Growing up, I had never given much thought to where I would live as an adult. I never really assumed I would stay in Kansas, but I never anticipated moving either. So when we realized Ben had very few opportunities at Kansas universities in the field he really wanted to pursue, we were forced to start thinking about attending graduate school out of state.
At first, we looked into Johns Hopkins but we quickly decided that was just too far from our families. We made a list of options within a day's drive of Kansas and 3 of those options were in the great state of Texas. We set out on our first road trip to Texas in October 2006. Our plan was to visit Southwestern in Dallas, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and UTMB in Galveston.
Two of the schools had set us up with tours, special meet and greets to connect with current PhD students, and meetings with professors and advisors. From the second we arrived in Dallas, all we could think was, "This is the PERFECT fit for us." Everyone was incredibly kind. The school seemed phenomenal. Ben really connected with some professors and their work. The chances of getting in were higher than BCM. Dallas was considerably closer to Kansas. I had checked into some teaching contacts with Dallas school districts already. Everything about it just made sense. We left Southwestern fairly "set," thinking the other two schools would really have to blow us away to change our minds.
In their hearts, humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:9
On the four hour drive from Dallas to Houston, I decided to take a little nap. While Ben was driving in the middle of nowhere, he said God spoke to him in a very real way and told him clearly that Houston was where we were supposed to be. Now some of you reading this may not know what to think about that, but we believe that God can and does still speak to individuals.
Our visit to Houston was not nearly as smooth. Nothing was perfectly planned out, we got lost frequently, and it was hot even in October! We met with a few professors, but none of their work excited Ben as much as the ones in Dallas. Finally, before we left, they set us up with the chair of the program. It became very obvious he was a busy man who didn't bother with small talk or pleasantries. He began grilling Ben with rapid-fire questions from the moment we stepped foot in the doorway (Most of it was well above my head, so I just sat in the corner and tried not to screw anything up for Ben!). When the surprise "interview" was over, we left feeling exhausted and that there was very little chance of even being accepted into BCM.
At the end of the week, we returned home completely puzzled. Why is God telling us to go to Houston when everything seemed to point to Dallas?
A few months later, it was time for the actual application and interview process. He got interviews at all 3 of the Texas schools as well as Washington University in St. Louis. This definitely didn't help us with any clarity! For anyone that knows me well, I'm a planner. I like to have things planned out and lined up, so any lengthy process that involves a lot of waiting and uncertainty has a tendency to have me teetering right on the edge of sanity.
After interviews, we had narrowed it down to Houston and Dallas anyway and cancelled the interview in St. Louis. After much prayer, we still felt this strange peace about Houston. It didn't make sense in a lot of ways-- it was farther, it was bigger, and most of all-- we didn't know a single soul there. But, it had been confirmed several times that God meant for us to be there.
We were about to leave all our family, all our friends, and the state we'd lived in all our lives to start a new journey.
(And by the way... That intense professor with no time for pleasantries or patience for "stupid people" (haha, his words, not mine!)... He became Ben's academic advisor and he did his entire PhD research in his lab. Now, they work together as colleagues even though Ben is involved in private industry, publishing papers together and collaborating on research.
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