Searching Austin for Jobs

This summer my customers had the following conversation with me at least 2.4 million times, “So what are you doing after the season ends?”

“Well, we have no clue. We are going wherever we find work.”

“Oh, that’s exciting! What kind of work do you do?”

“I studied journalism, and my husband is a Network Engineer,” I would reply kindly, like it was the first time anyone had asked me all summer.

“You should move to AUSTIN! There are sooooo many IT jobs, it’s a a lower-cost of living than Silicon Valley, fun, artsy town with the best music scene in the country!”

1.1 million of my customers told me that exact line this summer. Maybe it was a sign? Should we go to Austin, even though we don’t have jobs there yet?

We did have a place to stay with a dear friend who we met in Bangkok, and no job offers anywhere else in the country. We said why not, and after our Europe trip, drove four days from Wyoming to Austin.

And now we are looking for jobs, and exploring this great town. But Dom, who usually carries his camera with him wherever we go, has left it in the closet lately. After I asked why, he said, “Because I feel at home here in Austin.” After three weeks of living here, he feels at home.

It’s a good sign.

But it’s hard. It’s hard to believe we will finally get full-time jobs  in our areas of study after waiting years for them. It is hard to not see a paycheck coming in week after week. It is hard to fill out the same online application thirty times for different companies. It is hard to refresh emails every five minutes, and anxiously check our phone messages, and not hear anything back. It is hard to interview and wait days and days and wonder if we will get it, and we don’t.

Waiting is one of life’s hardest trials. But we are trying to have faith—believing without seeing that things really are working out for the good.

For now, these verses are what we are hoping to live out.

Though the cherry trees don’t blossom
and the strawberries don’t ripen,
Though the apples are worm-eaten
and the wheat fields stunted,
Though the sheep pens are sheepless
and the cattle barns empty,
I’m singing joyful praise to God.
I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.
Counting on God’s Rule to prevail,
I take heart and gain strength.
I run like a deer.
I feel like I’m king of the mountain!

Habakkuk 3:17-19 The Message

Paris Romance

Paris. We road tripped there for one day—a perfect, romantic day for Luise, Peter, Dom and me.

We felt like high society Europeans.

“Oh, I’m tired of work! Darling, why don’t we escape to Paris, just for the day?”

“Oh, what a delightful plan. Let’s do!”

When we arrived, I felt the same thing I had sensed in the air on my first trip with my dad: Romance.

It whispered sweetly off the wrought-iron, yet delicate balconies; the cozy cafes diffused its rich, loving scents through cafe au laits in ceramic bowls, flaky, fresh croissants, and artistic food that that must be admired like an inspiring painting before eaten; the Parisians showed its beauty through their out of a fashion magazine accouterments they glided in down the cobblestone streets.

I fell in love with Paris on that trip with my dad years ago, and knew I must return one day with my love. Whoever that would be.

We lived out the theme of the city that day. Peter and Luise admired each other with loving eyes and held hands. Dom and I walked arm in arm in a sweet daze all over the avenues in a wonderland of love.

With millions of other people.

Avenue des Champs-Élysées was flooded with tourists. We weren’t sure why. It was Halloween, but was that a big day to visit Paris? We pushed through the visitors and still enjoyed Notre Dame, the Seine, and Arc de Triumph–along with crunchy baguette sandwiches, heart-warming quiche Lorraine, and succulent nutella and banana crepes.

And of course the Eiffel Tower.

Dom and I decided we had to go to the very top. My dad and I had gone to the second level, but never made it all the way up. Peter and Luise had already done it on another trip, so they took off, while Dom and I joined the rest of Paris waiting in a maze of lines under the Tower’s strong legs.

We waited, gazing up at its massiveness. And waited, listening to the fellow tourists speaking different languages and all shivering a bit in the cold breeze. And waited some more, in Dom’s warm arms, looking up as the sun went down. For 2 hours.

Then we went up to the second level, and waited in a squished line to go to the top. For 30 more minutes.

Ah, but then we rode the last elevator to the top. And the wait was worth every second.

We couldn’t get enough of joining in with the delight of all the visitors around us, especially the couple to the left who were leaning next to the wall.

The gentlemen shakily got out a small box from his bag, and whispered a question in the ear of his love. Her face lit up like the lights blinking on the Tower. She shyly nodded, whispered something to him, and he slipped on the ring.

They embraced. I held Dom a little tighter, knowing what that joy felt like.

Oh Paris. What a place to experience the icing on the cake of love, romance.

What a perfect end to our our Europe getaway. We have so many memories to refresh us during this weary job searching desert.

Even though we have no jobs at the moment, and are low on cash, we are rich—in friends, adventures, and God’s faithfulness.

“That man is th’ richest whose pleasures are the th’ cheapest.” Thoreau