Well, you may have heard the news by now. The Barclay family is relocating to Lewisburg, WV. Yes, that's right. I did just say West Virginia. The one out east with lots of trees, mountains, and a rep for being ummm...a little backwoods.
Jeremy has received the most incredible opportunity. He currently works at the hospital in Lewisville, and has been there for 3 years, first as an administrative resident, and then 2 years ago he was promoted to Associate Administrator. To shorten the story, it can be very difficult to break into hospital admin world. He randomly applied for a COO (Chief Operating Officer) position in Lewisburg, WV, with the hope of at least catching the attention of someone. He was called in for an interview and nailed it.
And as for me, how on earth could I say no to that? Nevermind the financial relief and the fact that I won't have to work anymore (unless I want to and am able to find anything in a tiny town). In his field. and with his experience, this opportunity might not come around again for a while. So we are realizing Jeremy's goal of becoming a COO and anticipate him reaching his ultimate career goal of becoming a CEO in the next several years.
On with the story...we anticipate being in Lewisburg for a minimum of 2 years. The company told him it would probably be between 2 and 3 years before they would be ready to move him again. Honestly though, this town is not what I expected at all. True, we will have to drive 45 minutes to see a "real" movie or an hour and a half to get to a mall, but it is
such a charming place. We are near the Greenbrier Hotel, which was built around 1775, has 3 or 4 golf courses, and a PGA championship coming up this summer. It also has an Amtrak station, so we could take a train into some of the large East Coast cities. It is a 4 hour drive to Washington DC or 7 hours to NYC. There is a ski resort about an hour away. The downtown area is fabulous, with neat shops and places to eat or drink. It also has lots of entertainment on the first Friday of the month after 5 and there is a farmer's market. During October they do "ghost tours" of the old, historical homes. There is Carnegie Hall, which brings in a lot of entertainment. There are only 3 real Carnegie Halls in the world, one being in NYC and one being in Lewisburg. It is such a neat, colonial little place.
Of course, we are sad to leave behind family and friends. If only we could take everyone with us. Our parents are already making plans to visit. The great thing will be that there are several couples our age working at the hospital and some of them have babies the same age as Noah. I do regret that Noah will soon be old enough that he could go spend the night by himself with his grandparents, but we will make the most of all of our visits. My mom is a genealogy/old stuff buff, so she is excited to see the place and visit the Greenbrier. We are planning to come home for Christmas. I fully recognize that there are going to be some hard days but I expect that we will grow as a result of this experience, and that God has great things in store.
We strongly feel that this is God's plan. Things are falling expertly into place. It looks like the moving company is coming October 26-27 and we will probably fly out on the 27th. We are getting a nice relocation package and will be taken care of for quite a while. We are staying in some type of corporate apartment until we are able to find a house. Our first little house in Flower Mound is about to go on the market!
Here is a picture of the main entrance of the Greenbrier. It doesn't do the place justice of course. It is massive. And pricey. Sorry, it rained pigs and gerbils on Saturday, so my pictures are too few and not great.
The General Lewis Inn, where we ended up meeting the CEO's wife for breakfast on Sunday. She is Jeremy's age and seems like she'll be a lot of fun.
We stopped here in the pub downtown for rootbeer. Literally.
A not so great shot of the main drag downtown.
Finally, I am one to always look for signs and make sure we following God's course. He is well aware of my need for the obvious and the chin-droppers. So, I was listening to a new album on my Ipod while sitting in DFW airport, waiting to begin our trip to visit WV. It happened to be the first time I listened to Lady Antebellum's first album, and this song comes on. Here are the words. No, I am not kidding.
"Mama said Home is Where the Heart Is When I left that town
I made it all the way to West Virginia
And that's where my heart found
Exactly where I'm supposed to be..."
Enough said, right?
So, we had over 20 showings in 8 days. (Word to the wise: trying to sell the house you are living in with a baby to tote around and clean up after is not recommended! It was a pain.) But God is good! On the 8th day we sold the house for the asking price. We were able to recoup about 2/3 of the money we put into updating the house. Jeremy also sold my Civic in about three days, since the moving company would only transport one car for free and he wanted something new anyway. 
We visited with most of our family before we headed out. Here is Noah with his favorite (and only) aunt, Mandi. Mamaw (Jeremy's mom) came to stay the last night at our house and she was a huge help. We stayed our last two nights in a really cool hotel suite in Lewisville while we were being packed. It was basically a two bedroom apartment with a full kitchen. Would have been perfect to live in while we find a place in WV!
Hangin' with his cousin Madison.
