Finally...

This is probably the happiest post that I have made for a long time :) <----- See, happy! So, for those of you who don't know, Ryan finally got a job. It has been a VERY long road, but we are excited for a new little part of our lives.

About a year ago, I ran over to my parent's house one Sunday afternoon for something. Their home teachers were there, and somehow the subject of Ryan's employment came up. One of their home teachers is the director of PEHP, public employees health plan, for the State of Utah. He mentioned that they might have something coming up and he'd keep us posted. Well, who knows what has gone on there for the last year, but finally, just before Christmas, he sent Ryan an email saying that a position for an actuarial analyst had been posted. They only left it up for about 3 days, and it was right before Christmas, so we were hoping that they didn't get too much interest for it. Just after the new year, they called and schedule an interview with Ryan for January 12th. We prepared like crazy!! We did mock interview together with like every spare moment we had. On January 24th (about the time we were starting to lose hope!) they finally called and offered him a position. It was a good day!

It has been a very long road. It was 21 months, to the day, since Ryan graduated from BYU. We had such high hopes when he graduated, but I guess the Lord had some refining to do on us! I hope it worked... at least a little bit. I do have to say that we have learned a lot. Both of temporal and spiritual things. Ryan spent a lot of time with the LDS employment center in those 21 months. Their "motto" I guess you could call it - the thing they put all over their literature - is "if you are prepared, ye shall not fear". That became our own family motto. We worked hard, prepared as much as we could, and tried to stay as faithful as possible. Obviously, I would never wish for that to happen to anyone, especially not myself, but as with all trials, I'm very grateful for the things that we learned. My prayers now are that we will remember them, and remember these times when we were forced into humility!

We still have a long road ahead. The pay is well below the average for an entry-level actuary, and because of the little hole that we've dug being poor over the last 6 1/2 years, we have some catching up to do. So we're probably not going anywhere for a while. Oh, and first item on the list is a new car so we can have more babies!! :) We're very squished in our car already, and we just can't go on much longer. It doesn't help that we're all like a mile long, so our legs don't fit in anywhere! But some people are happy we're staying. My brother wouldn't even congratulate Ryan until he made sure that the job was in state and we would still be close. Which is a little selfish because he's going to be leaving us soon, but oh well :)

Although a lot of the people that I am most grateful for probably don't even read this, I'm going to say it anyway. I'm grateful for our ward who reached out so much to help us. I guess really he wouldn't even have this job if we didn't go to church because he never would have gotten that connection. There were also several others who gave us names and phone numbers of people who may be able to help. Everyone in our ward was so supportive. I'm grateful for my awesome friends who listened to me complain about dumb little things all the time. Thank you for letting me vent! I'm grateful that my marriage survived, and quite well actually! Not that it was ever in any danger, but I know things like this are tough on a marriage. I'm so grateful that both Ryan and I always managed to turn to each other, rather than pushing each other away in all the stress and frustration. I'm grateful for my babies, who made life so bearable. Ryan and I often wondered whether having Bella, and then Evan, was the wise thing to do in our situation. After having them for a while, we realized that they were the only sanity and comedic relief we had! I'm grateful for their awesome little personalities that make us laugh every day. And last but not least, I'm so grateful to both of our families. I know that a million prayers were said for us by those closest to us over the last couple of years. Our families have been so supportive, both emotionally and financially. Thank you Andy and Sarah for all the clothes you've given us. I know we avoided probably thousands of dollars in clothes for our kids over the years. I don't think our budget would've worked without them! And a special thanks to both of our parents. They've put up with a lot having us so close ALL the time!! And the support financially has been so helpful. Obviously Ryan's parents have allowed us to live in their home for a long time. That has been incredibly helpful!

We are just grateful for everyone who has helped and grateful for this new opportunity for Ryan. And, best of all, we're sooooooooo excited that he got to quit UPS. Next week is his last and it feels surreal. Ryan started that job before we even got married. The real test of our marriage is to see if I can adjust my evening schedule to have Ryan in it! I've gotten very used to my quiet evenings and having those hours while he's at work being the most productive of my day. It's going to be so weird to have him home at night, but I'm so excited! I will no longer be the only sister in the ward that needs the R.S. to provide babysitting for the night Relief Society meeting!! And now we can go to the ward Christmas party together! I know, they seem stupid, but I really have missed him at night. So, the job that was supposed to be temporary, for a year max, we will say goodbye to after 6 1/2 years. And I don't think we'll miss it!

Sorry this got so long. If any of you made it through this, congrats ;) I just feel like I have to say thank you to some people that have helped make this a rewarding and educational experience for us! Maybe my next post will have pictures...