Full of Joy and Hopefulness

Imagine yourself standing in line at a theme park, waiting to get on one of those really big roller coasters (you know, the kind that made me break out into a cold sweat, almost pass out, and then made me throw up in the minutes following the ride...yes, that kind of roller coaster). Finally you get to the front of the line, hop on the roller coaster, maybe a little tentatively, especially if it's your first time, because you have no idea what to expect. You hear the horn blow signaling the start of the ride, feel the jolt as the cars begin to move, and then you begin your ascent up the largest hill of your life.

That's where I feel like we are right now. Approaching the top of the largest hill of our lives.

I feel like through this whole IM process, we basically have been through each stage of riding roller coaster that I just described. We "stood in line" as we waited after the interviews to find out if Ian had made it into the program. We finally reached the front of line, Ian discovered he made it into the program, and we jumped on our roller coaster! We were tentative, nervous, etc etc because we had no idea what to expect! But as our roller coaster started moving, and we started inching our way up that tall, tall hill, we could kind of see the roller coaster laid out ahead of us. Though we were nervous at the site of the roller coaster with all its ups, downs, flips, turns, etc, we felt a little more comfortable. We somewhat knew what to expect. As we started in the program, moved down to Florida, we could kind of see what Chick-fil-A was all about. We knew there would be hurdles to overcome. There would be moments of joy, but there would also be times where we flying by the seat of our pants, or times where we were screaming at the top of our lungs because we were so scared and confused!

But. Here we are. Climbing up the tallest hill. We feel like we're getting towards the end of our stint in the IM program. We're approaching the summit, and we have the rest of our Chick-fil-A career ahead of us. And we couldn't be more excited. Or more nervous!

This week has been a whirlwind of a week to say the least. I hope I remember to say everything that's on my heart and mind and that it comes across clearly and doesn't sound like I'm just babbling on. So here goes nothing...

We have expressed interest in a brand new CFA that's opening in Elizabeth City, North Carolina later in the fall. When we took our trip to Raleigh/Charlotte/Augusta to visit family and friends, we actually drove to EC to see what we thought about before expressing interest. We stayed for about 2 hours. And we were not very impressed with what we saw. At all. Ask our friends and family. We saw the downtown area and the surrounding neighborhood (which most of you know, in small cities, the downtown area and surrounding neighborhood is usually the worst part of the area...EC is no different.) But despite our initial thoughts, we just KNEW there had to be more to the city than what we had seen in 2 hours, so we formally expressed interest in the location with all the corporate people that needed to know. Within days, Ian received a phone call setting up an interview for Saturday, April 30. He also found out that sometime during the next week he would receive a surprise visit/interview from the selecting business consultant (which means the BC who is on the team selecting the operator for the EC location...) Ian and I guessed that the BC would probably travel during the middle of the week. Low and behold, the BC and another person from the selecting team, showed up at Ian's store Monday, right in the middle of lunch! The interview went well, but as with any CFA interview, you're completely left in the dark. You have no idea if you answered your questions right, what they thought about you, etc. etc. At the end of the interview on Monday (as in May 2), the BC told Ian that another BC would be coming on Tuesday, the 3rd, to ALSO interview Ian. (By the way - these are L-O-N-G 3-4 hour interviews.) So Ian made it through the 3rd interview and felt like it went well, he'd made a good connection with the BC, and said that he would really enjoy working under him...if he gets the chance.

That BC told Ian that before they made their decision on whether or not Ian would get the store, they really wanted us to go back to EC to make sure that we could definitely plant our lives there, that we had no second thoughts about wanting to move there, etc. etc. Ian heard this on Tuesday afternoon. By 4PM he had called me to tell me that our flight was leaving Wednesday morning at 9AM and that we were going to be spending the night. So I rushed to make plans for the kids. Thankfully Tricia had already agreed to watch the kids if we received a phone call from corporate that we were to fly to Atlanta for spousal interviews. So I called her to see if she could watch them for this instead. She agreed in a heartbeat, and I felt so completely comfortable knowing that our sweet kiddos were in good hands. I packed our carry-on, packed the kids' stuff, and I had everything ready within 3 hours of finding out we were leaving!

Tricia and her girls showed up at our house Wednesday morning at 7, we met them in the driveway and hurried off to the airport, jumped on our flight, and flew to Baltimore, MD, then onto Norfolk, VA (both of which were very bumpy flights due to very rainy weather in the area...not so good for this motion sick chick!) From Norfolk, we jumped in our rented Jeep Patriot, and drove an hour to Elizabeth City, NC. (Um, by the way, did I mention that CFA paid for our entire trip, even down to every meal?! Hello people, could there be a better company to work for?!)

Our first day in EC was spent touring the city. We drove straight to the site of the store. I printed off neighborhoods we wanted to go see, houses that were for rent, parks in the area, churches to visit, etc. So we drove around for at least an hour or so, finding some of the houses, looking at the parks...we really wanted to make sure that raising our family there was possible and would be enjoyable for us. We went to our hotel to check in, settle in a bit, make a plan for the rest of the night, etc. And then it started...at the front desk...before we even got to our room.

"Wait a minute. You're with Chick-fil-A? So we're really getting a Chick-fil-A? When?! I'm so excited! I can't wait! Will it have a play area!?" These were the questions asked to us over and over during our trip, but this first time, we were bombarded by the sweet lady from Fairfield Inn who was ecstatic that the rumors this poor city has been hearing since 2009 were actually becoming real! We learned later on that EC had heard in 2009 that Chick-fil-A was considering building in their city. Then in 2010, there was a town meeting discussing where it was going to be located (or something like that). Then a couple of months ago, Chick-fil-A posted a huge sign on the lot where the store will be built that says "Coming Soon!" So everyone has been so excited about the thought of having a Chick-fil-A but so confused because there has been no action...until we showed up! The lady gave us lots of tips about neighborhoods to look out, different parks and the mommy groups that meet at some of the parks, told us about some other fun things for the kids. The manager at the hotel also recommended a popular EC restaurant. So after dropping off our stuff in our room -- our executive suite! - we drove to some of the recommended neighborhoods...which Ian fell in love with...especially the waterview! And we also drove to a church that I had seen online that caught our attention. I knew they had a Wednesday night service for the middle schoolers, so we decided to just show up and see if there was a pastor there we could talk to.

Does it get much better?

We walked into the church and some girls were sitting in the foyer, after a short, awkward conversation with these girls, they told us their youth pastor was in the auditorium, and pointed us in that direction. Ian opened the door, not really knowing what to expect on the other side, and sitting in a group, right on the other side of the door was a small group of people, preparing for the middle schoolers' service. He closed the door, and I was feeling a little embarrassed for interrupting. But soon, a man opened the door and asked if he could help us with something. Ian told him our story, we all introduced ourselves, we found out he was the youth pastor. He took us in the room, introduced us to the people, who, of course, were THRILLED to find out what company we worked for, and all had already made plans to be at our grand opening. :) Andrew, the youth pastor, took us on a tour of the facility, all the while, getting to know our story while sharing some about his family coming to EC. He told us about the church, a recent trial it's been through, and the growth they've seen since then. We were thrilled as we let him get back to his planning meeting about the thought of joining him and the church. I seriously cannot wait to attend a service there and get involved. We left the church and headed to dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by the hotel manager.

At supper, we struck up a conversation with our waitress about EC, how long she'd lived there, what she thought about it, etc. Somehow one of us brought up CFA, and she was hooked! But also hooked were the 3 other tables around us! And the waitress went back and told the other waitresses and the manager that the CFA rumors were real. We kind of felt a little like celebrities at supper that night. Everyone we talked to was thrilled to hear that CFA was really coming to their little city. (Of course that only excites us all the more!) We LOVED our dinner at Montero's...highly recommend it to any of you traveling through EC to head to the Outer Banks.

Montero's - set in an old Victorian house

After dinner, we just behaved like a young couple with no children. We drove around a little more (even though it was past "bedtime"), we went swimming in the pool and hot tub (NO swim diapers or toys or floats), and then, well, we did go to bed at like 10:30, which is about the same time my parents go to bed. So I guess that part wasn't all that exciting. But I think one of my favorite parts about the later part of the evening was when I received an alert on my phone. It was from Andrew - the youth pastor at the church - he had looked us up on Facebook and sent us a message telling us how excited he was to have met us, offering their assistance to us in anyway if/when we make the move to EC. Do you know how comforting it is to already have a friend in a city you may soon call your home?! In case you don't, let me tell you. It is very comforting. Very. (So Andrew - if you happen to stumble across my blog, you stalker - thank you so much for your hospitality! :) [He will get the "stalker" comment...])

The next morning, we enjoyed the continental breakfast, then around 10:15, another CFA operator from a store in Hampton, VA met us at the hotel and picked us up to take us on a tour. James was such a wonderful man, and I'm so glad he took the time to invest in us, give us a business-y tour of EC, and filled our heads with all kinds of hopes and dreams for "our" store. He was really very good to us, and we were so thankful for that two hour visit with him! I could go on for two paragraphs on what a huge help he was to us, but I'll spare you the business details that may be boring to some of you!

Somewhere along the way, we fell in love with EC. Its nickname is the "Harbor of Hospitality" and we could not agree with that title more! We loved the small town feel to the city, we loved that everyone was so welcoming and excited to hear about us, we loved the quaint houses and neighborhoods, we loved the sites and scenery...we just loved thinking about settling down and calling it our "home." We are so, so thankful that the business consultants talked us into visiting EC a second time. While we had already made our decision about pursuing the store based on the not-so-good impression left to us by the first trip, we are so glad to have come away from this trip with a totally new perspective. And we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we would love to live in EC, to plant our lives there, and to impact the city in hopefully many ways!

Albemarle Museum - downtown Elizabeth City

Harbor of Hospitality

View from the plane on the flight home - thankfully, clear skies!

So here we are -- almost at the top of the first hill on our CFA roller coaster. We can't wait for the excitement that we're sure to face on this coaster! Hold on people - we're going on the ride of our lives!!! (And taking you along too!!)

For our final night without children, Ian took me on a special date to PF Changs....my first time! Loved it! Loved my date even more! :) I forgot to mention that Awesome Tricia volunteered to keep the kids one more night since our flight wasn't getting in until 8:15. 

[Special Note: Just to make myself clear. The store is not ours.........YET..... We desperately want it to be ours. But right now, as of Friday afternoon at 4:22PM, we are waiting for corporate to call us to set up a spousal interview in Atlanta. That will be the next step. They have to make their final decision by next Friday. Ian is the lead candidate for this store. But the store won't be ours until we are sitting in an office at CFA home office and hear those magical words...whatever they are...offering us the store in Elizabeth City, NC.]