Limbo: How long can you go? AKA: Chronicles of a Ping Pong ball

So, the first 4 years of our marriage were fairly uneventful. We were both students when we got married, we lived in student housing for the first year and a half, then moved to an awesome basement apartment where we stayed for 2 1/2 years. During our time in the basement, I graduated from BYU, we had two beautiful daughters, and Dave got his bachelor's degree as well.

Then the adventures began.

We both decided we wanted to move to Oregon, so as Dave's first graduation drew closer, we packed everything up, rented a truck, and said goodbye to our lovely basement. Approximately 48 hours before rolling out of Utah, Dave got a job offer for a 6 month internship with Intel. During that time, we lived with my parents to save money, and dreamed of what it would be like when Dave finished the internship, got a "real" job, and life could really start. We also had our third beautiful daughter. :)

Unfortunately, 2 months after the internship ended and C was born, we realized there were no "real" jobs for Dave in Oregon at that time. Somehow, there were jobs in Utah. After an interview-packed few days in Utah, Dave accepted a position with a company in Lehi, and we moved back to Provo. Once back in Provo, Dave realized the real reason we needed to be in Utah was for him to go back to school and get his Master's.

Yuck... more school.

We moved from our adorable little twin-home, to a cheaper town-home closer to campus (and somehow back in our old ward), and began the student life again. About a week into Dave's first semester in grad school, we found out we were pregnant again. When our first ultrasound a few months later told us we were expecting twins, we decided to move yet again, to save more money on rent... and ended up back in the same basement apartment we had left 2 years before.

One year in the basement apartment and Dave was making great progress on grad school. All course-work was nearly complete and he just had the dang thesis left to wade through. Learning that doing the thesis remotely was an option, we decided to move back to Oregon, with another Intel internship. Unfortunately, that internship came to a close with ZERO progress made on the thesis, and Dave decided it would be best to be back in Utah where he could be on campus with his professors all day while working on thesis.

Thankfully, our awesome relocation package from the Intel internship had left us with no consumer debt, and a healthy savings account. Also, some very dear friends of ours agreed to let us live in their fully furnished basement, rent free, for one semester so we could live off of our savings so Dave wouldn't have to hold a job AND work on the thesis. And my parents agreed to store all of our belongings in their dining room until further notice. (Actually, my mom claims she's holding it all hostage until we move her grandchildren closer to her.)

Our time in our friends' basement ended the first week of May, and we decided to head back to Oregon... again... (third time's a charm, right?)

This time, Dave had been applying for lots more "permanent" jobs with Intel, and we were praying that an offer would come quickly so that we could really start to settle down somewhere and our days as Ping-Pong balls would be over. Unfortunately, we apparently have to endure Limbo for a bit longer.

Dave's thesis is coming along, and he's currently on track to defend exactly one month from today, though he's terrified that something horrible with happen and he'll have to start all over. Assuming all goes as planned (and I'm confident it will all be fine), he will be walking at August graduation (one more trip to Utah...), though his diploma will officially say "December 2011."

On the job front though... Dave has had several 4-hour technical interviews, with no offers... until yesterday.

Finally, after years of back & forth, and after months of uncertainty, and weeks of nothing... Dave got an offer for a permanent position with Intel here in Hillsboro, OR.

But, our Limbo days are not quite over yet. Dave's job search has been going so well the past couple weeks, that he actually has two more on-site interviews with Intel this week, both of which could result in more offers. One of those interviews is actually in Chandler, AZ. We don't expect to hear anything from those interviews until at least the middle of next week, simply because both Monday and Tuesday are holidays for Intel... but hopefully, we'll hear back on Wednesday and then we'll be making our final decisions.

At this point, it's nice to know that our worst-case scenario still includes a permanent job with Intel. :) But the question now is will that job be in Hillsboro or Chandler? We're on track to move and settle somewhere before this next baby makes her appearance (have I mentioned on the blog that it's a girl?), but where will it be?

Hopefully, I'll be able to let you know in a little over a week. :)