We Are Moving . . . Somewhere

In December Greg and I started talking about him doing a Doctorate program in Education Administration. We decided that now is better than later with kids growing and life never going to slow down. This spring as we started to apply for programs and think about our options, our options seemed to be dwindling. A program we were planning on didn't accept him because it is a more faculty based program and not administration. Another program we were hoping for decided not to offer the program at all this Fall. I being a financial nerd started to run numbers and trying to figure out how we were going to pay for graduate school and things were going to be extremely tight. Greg adjunct teaches an average of 8 credits a semester and can't keep up the teaching schedule along with his own school schedule. But we can't afford schools costs without him teaching and we are determined to not take out any loans. Greg wears many "hats" in his current job. Although he really loves his job and we really love Snow College and living in Ephraim and our beautiful home and neighborhood and the elementary school . . . We love a lot of things about our current situation. But Greg is an extremely hard worker and we have been going, going, going for years now and we both are feeling the need to take a step back, work a little less and spend time as a family a little more.

Early in our marriage Greg applied for jobs all the time, not because he didn't like his current ones, just always on the look out for better opportunities. Greg hadn't applied for any jobs in years but in March decided to look at some Higher Education job boards. He found that not only are there a lot of jobs that he is really qualified for, they have a much higher salary than he makes now. And so he started applying, just to see what opportunities would open to us. He applied for about 30 jobs and at first it didn't seem like anyone was going to offer even an interview. But then he got a call, and another, and another, etc. He turned down several interviews after talking with them and finding more out about the positions. Only about 7 schools didn't call for an interview. He had several phone interviews and has now traveled to 5 different schools for on campus interviews, 4 of them being out of state. Right now he has accepted a position with Utah State University CEU campus in Price, Utah. When he accepted the position he let them know that he had been and would be traveling to some other schools for interviews and if an offer came that we felt better about, that we would take it. And Price said, we understand. He turned down an offer with Southern Oregon University and has yet to hear from Washburn in Topeka Kansas, LaCrosse in LaCrosse Wisconsin and Tacoma Community College in Tacoma Washington. He also just got a call for a phone interview for an Associate Vice President position at a school in Illinois. It is hard to pass on what could be a great opportunity, but we also need to know where we are headed with Greg's last day at Snow College being June 15.

I am extremely grateful that so many people have noticed and valued his skills and talent. I am going to miss a lot of things about our current situation and the move is very bittersweet. I am very nervous to get our house sold at a good price and to move to a new place where we don't know anyone and to uproot our 4 kids from their friends and school. Well we are the only friends Kenai knows:) I am most excited for the opportunity to slow down. Although school and a new full time job will be busy, we have made a promise to each other to not run for city council, join the PTA, be in charge of any festivals or committees or be on an Cooperative boards or run any home businesses. We are going to really try to simplify and focus on our young and rapidly growing children. And that I am really excited for.

When we moved to Ephraim I really felt like we were starting over, moving from a nice home into student housing. At first I felt like we are starting over again until after much thought and prayer, I realized that there is no starting over. This is just part of our journey! We are extremely blessed and we are in a much better position now than we were when we moved 6 years ago. And we are moving to a job that will require less time and pay more money. We will see how the next chapter of our lives plays out.