It has been a long time and so much has happened.

BEWARE THIS IS A LONG POST.

So when I last blogged we had decided do to graduate school in Utah. As I looked for a job in Utah it became clear that I would not make enough money to support a family of four above the poverty line. I was very frustrated. Jared was trying to schedule his GMAT exam and was having difficulty. Prior to the graduate school idea we both were submitting resumes to perspective employers in New York. The current economic conditions make it hard next to impossible for recent college graduates to find job in the business field, but the field was "white and ready to harvest" for those of us with a masters' degree and six years experience under their belt. Jared and I were ready to be done living in 650 square feet with two small children. We were ready to go and live a "normal" non-college life again, but every door kept shutting. Jared really wanted to be able to support our family, and have me raise our children, in short this was a very frustrating period of time. Out of the four resumes' I submitted I had three call me back and wanted to interview me. They wanted to know when I would return to New York. On March 25th a woman from a local New York hospital called she wanted me to fill one of her three open positions, she also wanted to know when I would return to New York. After my phone call it became clear that in order to get a job in New York we needed to live in New York. We decided it was time to move and we left on March 28th. We are so grateful to our amazing friends who helped us complete this feat. We managed to FILL a 22 foot moving truck and then we filled it two more times in New York moving our belongings out of storage (we have a lot of stuff).

Our trip across the country was uneventful. We saw no precipitation, it was windy, but not bad. The kids were perfect (thank you portable dvd player and big moving truck). Jared drove the truck I drove the car and we changed kids as needed. We arrived in Albany on April 1st.

The house was a bit more challenging than expected, but Jared can fix anything and he did. We stayed with family until we had heat, hot water, running water and the house had its first of multiple cleanings (it has been empty of almost three years). We are really starting to get the house together as we have found many treasures that have been in storage since 2006.

So as for my job offers the woman from the hospital did not return my phone calls, nor did the man from the local agency who wanted to hire me. I have been really nervous. We felt so prompted to move when we did, it was miraculous how quickly we moved, but the jobs that I had lined up fell through. Jared kept telling me things would work out and be fine. So I decided to trust him and he was right. I was offered and accepted a fabulous job making twice as much money as I expected, with excellent benefits, four weeks vacation, and it allows me to be at home until 4pm every day and a $3000 sign-on bonus. I am working as a clinical social worker for an insurance company making sure that people receive the appropriate treatment for their psychiatric and substance abuse problems. This job is perfect for our family. It allows me to do all of the things that I wanted to do, and gives me flexibility. It allows Jared to pursue the things that he would like to do and we can parent our children together.

So the last month has been crazy, yet peaceful. I have had the chance to organize my home before I go back to work. I have had time to reflect on my BYU experience. I have been surprised how much I missed check-outs, my RAs and my students. I felt as I drove from Utah that I was entering the lone and dreary world (the real world is not so bad). I am helping my children adjust to our new life, and have established some good habits. All in all it has been a month of growth.

Life is good on the farm ( I like to think that I happen to live in the house that has three huge barns next to it). I will post pictures when I finish my projects...the transformation will be amazing. Michael and Tori are happy. Michael's first word every morning is tradu (tractor) and today Tori sobbed because her dad mowed her beautiful garden of yellow flowers (dandelions).