It must just be that your body is so bad...

When Nate first applied to BYU they gave him an interview, during which they told him that he had an impressive resume but his GMAT score was just too low.  At that point Nate was not accepted into the MBA program and we felt pretty bad about ourselves.  The reasoning for not accepting Nate into the program reminded me of one of my favorite Saturday Night Live skits where Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze try out for Chippendales.  The judges pick Patrick Swayze to be their new dancer and explain to Chris Farley that although he has really sexy moves...his body is just too bad.

The video is hilarious so please click on this link to watch:  Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze

Nate decided to give the GMAT one last try (making it the 4th time) and scored in the 90th percentile.  Upon calling BYU back (with his new sexy body...a high GMAT score) they not only accepted him but offered him a scholarship as well.  

The first semester of school was so stressful.  Nate interviewed with countless companies who again thought he did well in interviews (he practiced non-stop with EVERYONE and even wore out two sherpas) but thought he lacked the corporate experience they were looking for ("it's just that your body is so bad").  Finally after several months of searching and interviewing Nate was offered an internship at Goodyear.  The internship was perfect for us and Nate was able to get some experience under his belt and was given an offer for a full-time job when he graduates.  

With less than a couple weeks left before we make the decision to accept the offer, Nate is interviewing with some other companies.  Since it is such a big commitment we really want to search out all the opportunities and be able to make the best decision for our family.  

We are now in the middle of a pretty "exciting" week.  Nate has five interviews and three corporate dinners to attend.  The interview with Hewlett Packard (HP) was on Tuesday and by dinner that night we had received the dreaded email.  We joked about the contents of the email (all emails of this sort talk about how difficult the decision was to make...bla bla bla) since they were able to give their decision within a couple hours of the interview we laughed about how hard it was for them to make a decision and how they stewed over it for 30 seconds and then picked! :)  After receiving that email it was hard for us to be excited about going to a business dinner and have our game faces on again...it is much like getting dumped (over and over)...but we have to remember that nobody likes rejection and this process is difficult for everyone (bla bla bla).  A short pep talk later we were off to dinner at La Jolla at the Riverwoods which has fantastic food!  I may have drank 5 gallons of lemonade and nearly licked my plate clean, Nate was even on his second dinner (he also had a main course in his class right beforehand) and left no evidence of his salmon and orange creme brulee. One of the big wigs from the company came to our table to say hello and he talked about how difficult it is going to be to make a decision on who to hire because there are so many good choices (bla bla bla) so I piped in and told him if he needed any help with the decision making he could give me a call (they all laughed...but I was serious:).

Although this process has been difficult (by process I mean the last few years) at the end it feels good to have really fought for our victories and although we often looked heavenward and wondered what the plan was...(and still do) it has certainly been a refining process and as we look back at the challenges (of course) we can see blessings that have come as a result.  It has given us the "700" philosophy (Nate's GMAT score), which for us means that we do not give up...we are a scrappy bunch and will fight for the "right thing."  We have learned that the easy way is not necessarily the right way and if something is difficult or discouraging, it doesn't mean it is the wrong choice, in the words of George, you just have to "Keep trying"...and praying.  

So to this week I say BRING IT ON!

Who could say "No" to this face?!