Nervously Waiting

I am sitting in my office right now waiting for the phone to ring. In a half hour I have a phone interview with a school, Lincoln Memorial University. Of coarse I wanted to get everything ready, so I got here thirty minutes ago, and now I have nothing to do and am already crazy and a bit nervous. I thought I would write to keep my mind focused on something. The last twelve years comes down to getting a tenure track job. I so much want a good job to better take care of my family. The problem I am having is do I take the first job that comes along. There are some good aspects of this job. It is in Harrogate, TN so it is very close to all my research, most places I can hit in a few hours drive. It is also close to most of my conferences. It also offers a major in Civil War history, not many schools do that. They already have a Civil War historian there of some prominence, but he is a military historian, where I am more political; together we could build a stronger program. We will also only be about 7 hours away from Melissa’s Mom. There are a few negatives. We will be three days from the rest of my family. It is also a small town. I enjoy small towns, but this one is very small. If it were just me, I would like it, but I worry about my kids, and their education. I also worry about the Church. They do have a ward close by, but I would very much like my kids to have good church friends. We did not have tons of LDS kids, but I had a few very good ones (Matt, Abe, Larke, Kari, and half of the two-headed monster). I am still waiting to hear back from BYU-Idaho. They said they should know something by mid-March. Assuming LMU likes my interview, I do not want to do too much before hearing from BYU-I. Rexburg so far from my work, but it has so many other things I would enjoy. Its outdoors, my sister lives thirty minutes away, and of coarse the Church. I have never lived (that I can remember) in Mormon country, and am sure it would be different, but I think I would enjoy it. I am just going to have to trust the Lord that he will send me where I am needed. Rexburg does not need me, maybe Tennessee does. Here in south Texas, just last week we were talking about how if just one more good family with kids could move in, we would be well off. I am sure we are not the only ward in the mission field thinking the same thing, yet as much as I understand the need to gospel strength everywhere I worry about my kids as they get older. This is all part of the trust I blogged about earlier. Well I am going to go and sit here and wait before I start rambling even more. Wish me luck.