Ooops - - - We are slackers

We are such slackers. We didn't get Christmas cards in the mail yet (maybe tomorrow) and we didn't get the gifts for my family sent out yet either. So, hopefully everyone will be okay with getting everything late.

Sorry.

Another boring blog

So, things have not been nearly as bad down here as they have been for everyone else in the family. I think we've had the lowest high in the 40's still. It has rained a little. It is very windy at work, but other than that it hasn't been too bad. This morning there was actually almost a need for an ice scraper it got cold enough last night.

Anyway, I was going to post some video of Hannah at the library from when we got her library card. However, since it is past midnight and I have to get up early tomorrow so I can put gas in the car I better get to bed.

We are all doing pretty well. We have all been sick for the last week or so. I think I'm finally almost done with it. Hannah I think has recovered the best. Rachel is back and forth. Some days are better than others. Oh well, I think we should all be fine soon.

Rachel is supposed to sing with her family and some friends on Saturday at Temple Hill in Oakland as part of the Christmas festivities that take place there. It should be a fun evening, assuming we can get Hannah to actually sit still and listen.

We were trying to get Christmas cards out to people before Christmas, but since we have been pretty busy we haven't gotten any sent out yet. Sorry. I guess you will all just have to be okay with getting them after Christmas. I will post a copy of the letter and picture on here in a few days (maybe) so those who aren't getting the card can at least read the letter and see the picture.

Things have been crazy busy at work. We had 15 different events take place last Saturday (12/13). I think in the month of December alone I have already had at least 60 events take place. The month isn't even over yet. To put that in a little bit of perspective...in Utah there is a building called the Bountiful Regional Center - they have about 200 events a year. Temple Square (includes the Conference Center, Church Office Building, Tabernacle, Assembly Hall, Joseph Smith Building, and maybe one other) have about 4,000 events a year take place. Temple square has 1 Event Supervisor, 3 full-time event coordinators, and about 8 (maybe more) Church Service missionaries that act as event coordinators to do all of those events. I have me and my custodians and mechanics (total of 5 people). Based on the events we have done in the almost 7 months I have worked here (probably 600-700) I would have to guess that we do between 1,000 and 1,200 events a year at the building with way less staff to help. That doesn't include most of the missionary activities (P-day, district meetings, etc.) and it doesn't include any of the Sunday meetings that the Wards have or the other meetings they have during the week (it does include YM/YW). If I added all of that in as well we would probably be close to 2,000 events or more taking place in the building. Maybe some day I will get help.

Oh well. Enough for tonight.

Off to bed.

Way too caught up

So, I was going to do a few catch up blogs tonight, try and get some pictures and video added, etc. But I got caught up organizing our photos on the computer and stuff and never got around to getting the blog done. However, I now know where all of the photos are so I will try to get to that in the next week.

Reading a Story

We were over at Grandma & Grandpa Billeter's this past Sunday. Hannah was just adorable. I took a video with my phone of her reading a book to everyone. Here it is! You have to listen closely to Hannah (and have to have the volume up all the way, at least I did) in order to hear what Hannah is saying.

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

So, it has been a while since we have updated anything. Grandpa, Grandma, and Trisha have come and gone. We had fun spending time with them, even though the directions we got were a little confusing and got us a bit lost so it took nearly 3.5 hours to get to the condo in Clear Lake instead of closer to 2 or 2.5. We eventually made it. It was a very nice place, but located near a couple of very small towns. The first day we decided to go into one of the towns. There really wasn't a lot to do, mostly just antique shopping. We did see a store called MJ's Place. I'll let you figure out what the store was.

I think Hannah had the most fun when she was trying to feed the ducks and then chased them with Grandpa. She is growing up so fast. She is starting to really get close to talking in full sentences. She says so many more words, and you can see here get frustrated because she will try to talk and a lot of it is still jibberish, but she expects you to understand and gets upset when you don't. (Wow! That was a run-on sentence).

It was a good time. We found a different way home (there was a long, windy road we went down on the way there, and vowed not to go near on the way home). Overall, a very enjoyable "mini-vacation."

Doing my Part

The weather was horrible today. And it was our day to help with the sign waving in support of Proposition 8. So, I stood in the rain for two hours today holding a sign. It was actually pretty fun until the last 20 minutes or so. It was really interesting to see all the different reactions from people. The people in support either honked or gave thumbs up. We had several people flip us the bird. We had a few people roll down their windows and yell stuff at us that we typically couldn't understand. We did have one lady call us bigots.

All in all, it was interesting and actually mostly enjoyable. There are only 3 days left until Election Day. I can't wait. I have never been this involved in Politics before. I would rather not be this involved, but I felt very strongly that I needed to do what I could to support the Proposition.

I will try to get some pictures posted after the Elections are over. I want to make sure I try and focus my time on this as much as I can (which hasn't been as much as I would have liked).

More later.

Follow-up to Proposition 8 Post

Proposition 8 seems to endanger more for those who support traditional marriage if not passed than it gives to those (gays/lesbians) who would benefit by Proposition 8 failing. What about the rights of those who believe in traditional marriage? What about my freedom of speech and religion that would be in jeopardy if Proposition 8 is not passed? This is not an issue about Rights. This is an issue about the fundamental definition of marriage. It is a moral issue. The only thing gained by gay couples is the title of their "union", so much more is lost for everyone else.

As best as I can tell, if Proposition 8 does not pass, then the only thing it changes for Gay Couples is the title of their union. Instead of being forced to call it a civil union or domestic partnership, they can now call it a marriage. If they get the "right" to call their union a marriage, what is there stopping them from then asking for equal treatment from society when people talk about families? What is stopping them from demanding that schools, when teaching "age appropriate sex education", teach that a family doesn't matter who is involved. It can be two men, two women, or a man and a woman. Basically, what is stopping them? What about those of us who feel that it is morally wrong? What about my rights? I don't understand how this all became a debate about rights in the first place. In all honesty, this is a moral issue. Is it okay to engage in homosexual behavior? I say no. Others says it doesn't matter and that either side should be treated the same. I disagree. That is almost (emphasis on almost since homosexuality is not against the law) like saying, well you really shouldn't do drugs, but it is your choice and everyone should be treated the same regardless of whether or not they do drugs.

If Proposition 8 does not pass, what is stopping gays from demanding that churches treat them as equal to anyone else asking to be married? Sure, Supreme Court judges in their over-turning of the "voice of the people" said that Churches would not be forced to change their views, beliefs, or policies regarding gay marriage. I find that hard to believe. Why wouldn't a gay person seeking to get married who gets turned down by a Church or minister not get angry or try to sue for prejudiced behavior. Why would they not consider it a hate crime if one Church or Religion (Catholics, Mormons, etc.) stated that they would not allow such marriages to be performed by their clergy or in their buildings?

I think this whole thing really goes back to what the fundamental purpose of marriage and sexual relations. The reason people get married is to form a family. Now, I'm sure that gay couples can have families, but it is not the same. Because traditionally, marriage was a front-runner to sexual relations. You do not have sex until you are married. Society today seems to think that is a crazy notion and that it doesn't really matter as long as you are "safe". But, that disregards the fundamental reason we have sexual relationships; to pro-create. That is what sex is for. Sure, it brings pleasure to those participating (usually we hope), and you do creating a deeper bond with the person. However, the fundamental reason for having sexual relationships has been from the beginning of time to pro-create or replenish the species. Proposition 8 does not take away any of the rights that are given to gay and lesbian couples who form a domestic partnership. They already have all the same rights and privileges under the law that traditionally married couples do. The ONLY THING a NO VOTE changes is the definition of the gay/lesbian relationship and the traditional definition of marriage. Through all of time, until recently, marriage has always been between only a man and a woman. This is natural. This makes sense. I believe this is the way it was intended; if it wasn't then why can't two men or two women pro-create?

VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8 AND PROTECT THE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE!! VOTE YES on PROPOSITION 8 to define marriage the way it should be and was intended to be, only between a man and a woman!! Redefining marriage will be detrimental to society. Children need the different types of nurturing that can only come from a Father and Mother.

VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8!!!!

California Proposition 8 Affects more Than Gays!!

So, the November election is coming up very quickly. In California we have the opportunity of once again voting on whether or not we want marriage to be defined as between a man and woman or not. In 2000 61% of the state voted that they did, but a few months ago 4 supreme court judges decided to go against the voice of the people and legalize gay marriage. We are not trying to get the State Constitution changed to include the same language that was on the proposition in 2000. Those who are against this proposition say that it is an issue of rights. That gays should have the right to be married. What about the rights of parents, what about the rights of those who believe in traditional marriage?

If California's Proposition 8 does not pass, there will be ramifications that those trying to defeat it do not want you to think about or look at. First, if the proposition doesn't pass it is very likely that something like what happened to the family in this video could happen in California. Basically, if the proposition doesn't pass, public schools will have to treat all marriage as equal. Since schools have curriculum for K-12 that involves sex education that is age appropriate, they will be teaching our children in elementary school that marriage between a two men, two women, or a man and a woman is the same thing. I don't know about you, but shouldn't parents have the right to teach their children about moral issues, and not have them go to school and get confused just because the law says it isn't any different? I for one, do not want my daughter or any other children that may come, to be forced to learn that marriage is between any two consenting adults regardless of gender.

The next big thing that could be affected if proposition 8 doesn't pass, is that religious adoption agencies will receive pressure to allow gay couples to adopt children from their agencies. Most of these adoption agencies have guidelines that dictate the types of people that are allowed to adopt children and it is usually based on the sponsoring church's beliefs. In Massachusetts, after gay marriage was passed the Catholic Adoption Agency received pressure, and instead of giving in closed their doors.

One last thing to note, is that if proposition 8 is not passed, then Churches and their members will be affected. There are many churches that do not support the idea of gay marriage, and if the proposition is not passed they would likely be asked to either perform the marriages, or open their doors for the marriages to be performed within their buildings. If they chose not too, they could be attacked on their tax exempt status, with people claiming that the government should not be supporting an institution with tax exemption that is "biased". Also, members of churches could be seen as intolerant and promoting intolerant views by teaching the same doctrine that they have always taught because it now happens to go against the newly passed law. Why should churches have to have their status jeopardized for doing the same thing they have always done? What happened to freedom of religion? Shouldn't I be able to not only believe what I want, but tell others what I believe without being accused of being intolerant or having it considered a hate crime? What happened to freedom of speech?

Those who are against proposition 8 want you to think that this proposition is taking away the rights of gays. In reality, it isn't. They will still have all the rights that they currently have under the civil union and domestic partnership laws, but will now be able to call their union a marriage. In the process, they will be taking away or jeopardizing the rights of all other Californians to free speech and freedom of religion. They will also put in jeopardy the rights of parents to teach their children. What about everyone else's rights that will be violated or taken away if Proposition 8 doesn't pass??

So, if you support Traditional Marriage, or even if you don't care much about the marriage part of the issue, think about the other rights that are being violated or taken away if the proposition doesn't pass. NOVEMBER 4th - GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

Conference

General Conference was amazing. I particularly liked President Uchtdorf's talks from the General Relief Society Broadcast and the Saturday Morning Session, as well as President Monson's talk at the end of the Sunday Morning Session. They seemed to speak to my soul. It is often hard during the daily struggles to remember all the good things that we should do, but the reality is that these things are what help us through the hard times and I need all the help I can get. I have decided to really make an effort to apply the messages from conference into my life. I hope that what I have learned we will be able to apply into our lives as a family. ~Rachel

Personally, I really enjoyed the last hour of the Priesthood Session. That is probably partially due to the fact that this particular hour was when I was most alert during the 10 hours of Conference over the weekend. It also has to do with the fact that the First Presidency took up that hour. It was really amazing. I don't think I've ever seen them all talk back-t0-back like that before. The whole session was good, but the last hour really stood out to me. I missed most of the talks because I was either struggling to stay awake (Saturday Morning, Sunday Afternoon) or I was fighting with Hannah (Sunday Morning) or I was distracted because of where we were watching it (Saturday Afternoon). I know, that is a bunch of excuses, but I really didn't get to hear or couldn't focus on most of the sessions. I will have to wait for the Ensign to come out and read them (I know I can go online and hear the sessions again, but that just seems a little weird, you know, like having Church on a Thursday night or something...)

Hannah has hit the "Terrible Twos"

Hannah has been a pill the last couple of weeks!!!

I think we have had it very easy overall as parents. Almost since the time Hannah was born she would go right to bed and sleep for most of the night if not all of it. She did the same thing for naps. Well, the nap thing started to go a little while ago, but it still wasn't too bad. For the last few weeks (2-3 would be my guess) she has completely fought going to bed. She used to be great about saying prayers with us and reading the scriptures and going right to bed. Now she throws a huge fit every time we try to put her to bed. In fact, there were a few nights when she would seem like she was going to go to bed fine, and we would put her down, and she would get back up and throw herself at the edge of the crib and scream at the top of her lungs. Rachel called it her "abandoned on the side of the road" look. It has been a challenge.

Well, today Rachel and Hannah spent almost the entire day out of the house (visiting teaching, grocery shopping, etc. - a great perk of her having a car) which seemed to exhaust Hannah. I say that because tonight she went straight to bed like she used to. Or almost anyway. She did fight reading scriptures and saying prayers, but didn't fight going to bed at all. It made for a very pleasant evening. I hope that we can start having a few more like them again soon.

New Car Update

So, after going through several of the features that the Touring Model of the car was supposed to have, we were seriously wondering if we had purchased the touring model. We didn't find all the extra special things that we would have had if it were the touring model, so we concluded (or I did) that we only got the base model with a few upgrades. I updated the link in the other blog (from yesterday) to reflect the actual Blue Book price for the car. Not quite as good of a deal, but still a pretty darn good deal.

OUR NEW CAR!!!!

We bought a new car last night!! It was kind of crazy how it happened. We had heard about a sale at a Nissan dealership in Fremont (about 15 miles south of us) but didn't have enough time to make it down there, so we checked out a Nissan dealership locally. They didn't have anything under $8,000 which was our target price. We decided to take a look at the used Toyota dealership afterward, not really expecting to find anything, but kind of hoping that we might. We had a much a better idea of what to expect this time, and had a few specific cars that we were looking for. Prior to leaving we went in and looked up a bunch of Blue Book prices for those cars over several years with some different mileage combinations. As we pulled into the lot there was an Acura SUV (2001 Acura MDX to be exact) sitting there listed at $8,995. We didn't think much of it, and drove around the lot before deciding if we wanted to stop or not. We saw a few used cars that looked like they might be what we were looking for, but weren't quite sure on the prices. I walked around for a few minutes with one of the sales agents, and then decided to go and take a look at the Acura after not really finding too much else that was even remotely interesting. It looked like a very nice car. Leather interior, Moon roof, CD player, faux wood trim, etc. I went and got Rachel, and had her take a look. She didn't really say much about the car (I think she was starting to get pretty fed up with the whole car buying process). We decided to take it for a test drive (it was starting to get on the late side, so we weren't sure we really wanted to take the time). It drove very well. Seemed to have quite a bit of power, even though it has a pretty econimical 6 cylinder in it (supposed to around 23 MPG highway). We got back and called Rachel's sister to get her thoughts and have her Blue Book it for us. It has almost every option availalbe, and the Blue Book value, even with all the miles was $13,585 (click here to see the Blue Book). We started wondering why it was selling for so much below Blue Book. We decided to have them see what they could do in terms of payments. We got a Carfax, and there was only one accident which caused minor front end damage (which had been repaired) and nothing else. We told them that our payments had to be under $200 or we were walking out the door. They came back with the original number, and it was too high. They came back a second time, and it was still too high. They came back the third time, and it was right at $200 so we bought it. Here are a couple of links to some reviews about the car if anyone is interested, and then some pictures of our car.






















































http://www.epinions.com/content_7298059908
http://www.thecarconnection.com/fullreview/acura_mdx_2001
http://www.internetautoguide.com/reviews/09-int/2001/acura/mdx/index.html
http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=46521/pageNumber=1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!!

Hannah turned 2 today!! I can't believe it. It has gone by so fast. We are having a party on Sunday for her with all the family that wants to come, everyone is invited. Anyway, here are some pictures from today and a little bit of video.

Happy Birthday Hannah!


Eating dinner at the park for her birthday.

Here is the video. This was in the morning when we first got her up.




This video is of Grandma & Grandpa Willie and Aunt Trisha singing Happy Birthday. Hannah is so adorable at the end.

Trip to Oregon

This past weekend we made a trip to Oregon for Josh & Sam's sealing in the Portland Temple. I decided to try and take work with me so that I wouldn't have to use 3 vacation days. My boss agreed to let me only use 2 vacation days, which I think turned out to be fair based on the amount of phone calls and emails I took.

The sealing was good. Dad started crying. Josh said yes too early (he was just too excited I guess). I think it was a great experience. The reception turned out better than I was expecting it too after hearing about all the things that they were going to or not going to do.

I hope that Sam (especially) and Josh appreciate what I did for them in protecting their car. The family that Josh married into is a little more redneck than some, and they were wanting to put baby powder in the air vents and limberger cheese on the manifold and a few other things. They even tried to say that I wasn't playing along well enough because I wouldn't let them do those two things. I think we got the car pretty good. Everyone knew they were newly weds, and we even got some cans attached to the back of the car which no one say until they started to drive away (the way it should be).

We spent a few days looking for a car while we were in Oregon since we rented a car to drive up. My car was making some funny sounds right before we were supposed to leave so we decided to rent a car to be safe. We didn't really find a ton that we liked, but we saw a couple that might have been possibilities. Too bad we didn't have more time. I think when we do decide to buy a car we will end up doing it in Oregon since they were significantly cheaper there than in California.

The trip home wasn't too bad. We hit some traffic in the construction areas of I-5 that caused huge delays since the road closed down to one lane two different times instead of just staying one lane to cover both of the areas. We also hit a little traffic on I-80 but things went pretty smoothly once we hit 680. It ended up taking us nearly 10 hours to get home instead of 8 1/2 or 9.

Re-Posts

Below I've decided to re-post some of the blog entries I did on another blog that I have. I figure these are important to kind of update everyone to our story and let them know what it going on and how we ended up in California. So, hopefully this works out OK.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Updates, Updates, Updates!!

So, quite a bit has happened since the last post. I did a phone interview with the Church to assess my managerial abilities. Once that was done, I got a call from HR that my assessment turned out very well, and that they wanted to know if I could fly to California for an interview for the Oakland position. I told them that would work, but it would have to be the end of the next week (this would be the week after I graduated and my last week of work). It was a 4 hour interview, so I didn't have time to attempt to do any other job searching or interviewing while I was there. I met with the FM, and we interviewed for about an hour and then spent the rest of the time either at lunch or walking around touring the properties that I would be in charge of as the Assistant FM portion of the position I was applying for. As we ended the day, the FM told me that if the decision were up to him I would have an offer in a few days, but that he wanted me to get a chance to meet with the Regional Manager. I came back, and arranged to meet with the Regional Manager the following week since he would be in SLC for some training. I did this, and he told me that there was one other person under consideration, but that I had a pretty good chance.

The next day (Thursday) I received a phone call from HR in the morning, and they said that I was being given an offer, and that she had never seen something like this before. She said that the FM and RFM were so concerned about me coming and not being able to live there, and they really wanted me to come, that they increased the offer from what I was originally told, to about $8,000 more per year than what was originally discussed as the top of the offer range.

So, I have accepted an offer to work for the Church. I will be the Event Supervisor and Assistant Facility Manager at Oakland Temple Hill. I started training this last Monday at the Conference Center with the Events Department. This training is basically focusing on the different processes that they go through, and giving me an opportunity to meet with several other departments that play a part in an Event being put on or happening. I actually have tomorrow (Friday) off as well as Monday because of the holiday and almost no one working on Friday in the department. I will be going in on Saturday for an actual event, so I will get to see one of the event coordinators in action.

It has been a lot of interesting training, and I have actually really enjoyed it, especially the last couple of days. It has been really interesting to meet with the different trades, even if I might not be using all of it. I am really getting excited about getting to California, and a little nervous as well.

Just to make sure that no one thinks this was a decision that didn't involve any prayer, I will say that we definitely prayed and fasted about this decision as well. However, just being on the site prior to my interview I felt really good about being there.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Confirmation Again

So earlier this week we made the decision to reject the job offer in Idaho Falls and try to find something else. We still don't know where we are going, but we know it was the right decision.

Since making the decision we have both felt much more at peace and less stressed. Prior to making the decision we were both always on edge and we were both very stressed. As soon as we made the decision, that all went away.

Also, when I called the company the next day to let them know, it went over very well (which I didn't expect). My supervisor said that he understood and that he really wasn't all that surprised. When I talked to HR they said they were sorry things didn't work out, but that they would be hiring for years to come and to keep them in mind for the future. Now, if someone were really upset about this kind of decision, or if it were not the right decision for us, I don't think they would basically be telling me that I could have a job with them in the future if I needed one or was looking to make a change at some point. They didn't guarantee that in any way, but they definitely made it obvious that the door was still and would still be open.

I haven't talked to my mom since we made the decision, except for a few minutes today. I won't really get into that. If she wants to talk to me she can, otherwise I guess we won't talk. I'm frustrated that she seems to be taking this so personal. It is not her decision to make. She can disapprove all she wants, but it won't change anything. She never gave me a chance to explain, and I'm pretty sure she read the explanation on here. Don't know if that helped her understand at all.

I know that this is the right decision. Every time we have made the right decision things have always worked out. That is part of the reason how we knew Idaho wasn't right. We had so much trouble finding a place. Every time we have ever had to move we've found a place to live within a day. Things have always fallen into place. It seemed like that was happening again, at first. Then we went and tried to find a place to live. We spent pretty much all of three days looking and only found one thing that was even remotely close to feeling right, and even that didn't really seem right.

We'll see what happens.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

And the Verdict is.......

We are not going to Idaho Falls.

This has been a very long and hard decision to come to. I know that lots of people may think that I am crazy for turning down the only job offer that I had received. I agree, it is pretty crazy. However, I know that going to Idaho Falls is not the right thing for us to do.

We have had this job offer since November, and in that entire time we have never felt really good about going to Idaho. I have never felt bad about going prior to the last few days (at least not in the sense that I felt like it was wrong), but I never felt like, "YES, this is the right decision."

When I told my mom about this, she freaked out!! She actually hung up on me. This didn't surprise me too much. I knew that she would not like the decision, I just hoped that she would give me a chance to explain.

So, here is what it actually comes down to. I have been taught my entire life that we should rely on the Lord. That we need to trust in him and not in the arm of flesh. Again, we never really felt good or bad about the decision until Rachel and I had an opportunity to visit Idaho Falls. The first time I didn't really get to see Idaho Falls at all, so I didn't really have an opinion about IF. We never felt good about being there. We had a nearly impossible time finding a place to live. What it really came down to was that we needed to ask the Lord what he wanted us to do. So we decided to fast and pray about it, so we would know for sure. We did that, and we got an answer that we were not supposed to go.

I know that sounds a bit crazy. I know that is hard to comprehend. How could someone trust so much in something as simple as fasting and prayer. It wasn't easy. We had a hard time coming to the decision. I can't even tell you how many times prior to the last 24 hours we went back and forth about what to do.

This is not the first time we have been in a similar situation. Right after Rachel and I got married we moved to Oregon and planned on going to the U of O. We applied got accepted and started applying for pell grants and financial aid. Then we got the letter about financial aid that showed how much they would give us and how much we would have to pay. We didn't like what we saw, we prayed about it, and felt like we needed to return to Utah and BYU to finish school. My mom had a very similar reaction. We were in a very similar situation. We didn't have any sort of job lined up, we didn't have anywhere to live. In fact, the one place that we thought we were going to live in we turned down as soon as we saw it in person and we were homeless for about a day. But in the end everything worked out, and we ended up being where we needed to be when we needed to be there.

I know that things will work out now. No, I don't have any job lined up. I don't know where we will be living in another 3 weeks. But I do know that the decision we have made is the right decision for us. Yes, it is very scary. But I know that things will work out. Since making this decision we have both felt a great deal of relief, even out-weighing the fear.

In addition, since making this decision I have talked to one of my professors who is going to help me talk to members of the school board here about possible jobs as well as some people in Colleges/Universities that he knows on the West Coast. I have also received a call back from a missionary I met at our Stake preparedness fair. He said he will keep his ears and eyes open for me. I have at least one, and possible 3 or 4 current positions that I want to apply for with the Church. I even have a job or two at Standford University that I would like to apply for. There are other opportunities out there, and I know that something that is right for us will come up.

I don't know what else to tell anyone. I won't defend my decision any further than what I have done here. I know it won't be easy, but I know that it is the right decision for us.

Getting my Answer

I think I am getting my answer. I was driving down the street to work, and just kept thinking to myself, "We are rejecting the job offer. We are not going to Idaho Falls." And this warm feeling came over me. I think we are making the right decision by turning down the job offer. It is scary, because that means that we don't have a job, and in about 3 weeks we also won't have a place to live.

What are we supposed to do?

What are we supposed to do? Rachel and I have been to Idaho Falls twice now. We still don't have a place to live, and we haven't seen a whole lot of anything that we like. Every time Rachel goes she just gets a sinking, depressing, horrible feeling about being their, like we're not supposed to be.

So, we decided to fast and pray to know if we are actually supposed to turn down the job and not move to Idaho Falls.

When we first got done praying to start our fast I felt at peace. I felt like that was the right decision. As I have slept on it, and continued to pray, I'm not as confident or at peace about it. This morning I have had thoughts about possible other jobs, but I've also thought about some of the things that my future supervisor told me that I would be doing that I am actually kind of looking forward to. I've thought about some of the places that people have told us to try and look. I'm not sure if they will work out, and I have no way of knowing what is actually on the streets that they mentioned or what the streets are like. We would have to make another trip out there.

Then I wonder if I keep going back to Idaho Falls because it is something secure and known. It is not like we haven't moved before not knowing where we would live or what job I would be doing. Somehow thought, this seems to be just a little bit different. Maybe part of it is that I don't feel like I have really gotten help from anyone in my job search.

Basically, I'm still very conflicted about what we are supposed to do. I know that the Lord hears and answers prayers. I need to have more faith that it will happen and that if we really are not supposed to go, enough faith to make that decision and really commit to it. Yes, I said the words, we are not going. I don't know that we have really made that decision. That is the same thing Rachel said last night when we got done praying. We said the words, but I still feel all confused and feel like we really didn't make that decision. I need to have the faith necessary to actually go through with it.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Idaho Falls....?????

So, last week Rachel and I got to visit Idaho Falls. I had to go out for a physical (don't know why any doctor can't do it, it has to be their's) and since it was going to take two days we decided to take a look around and try to find a place to live.

We looked at two places to rent, and didn't really like either, and felt that we could possibly find a place to by for the same monthly payment. So we ended up looking at several homes. There was one that we actually liked quite a bit that we were considering putting an offer in on. It was a 5 bed (really 4) 2 bath 2,400 SF home on .20 acres of land. It was built in 1971 and hadn't been updated since. The sellers were going to give a $10,000 credit to make upgrades to anyone who purchased it, but we weren't 100% sure that we could do everything that needed to be done for that much, and it was priced at the top of our budget. After taking a couple of days to think about it, we decided not to put in an offer (even though we had tons of ideas on what we wanted to do to it, and we were really excited about the possible changes).

So, we will probably be renting something for the first little bit. This is probably better anyway, since the only money we have to buy a home is what we have left over from our tax returns this year (which is a little over $3,000). This really isn't enough when you need to put at least 3% down now and then you still have to come up with closing costs (unless you can convince the sellers to pay them). So, we will rent for the first little bit and try to save some more money for a larger down payment and possibly for closing costs as well. Our Real Estate agent did just send us two new listings last night with a significantly lower price tag that we would like to take a look at, but I don't know when we can make it back out there again before we move.

Graduation is April 24 and 25, and all of our stuff will be packed up and on its way to Idaho Falls on April 23 and will be delivered or stored on the 28th or 29th. So, basically we have to find a place to live and have our stuff delivered to before then.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Almost Done.....FINALLY!!!

So, school is finally winding down. I have one month of classes left, and 1 month and about 8 days of before graduation. It is getting really hard to stay focused on doing school. There are times when I feel so incredibly frustrated because I have so much stuff to do. There are other times when I feel like I'm doing well and staying on top of things.

Trying to find a job has been a pain in the butt. I have applied and interviewed with 6 different companies (at least) and have only been extended an offer by one of them, an that was back in November!!! I have been incredibly frustrated with myself. The offer in November had a deadline of two weeks. I wasn't sure what would happen with other offers and I asked for a two week extension and then basically told them that I was interested but didn't want to commit 100% yet because I felt I would get other offers. Boy was I wrong. I haven't received any offer from anyone else. I even tried emailing my former boss in Oregon to see if he had any leads on jobs there. He basically sent me an email that said, "Good luck". I was pissed when I got his email back.

So, it looks like we are headed to Idaho Falls. The money is really good for the area, but I'm not super fond of the work schedule. It will be nice to have every-other Friday off though. I'm just not sure how I'm going to like Idaho Falls.

I guess I'm a little frustrated because it seems like my decision is being taken away from me. I have tried to interview with as many people/companies as possible. I thought that I did well in most of the interviews, and I feel like I have just as much and as good experience as others in the program, but they are getting offers and I'm not. So, I guess the Lord is trying to tell me that is where we are supposed to be for some reason. The other thing that is a little frustrating about it, is I feel like I'm behind on the hiring process for the job I did take because I could be farther along. I have to pass a DOE security clearance and that generally takes 90 to 120 days according to the company. Well, I just barely got all that turned in Wednesday last week!!! That means that at the earliest (using the averages) I won't start until June sometime.

I guess I just feel a little stuck. I'm excited to be done, but I don't really have anywhere to go. Rachel has talked about wanting me to go to graduate school, which I'm willing to consider but I have no idea what for or where. I want to have a little time off of school, but if I'm gone too long I won't be able to remember anything. The few jobs that I really wanted I got turned down on, and the job I have taken, no one can really tell me what I'll be doing.

Blog for the Family

So, we are creating this blog for the family blog. We have a few others, but they are each for something else. This one will be "dedicated" to being used on the family site and we will try to keep it a little more up-to-date.