Life Change

Today I successfully defended my PhD dissertation defense.  Except for some administrative paperwork, I have matriculated here at Wichita State University.

Today is also the day my wife gave notice at work.

Both of these events have been driven by the fact that a few weeks ago, I accepted a full-time position at Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, Washington.  The work I expect to do there is very similar to what I've been doing at Wichita State: research on the power grid.  Beyond that it is hard to say what my daily work will look like.

Landing the job at PNNL has been a series of divine interventions.  My relationship with the lab began during a class I took several years ago in which I ended up using a simulator they had been developing.  I emailed a number of times seeking help on using the software and ended up arranging a face-to-face with the developers during a conference we both attended that summer.  When I began looking for a job late this last spring, I emailed the developers and they pointed me towards a position that would be opening soon.  I applied, did a phone interview, and in just a few weeks, was flying up for an on-site interview.  Less than two weeks after that, I was told I had the job.

Life since then has been very full.  With a full-time position secured, I was highly motivated to finish up my dissertation.  My wife and I began scheduling all the various tasks and trips that needed to be taken before my start date in late August: moving company survey, house repairs before putting our house on the market, a house-hunting trip in Washington, camping trips with both sides of the family, moving company packing all our goods.... Some of these have taken place already, some haven't and the logistics never seem to end.

But there's been enough break in the action for me to write these few paragraphs. I'm incredibly grateful and thankful for the job and am glad that I'll be able to put my degree to use. My wife is thankful to be done working at her current company and looking forward to a new, job-free life.  We're both looking forward to the change in climate and the proximity to much more interesting geography.

In those regards, the change is good. Even without all the stress of the move, though, leaving is hard.  We have good friends and a strong community here.  Neither of us are extroverts and making new friends will be difficult for us.  There's a new town to get used to, a new way of life to establish, a new home to settle into. The accumulation of these challenges is not trivial and can be overwhelming to contemplate. So we don't.  By the grace of God, we've made it this far and I expect He'll carry us through the remaining difficulties. Its clear something is going on and we'll just have to wait to find out how it all plays out.