier to answer in person that to write down, but what are you going to do). I received this email days before Matt, the kids and I were about to leave for a 2 week trek to TN, KY, VA, NC, and GA to visit family and vacation. I decided to focus on packing and getting ready for the trip, figuring I would have lots of down time in the car to work on everything. Well, it didn't dawn on me that all the down time that I was counting on would be filled with entertaining the kids, answering questions, taking potty breaks, getting snacks ready, making lunch, etc. Needless to say it took me the whole trip to get things done.

Once I finally submitted everything, I got an email back asking if I was interested in the current positions available in either S. Korea (nope, too close to N. Korea), Turkey (nope, too close to Iran and Iraq) and the Azores (uh, where?). What?! Where was Germany...England? Apparently, I took long enough that those positions were filled. Feeling disappointed, I originally told them no, but asked it they would keep me in mind if another Germany position came available. Then, curiousity got to me and I googled the Azores. Once I started researching these islands, I fell in love. Island living for a couple of years, I could do that. Matt agreed that he was up for it, so I threw my hat in.

And that has been just the beginning...