Season's Greetings Family and Friends!
Another year has passed, and it is time again to write a letter expressing our love for the Lord, our love for all of you, and the newest happenings in our ever changing family. We have now managed to make it through two Christmas letters with no baby announcement; however, we have yet to be able to write a Christmas letter that demonstrates some level of stability. This year will be no different.
The start of our year was actually fairly uneventful. We continued with work and home schooling, eventually completing our first year of at home education. We took the kids on their first trip to Disney World. We went to a big family reunion in St. George, Utah, to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. And in August, we celebrated our ten year anniversary. There was a deceiving sense of stability to our everyday existence. The coming months; however, would expose the deception.
The whirlwind all started late one Monday night when we got a phone call from some friends in our ward. They had just accepted a position at Mayo for a Cardiology fellowship and were looking to buy a home. They knew that we would be putting our home on the market in January, and asked if we would consider moving up our timeline. In fact, what they really wanted was to do a private showing of our home the next day. What else could we do but agree? We stayed up most of the night getting ready, and the next evening they came for a walk through. One showing turned into two, and by the third visit they were ready to make an offer. And discussing the offer together, we reached an agreement and decided to go forward with the sell. We were ecstatic! The only downside was that they wanted to move into our home in December, instead of in June when we're done with residency. Still, we couldn't pass up the chance to get out of our home without ever having to list it, and without losing any money. So, with a little over eight weeks to get ourselves packed and moved into storage, we signed a contract on our home.
Now, if that wasn't a crazy enough three weeks, during the same three weeks that we sold our house, our job hunt also came to a head. We had narrowed our job search down to three practices located up in Minneapolis, or one of three west coast practices located in Oregon and Washington. Any of these options looked very promising. Strangely, however, during this time period, another option crept into our periphery. A group in North Dakota, where one of our friends had signed a few years back, contacted us and began to recruit us. Well, we thought, neither Nick nor I had been to North Dakota. Why not get a free trip out and check North Dakota off of our states list? That would leave us both with only one of the fifty United States that we hadn't visited. That was all it would be--a free visit to the unknown state of North Dakota...or so we thought. After a four day visit, something unusual happened to us. We fell in love with the people there, with the small town feel, the "coolies" and the low crime, and most of all, with the pretty little temple that sits right in the center of town. As we drove home through our beloved Minneapolis, the traffic filled streets seemed to have lost their charm. We struggled for days, but eventually the decision came. We got on a conference call with the CEO at St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota, and agreed to come to work with their group. We finished the call just as we pulled into the title company to sign the contract on our house. Not bad for a days work!
After the decision was made, we immediately began to get the questions. It was home schooling all over again. Why are you going to Bismarck? As a Mayo grad, you could get a job anywhere? You're picking Bismarck over Minneapolis? Well, yes. Yes we are. And what would compel us to Bismarck, you might ask? Well, ultimately the only thing that could compel us to Bismarck: the Spirit. It helped as well to have the Bismarck temple president prophesy of our arrival! After attending the ward in Bismarck, I couldn't help but take advantage of the opportunity to speak with him. "How in the world did little Bismarck get a temple?" I asked. "Well," he smiled. "That is the question." "Bismarck is unique," he continued. "When the temple here was built, it was the only temple in the world that was built in a city with only one ward. When people questioned President Hinckley on the choice (temple placement is between the prophet and the Lord alone) he simply replied: 'the temple in Bismarck is not being built for the members that are there now, it is being built for the members who are coming...in the thousands.'" The temple president then took my hand and his eyes welled up with tears. "Something is going to happen in Bismarck," he said. Then he paused and looked straight into my eyes. "I have a feeling you are going to be a part of it." I turned to look at Nick, and he too was reduced to tears. It was a remarkable moment, and I think it's fair to say that it was pretty much downhill from there.
So, the long and the short of it is that we will close on our house on the 30th of December, send our belongings to Bismarck with the moving and storage company, and then wander about in the six month interim before the Bismarck job kicks off in July. We'll actually be spending three of those six months at Mayo away rotations in Florida and Arizona, so that helps a lot. During the other three months, however, we'll either have to live in friends' homes, or move into the Residence Inn here in town. (That is, unless I give in and let Nick have his way. He wants to buy a camper and live in it for a few months. "Oh the stories we'll have to pass onto our posterity!" he says. Well, I'm adventurous, but that might be going a little too far.) People seem to think we're pretty crazy; however, we can't complain about the uncertainty and instability that lies ahead. The Lord's hand in helping us to sell our house and find the right job has been so evident, down to the very last detail. Indeed, rather than feeling overwhelmed by it all, we have simply turned our hearts to gratitude to the Lord and are doing our best to trust in His wisdom.
Well everyone, it's time to close and wish you all a happy and safe holiday. May the Lord ever pour out his blessings upon you and your family; and may your hearts be open to receive them. His tender mercies are upon us this holiday season, and we pray the same for each of you.
Much love and best wishes to you all,
Nicholas, Jamie, Madison, Spencer, EmmaLee, and Mason Hoskins
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