My husband, the rocket scientist.

Derrick graduates from USU this semester. We were so excited. We planned to get Derrick a job at ATK where he had been interning the last two summers. They love him there, so we knew it wouldn't be a problem to get a job offer. They also have a program with the U of U so he could get his master's degree while he was earning a salary. ATK would even pay for it! Sounded like a great idea to us, and that was the plan. But after a while it became apparent that Heavenly Father had a different plan for us. After an institute class about education, Derrick started to feel like maybe he should have prayed about this decision a little more. This is the quote by President Hinckley that stuck out to him the most:

"You are moving into the most competitive age the world has ever known. All around you is competition. You need all the education you can get. Sacrifice a car; sacrifice anything that is needed to be sacrificed to qualify yourselves to do the work of the world. That world will in large
measure pay you what it thinks you are worth, and your worth will increase as you gain education and proficiency in your chosen field...

“Be smart. The Lord wants you to educate your minds and hands, whatever your chosen field. Whether it be repairing refrigerators, or the work of a skilled surgeon, you must train ourselves. Seek for the best schooling available. Become a workman of integrity in the world that lies ahead of you. I repeat, you will bring honor to the Church and you will be generously blessed because of that training.

“There can be no doubt, none whatever, that education pays. Do not short-circuit your lives. If you do so, you will pay for it over and over and over again.”

So he was started to feel like he needed to think about schools out of state, and look at his other options. To find the best schooling available.

I was totally against this. (wow, that sounds awful...) We had moved out of state once before, and I hated every second of it. I was so glad to come home and I swore that I would never move out of state again. Derrick said the hardest part of this whole decision was talking to me about it because he knew what my reaction would be. We had been getting booklets from out of state schools like Duke and Purdue, but I threw them away because I didn't want him to get any ideas. Seriously. I was not ever moving. But you can't deny the spirit, or that praying about something is a good thing, so I told him I would fast and go to the temple with him. As we sat in the Endowment room at the temple, before the session even started, I was already bawling because I knew the answer. If it wasn't the right answer to look out of state, why would we even be there? So this is awful of me, but I just prayed and prayed that He wouldn't make me do it. Couldn't He just tell Derrick that we didn't have to go? But you can't deny the Spirit, so I cried all through dinner that night as I realized what this meant. I had to move away from my family, to a state where I didn't know anyone and to a new unfamilar place. I was not happy for weeks and I couldn't talk about it without crying.

But I don't feel like that anymore. How did I change? I don't know. It's a miracle, really. I think I just realized that it's what had to happen, so I could choose to be happy or sad. So I decided to look at the good things about moving:

• Derrick going to a presigious school. What a smart man I married! I already knew this, but I didn't know to what extent. I talked to one of his professors at USU, and he told me how brilliant Derrick was, and called him "smarty pants" which is my new nick name for him. How could I not be proud of him, and support him? (he doesn't like when I talk like this and he would deny that he's that smart because he just thinks he's normal, but I think everyone should regularly brag about their spouse.)
• better school = more money. To help others with, of course. :D
• It could be like an adventure, I guess.
• missionary work
• Things are greener back east.
• We could be close to lots of places that we want to visit: Nauvoo, New York, Washington DC, Florida Atlanta.
• Because it just feels like the right decision.

One morning during Christmas break in December, Derrick and I were sitting at the table eating breakfast and he was checking his email. Lo and behold, there was an email from Purdue University in Indiana telling him that he was accepted. This was exciting because it was his top choice school because of one of the Composites professors, which I don't really know what that is.. some kind of material they make things out of that Derrick thinks is really interesting.

Purdue is kind of known for being a great engineering school Neil Armstrong actually graduated from Purdue in the same program that Derrick has been accepted into.

I started looking at houses and apartments. When we discovered that you could buy a really nice house and the montly payments would be cheaper than renting, I actually started to get excited. Then they sent us an invitation to come check out the campus. The lady Derrick was working with to get the arrangements made told us of another family who was in the same program as Derrick and had kids, because this is not very common in most places I guess. So we got in contact with them, and it turns out this family transferred to Purdue from USU, and happen to be members of the church! They have helped us so much. She invited me to an online group for moms of that area, so I can ask them my questions and everyone can help me understand what it's like out there, tell us about places to look for housing, and give us advice about moving. It's been such a blessing.

So we went to Indiana last week. We really like the area and the people are so nice! We had about 7 people offer to watch Halle so I could go to this dinner thing with Derrick. We ate dinner with a family there. We were able to talk with a bunch of families who happened to be in the same program and were LDS. They were so easy friendly and helpful, offering to take pictures of apartments or houses and email them to us if we needed it. We also discovered that 800 people applied to the ME programs, and only 30 or so people were invited to check out the campus. They invited Derrick because they want him to go there, and he will get an fellowship or assistantship, most likely. I think all these things have been Heavenly Father's way of showing me that he will take care of me out there. So I actually am excited to move there now, and not scared anymore.

When we got back Derrick had an email from the University of Delaware. He got accepted, and they invited him to check out their campus, and they offereded him an assistantship. He's going at the end of the month. So it's not for sure where we will be going now, even though we thought we had decided it was Purdue. He also applied to Virgnia Tech. My vote is Indiana since we already have friends there, like the area, and we can buy a house there. I guess we will see what happens!