Ohio

So, I tragically forgot to bring our camera on our recent trip to Ohio, but I will try and paint the picture with my words so as to describe the beauty of the trip.  Nathan had been looking forward to and preparing for this interview for a while and was rather excited about the prospect of living in a small town again (Gallipolis, OH has about 5000 people).  I was scared to death and went to the interview with several preconceived ideas of how dreadful such a small town would be.  I must admit that after a few weeks of praying to have an open mind about it, now that I have gone and come back, I really really liked it!!  I shocked myself when I realized that I'd probably prefer to live there than in Great Falls, MT, which I really loved.  So, now that I've got your attention, let me tell you why I liked it so much....

For a while now, Nathan and I have both had yearnings for a simpler life and a simpler time.  This world can be so fast paced and busy that most people we are around are stressed out and overwhelmed (including sometimes ourselves).  We watch old movies and see them dancing and having community get-togethers where people are the main attraction and actually talk to their neighbors and know who everyone is.  That is just not the case in most places that we have ever lived.  I really don't know if that is the case in Gallipolis nor in Great Falls, but the small town feel was something that seemed to fill my longing. 

The town itself  has a super-Walmart and an Aldi (a grocery store I love), so I'd be set as far as the basic shopping goes.  It is also on the Ohio River and has gorgeous landscape.  We both want to be able to fish and motorboat with our kids and either of these potential cities would give us that chance.  The weather in Ohio is much like in VA where it is moderately cold in the winters and doesn't snow a lot.  Great Falls is supposedly one of the colder places to live in the US.  The housing in OH was similar price-range wise to MT, but you got so much more land for your money!!!  Some of the yards we saw were literally making us want to drool... they had one yard in particular that had a big pool, a huge playground with sand on the bottom, a volleyball court, and enough grass to build your own tennis/basketball court, have a batting cage and trampoline and still have room for a garden and wiffleball field.  It was all fenced in and on flat land!!!  Nate ran around it and appeared to be salivating.  Unfortunately, the house that that wonderful backyard belonged too was rather weird and would require a lot of work if we were to make it ours.

With two great friends to watch the kids, I was once again able to accompany my husband for another interview.  I'm so glad I did because I don't think we could make this big decision without my input (I'd be scared to death- not that I don't trust Nate, but that I was very apprehensive about the small town thing).

Anyhow, Nathan and I drove for about 6 1/2 hours to get to the Hampton Inn around 8pm that night.  We were both pretty tired and anxious to get a good nights' sleep to be ready for the big day.  We got a decent rest but nothing wonderful (of course that would be asking too much for someone that is 36 weeks pregnant!).  Nate woke me up with his getting ready and reading more questions that they could potentially ask him in the interview and then getting physically ready as well.  I got up to eat breakfast with him and to see him off with a prayer and a kiss.  Then I had the morning to myself from 8-1 to do my projects that I brought.  I was able to study the scriptures for 45 minutes, then make 40 cards and envelopes and start writing my long list of thank-you cards for my baby shower and other sundry things that people have done for me.  I spent over 2 1/2 hours on the cards then tried to take a short nap before getting ready for the day and preparing to meet with the realtor and Nate for a community tour.  The realtor was very nice and had lived in the community for most of his life and knew pretty much every house and every owner.  Nate would ask him how much a certain house would cost and Dave could spout out how much it sold for the last time it was on the market and his projections about how much it would cost now.  He showed us several neighborhoods that made us salivate... homes with their own fish ponds and gazebos, huge lawns, and really nice houses.  We also toured the high school, which was built within the last year or two and was absolutely gorgeous.  My fears of the town being like Ilion (where Nate grew up) were doused when I saw that the place had plenty of modern conveniences and enough money that it didn't seem like anyone was stuck there (the feeling I had when visiting Ilion).  Some of the neighborhoods were really random (like the one downtown, where they literally had a million dollar mansion right next door to a doublewide trailer home).  But, the neighborhoods that we looked at were very nice and made me very excited to possibly be living in them within the year. 
After our tour of the town we went to the clinic/hospital where the recruiter gave me a tour of the clinic and hospital along with Nathan.  Great Falls had the hospital across the street as their main competition and didn't feel half as stable as this clinic in OH.  After our tour we drove to a local theater (very charming and quaint) where we met with other doctors and people involved in the hiring process to have a nice catered dinner and social time.  We were there a little too long for comfort (about 3 hours) and I was drifting off toward the end, but it was by a divine hand that I got to sit next to Dorothy and her husband- both members of our church (which is one of the things that I most wanted to inquire about).  She told me that Gallipolis has a ward of about 100 active members and that it is pretty evenly divided in thirds as far as elderly, middle-aged, and younger families.  She herself has 5 kids (the youngest is 7) and her sister has 8 and lives in the ward as well.  She said our family would probably double the primary, which would certainly be something very new and probably a little challenging for me.  She stated the need for good members that had strong testimonies and was overjoyed when I told her we were both returned missionaries, as most of the ward consists of converts who didn't have that opportunity.  I definitely got the impression that the Lord could use us in both places and that the opportunities for missionary work would be unbelievable.  After the long social dinner, I was really really stuffed and tired and anxious to get a good nights sleep.

I have these ideas that being able to sleep without the kids around will provide me with a blissful sleep, but apparently I'd have to not have Nate around as well.  He is a terrible sleeper on these trips and has given me 2 nights of the worst nights' sleep possible during our time away from the kids.  He cracks me up because I have never seen him so anxious about anything!  He literally wakes up then doesn't fall back asleep.  THat night we both went to sleep soon after getting home from the dinner, to have Nathan wake up around 1:30am and not go back to sleep at all!!!   I ended up sleeping for another 3 hours despite the fact that I heard football on the tv and sensed the light on in the bedroom while Nathan read and thought out loud.  I was a little annoyed that he didn't have the decency to read out in the hotel lobby or something, but apparently he did that too.  I have usually been the one that can't sleep but he totally outdid me!   I feel like I'm still trying to catch up on that nights' sleep even after it has been almost a week!  Nathan is a machine and it didn't seem to affect him very much at all!  He even drove the entire way home, although I did say that I could. 

Wednesday after our continental breakfast we went out with Dave Wiseman again and got to look at about 5 houses that are currently for sale.  We really liked about 3 of them and we shall see if they are still on the market and if we even get this job.  We had fun thinking about how we'd fit our family easily in these huge places and how much fun we could have with the land they offered. 

We left Gallipolis about noon after stopping at Taco Bell to get some lunch for the road.  I must mention here that the clinic was reimbursing us for all of our meal and gas expenses for the trip, so we were much more liberal with our eating that we would have been otherwise.  I usually pack enough food so that we don't have to buy anything, but this time we mostly got fast food.  At Taco Bell, Nathan cracked me up!!! I had ordered a nachos and a bean burrito.  Then Nate decided to order the "grande family meal" which came with 10 items of his choice (tacos, soft tacos, or burritos).  I said, "Oh, then cancel my burrito and I'll just have one of his" and Nate looked at me like I was stealing from him!!!  Are you serious?  The lady behind the register and I just laughed and I said, "Nate, I think you can spare one burrito... are you really that hungry?".  He came to his senses and said that it was okay.  Funny.

I know we can/will be happy no matter where we end up, so long as we know it is where the Lord wants us.