Just when you thought you wouldn't have to update your address books....

Like most people, we've been worried this year about the economy and dismal job market. Eli's been lucky enough to be twice spared from the chopping block in the last few months, but events in recent weeks at his company were giving him reason to believe he likely wouldn't be able to escape the third round of layoffs if they occurred.

Time ran out on Monday and he was laid off.

However.....

Last month, Eli interviewed for a new job with a different company and had been in the process of working out the details to accept the position. He ironed out the final agreement last Friday with his new company and he had planned to give his notice at his current job early this week. Long story made very short, yesterday morning he was given his layoff notice before he'd had the chance to resign. Amazing, perfect timing for which we are very thankful.

So, the new year will eventually be bringing another move for our family. Get out your pencils because the Carpenters are moving to Kansas City. (I hope you've learned by now not to use ink for us when you're updating your address books)

Eli had this opportunity catch him by surprise him earlier this month through connections he's made over the years in his field. He's very excited about the job and opportunity to grow with a smaller company, but he's a little reluctant to move any further north. The idea of moving to Arkansas was hard enough for him to get used to almost 6 years ago, and now he says KC may be a little too far north for his Okie blood, but never mind him and his silly hangups. I'm excited! We don't have a lot of details about the logistics of the move, but we're hoping to have some of those things worked out in the coming weeks.

We've been in Arkansas for more than 5 years and in that span, we've lived in three different houses in two different towns. We've been in our current house for almost 3 years, which is longer than any of the 7 homes that came before this one during our 8 years of marriage. Needless to say, this move is likely going to be a big one, simply because we haven't had the routine we're-moving-so-let's-throw-
out-the-junk purge in awhile. Yikes. What a big job.

More later......