BIG NEWS!!

Check out our NEW HOUSE!!

Click here: http://theharrellhouse.blogspot.com

Jennie Got a Job!!

I am really excited that I will be joining the Kernersville team at:

After I decided against tutoring, I started looking for local banks who may be hiring. I found RBC Centura! They have a Kernersville branch that was looking for a part-time teller. I took my resume over right away, and they scheduled an interview for the following Tuesday.

The interview was WONDERFUL! The whole branch works like a family. I could tell that all of the employees were good friends, and that all of them worked together really well. I am really happy that it is such a small branch. The two women that interviewed me (the branch manager and the teller officer) were so sweet and professional. When they asked me why I was interested in becoming a teller, I told them the truth:

1. I want to have a job that provides flexibility so that I can focus on being a wife. This is my top priority. I was not sure what kind of reaction I would get to that. I kinda expected to get the typical "feminist response" that would question my reason for "lowering my possibilities." I did not get that at all! They told me that they were impressed, and they thought that was wonderful! I was thrilled.

2. I love people. I love getting to know them and remembering things about them. This was something that I really loved about Starbucks. I would remember customers' names and their drink orders, and try to remember things about them so I could start conversations with them. The RBC people loved that.

3. I like meeting people's needs, and making sure they get excellent service. This was one thing that I loved about being a supervisor at Target's Guest Service department. I loved to make sure that people were satisfied, and that their problems were resolved when they left the store. The RBC people also loved that!

They asked me alot of other questions, and God gave me the confidence and the words that I needed. I had one question for them. I needed to know if it would be okay for me to take time off to go on mission trips with my husband. They said that it would not be a problem, and that I should always know that at that branch "family comes first." They said that they are all married with children, and that if I ever had to make a decision regarding work and family, family should come first. I was blown away by their dedication to family! That is not something that most would expect from women who have climbed the corporate ladder. I felt really good about how the interview progressed, and when I left they told me that they would get back to me.

I got a call an hour later, and they wanted me to take the next step and fill out a background check. They said that they would be in touch to make an offer.

Yesterday (Thursday) I got the offer! They even gave me the salary that I requested! I am very excited. I will start on Monday, and I will be observing the branch and doing computer training for a week. The following week I will have to go to Raleigh for teller training. I am excited about staying with my parents for the week, but I will not enjoy being away from Dustin. The great thing is that I will be able to talk to him every day, and we will probably meet somewhere halfway in the middle of the week and have dinner. So this separation will not be nearly as difficult as was the time Dustin was in Ecuador. I only spoke to him once over the course of ten days, and he was halfway across the world!

There are alot of benefits to working at a bank. I will have a steady weekly schedule (Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 1 PM), and I will be off on the weekends. I will have excellent insurance, paid holidays off, and paid vacation time. One of the things I am really looking forward to is dressing up for work every day. I love to "dress professionally" and wear high heels. I always thought it would be really neat to dress up and go to work.

So thank you so much to those who prayed that God would provide a perfect job for me. I am really excited!

Some BIG News!

No, we are not having a baby... yet. The big news is

We're MOVING!!!

To Winston-Salem!!

It is still a little hard for us to believe because it has all happened so fast. Last Monday Dustin started a new job, and we were thrilled about the pay increase and the weekends off. However, on Tuesday night we sat down with the benefits package for the new job and tried to work out a budget. It turned out that Dustin would only be making a little more than his previous job paid him. And it was not an amount worthy of driving 30-45 minutes to work (and back) each day.

It has been very difficult to find the "right" job for Dustin because we have so many criteria. We have been hoping for a job that he would enjoy, that pays well, that provides inexpensive benefits, that allows him to be off on Sundays, and that allows flexibility for time off so we can go on mission trips in the future.

So we weighed our options and thought and thought and thought. Dustin talked to his Dad about the situation, and a solution arose. There is a position open at the store that is managed by Dustin's Dad and two of his uncles. It is a bike and fitness store that has been the family business for many years. Dustin worked there before we were married, and he has always said that it was the job he enjoyed most. And this job meets ALL of our criteria!

At the same time we found out that Dustin's Grandaddy has a house that we can rent at a great price! We will live there until we can afford to buy a house of our own.

All of this happened so fast! We found out about the job and the house and we decided to move all within 24 hours. It has been amazing. I never thought at the beginning of last week that we would be planning to move at the end of the week.

We are so excited about this move for a number of reasons. We are thrilled that we now know where our home base will be located. For those of you who don't know, our plan as future missionaries is to follow the example of Paul in the Bible. Dustin learned about this way to do missions when he went to Ecuador with Mr. Tim Bunn (author of God's Plan for Church Planting, a workbook that is solely Biblical with no personal commentary). We hope to go to different South and Latin American countries (week- or month-long trips) to teach people how to plant churches. Then we will go back regularly to support and encourage those churches. We have often wondered about the location of our home base, and now we know!

Another reason that we are excited is that we will be near Dustin's family. Most of them live in that area, and it will be great to be able to see all of them regularly without having to drive two hours! We are also happy because we will get to see my family more! Yes, we will be further away from them, but now we will be able to go and spend a whole weekend, rather than just going for an afternoon. AND I am thrilled that I will be close to my sweet sister, Katie. She is at UNCG, and only 25 minutes from where we'll be living!

There are some sad parts of this decision. I have had a great job as a nanny for a sweet little boy since he was three months old. Now he is 2 years old, and it will be very hard to say goodbye to him. It has been such a fun two years, and I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be a part of this little guy's life. Telling his parents that I would be leaving in a month was one of the hardest things I have had to do.

We are also very sad to be leaving our sweet little house. We have enjoyed living here so much. It has been great to live out in the peaceful country, surrounded by fields, trees, and fresh air! We will miss feeling like we live in a mountain cabin. We will miss hiking in the back woods, the bike rides, the big back porch, and our sweet neighbors.

We will also miss the friends that we have made in Wake Forest over the last five years. Thankfully we will only be two hours away, and we hope we will still see many of them regularly.

Anyway, we will be moving out of our house on February 8-10, and Dustin will start working on February 11. Once we get there I will start looking for a job, hopefully one that will allow me to use my English degree.

Please pray for us as we embark on this new journey. It will be a big change for us, but we are ready to jump in with all four feet!