Round about January, it became clear that Paul's work-at-home gig was going to be coming to an end. The company he had been working for, General Dynamics located in Marion, VA, was planning to terminate his contract in April, requesting that he make the move to Virginia and become a direct employee. Mid-February Paul also received word that the contingent job offer in Utah that he received about a year earlier was finally becoming a reality. They were ready for him to make the move to Utah and begin work, soon. We had a decision to make. It seemed there were no viable options left in South Carolina, and we felt we had 2 "right" choices with Virginia and Utah. Though Virginia would keep us only a 3 hour drive from home, the potential of living every day of my life in a tiny, isolated town (we visited the ward- 13 kids in Primary....including the Rogers 3) left me in tears. Utah seemed so idyllic and appealing. We thought that by choosing Utah we would be receiving a major lifestyle enhancement. So, Paul accepted the job offer in Utah, he gave notice to General Dynamics, and we started making preparations to move.
Things went really quickly. We considered renting our house out, met with a property management agent who loved the house, but ultimately decided we are too attached to our home (and much too particular) to let it be destroyed by renters. Next we met with a real estate agent and signed a contract with her that very day. Paul disliked her from the start, I said he was being mean and insisted on giving her the benefit of the doubt. She fought with Paul about list price, said we were listing too high, that we would NEVER get what we were asking. In fact, Paul wanted to list even higher, but settled for $199,000. A few days later, our listing was live and I was frantic to keep the house spotless for showings. How people live like that for indefinite periods, I have NO idea.
We had 4 showings over the weekend and then nothing. Paul paid tithing electronically. The next day we got a call back from the very first person who had looked at our house, wanting a second showing. We were under contract, with a full-price offer after 4 days on the market. We felt it was an incredible blessing, another sign that we were making the "right" decision. We scheduled movers to come mid-April. We were to close on our house April 28th; the kids and I would have to live out of suitcases at my parents' house until school was over June 2. The countdown was on for Paul's departure for Utah. It went so fast. We were trying to make little repairs to the house before the inspection, we had a 3rd car that we very reluctantly needed to sell, I was trying to purge things I didn't want to take to Utah, and pack Paul's things.
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