Our New Home

Well, we have been here for a week! I can't believe it. It has gone by really fast. I am sure tired of boxes, though. It feels like all I have looked at for a month is boxes... but now they are all empty and ready to go out in the recycling!



We were so blessed to find this home. It is in a beautiful area full of trees and about 1/2 mile from a small lake! Last night we went to Cinema Under The Stars a free outdoor movie that the city of Everett puts on during the summer! It doesn't get dark here until after 9:30 so it was a pretty late night for the kids, but we really enjoyed it.



It has been hard being in a new place. We can't find anything without a GPS, how does anyone get around here without it, there's so many trees you can never tell where you are! There's no friends to ride bikes with or meet at the park, so we've had to improvise! We found the public library and the city website with the list of free things to do all summer, and so we are trying to keep busy!



We are lucky to have a big backyard and en extra room in the house just for toys! Really we feel like this is the perfect place for us. It's just a challenge getting back into life. Any suggestions?

A sigh of relief!

I can't begin to describe the tension and stress that the last couple of weeks have held for us. We love being with my family and are grateful to all of my sisters for helping to play with and watch our kids. It sure makes a huge difference for them to have some of their favorite people around to entertain them!
Yet, it is unbelievably stressful to not have a plan for life even a day in advance. So, we've been praying and fasting and praying and feeling tons of comfort... just not any clear answers. Today! We have answers! On Friday Josh received a tentative job offer from Northwest Hospital, contingent upon a reference check. We weren't sure if he should accept being we were hoping for a job at the University of Washington Medical Center. They said that they would get back to Josh on Monday or Tuesday.
After a long weekend of discussion, we decided that the Northwest Hospital offered many great benefits over the University Hospital. So even though we hadn't heard from the University Hospital we decided to accept the job offer at Northwest Hospital.
Since we had decided on a job, we needed to now decide on a home. We spent all day Saturday driving around the Seattle area, with all 3 kids, and a GPS. It was a very long day.... and we didn't find anything we liked that we could afford. It was quite depressing.
So Sunday we went again to Craigslist searching for homes. I had a minor emotional breakdown... but I think 1 emotional breakdown in a month of craziness is pretty good! In the end Josh sweetly reminded me that everything was going to workout and we planned another long day in Seattle searching. This time without children (Thanks Whitney!)
And guess what! We found a perfect house! It's older but with a large front yard and a large fully fenced backyard. All grass! Imagine that! I haven't seen that much grass in a long time! The landlord takes super good care of the property so it has new carpet and new appliances in the kitchen. It looks awesome!
Today Josh also officially accepted his job offer at Northwest Hospital and he starts orientation on Monday.
We have always known that our prayers would be answered, but sometimes it's difficult to remember that we are not alone. We feel so blessed today and so grateful for the love of our Heavenly Father. We have a job and a home and beautiful healthy children (I haven't had to give Liz any medication for the entire 2 weeks we've been here... she usually does 4 puffs of an inhaler per day and a teaspoon of Zyrtec every night) It truly is a miracle!
Just remember that no matter what twists and turns life throws at you, we have a loving Heavenly Father who guides us an directs us each step of the way and truly brings miracles into our lives!

Our Trip

Well, thanks to the help from many friends, we were able to pack up and leave really quickly! The Relief Society sisters and my long time friend, Jennifer, all spent an entire morning cleaning every inch of my house. It was amazing to accomplish what it would have taken me all day, in just a couple of hours! We really appreciate the service given by so many, so willingly! Then we had the Elder's Quorum and the Young Men helping load the truck. (We probably should have gotten a bigger one) It was packed superfast with all of the men that were there helping!
We spent the rest of our day with my Brother and his family. We will miss them so much! I hope our little Madee doesn't forget us!
Saturday morning we piled into the car, took the rest of the trash to the dumpster, and headed away. We were teary eyed as we said goodbye to a home that was so good to us! We loved being in a house finally! We loved having grass and wonderful neighbors! We made great friends in the 8 months we lived in that house! Of course we weren't really excited for the 30 hour drive we had ahead of us...
These are pictures we took in Ely, Nevada. We stopped at a park to eat lunch and let the kids play. They were running all over like crazy and screaming at the tops of their lungs. This was a much needed stop!

Moving to Seattle

Well, it has been a whirlwind week! I think that an important part of life is learning to deal with the twists and turns, and finding joy in every path that God sends us on. At least that's what we are learning this week.
On Monday Josh came home from a long day at work, like always, tired and hungry. As we were talking he mentioned that he had met with his manager and discussed his year end evaluation. Of course everything was great as he has been progressing well and learning a lot in the ER. He had even received a raise. After he told me about his evaluation he mentioned that he was supposed to meet with the HR department the next day at noon. He knew that the Hospital was having financial difficulties and thought that perhaps they were going to be reducing the health benefits. So we prepared ourselves for a possible slight disappointment the next day.
When Josh got home from his meeting on Tuesday he told me that he had been laid off. The hospital was doing mass layoffs and they had to lay off 4 nurses in the ER alone. Even though Josh has worked for the hospital for 5 years, he had only been employed in the ER for about 8 months which left him one of the least experienced nurses in the ER.
I can not even describe to you the shock that we both felt. I think that it took several hours to really grasp what it meant to be jobless. However, the hospital is giving a severance package and cashing out his PTO bank, so we still have about 6 weeks of pay, and they will COBRA our insurance for 12 weeks. So even though we are jobless, we are not hopeless!
For the last couple of weeks we have been feeling strongly that we needed to prepare to move. We had discussed how we would love to move to Seattle and work at the University of Washington Hospital, and go to school at the University of Washington! But at this point it was still feeling like a dream.
However, Josh needed to complete his 2nd year as a nurse to receive the remainder of his sign on bonus (which would have been in 2 weeks) and we are in a lease with our house until the end of November. So even though we had been discussing a move, we did not think that it would be happening very quickly.
It's amazing how the Lord prepares us for the twists and turns when we don't even realize He is!
Tuesday night we went to the Temple to be comforted and to get guidance. And that is exactly what we got! We came home with a firm faith that the Lord will provide for us in this scary time. We felt that Josh would be able to get a job and that we were definitely going to be moving. We don't feel scared anymore... we're very excited!
Wednesday morning Josh began filling out applications for nursing positions he was qualified for at the UW Medical Center. Wednesday afternoon he received a call from the nurse recruiter and Friday morning he had a telephone interview with the manager of the Radiology Department! We do not know yet if he will be hired, but the nurse recruiter told Josh that she was determined to place him in their hospital! So we'll see what happens. It is sometimes difficult to have faith that Heavenly Father will provide for us when we can't see into the future to view the results! Maybe that is exactly what we need to learn in this experience. We are determined to just be faithful and diligent! (That's what we've been teaching the kids in Primary... that in order for the Holy Ghost to guide us, we have to be faithful and diligent)
After days of talking about what we are going to do and how we are going to do it, we have come up with very little! At the temple I felt that my responsibility in this trial was to get our family packed and ready to go. Josh hasn't had the motivation to pack, since he doesn't yet have a job. I can't deny my guidance from the Holy Ghost, so after talking today we decided that we just need to do what the Lord says to do even if we don't know why. So we are packing and planning on leaving very soon. There really is no point in staying here since Josh won't be applying for jobs in Las Vegas... so we might as well go visit my family in Washington until we know exactly where Josh will be working!
(I know that this is a really long post, and probably very boring... but the documentation is important for my journal!)
Now, to top it all off, Jorgan has been really sick for 3 days. And Rachel does not cope with change well. So with all the packing, the mess, and the non-routine way that life has gone this week... we have Rachel and Jorgan who are constantly crying and Elizabeth who is bored out of her mind! Josh took the girls to see Toy Story 3 tonight... so hopefully they will feel better tomorrow.
Well, I think that is everything for now... when we know if Josh has a job, I will update again. Until then... no pictures because my house is a disaster and that would be too embarrassing!

Our little Pianist

This is Jorgan when he finally found a solution to his height problem! I have a feeling that this will not be the last time I find him getting into things that should be too high for him!

Coconut

We have a sister in our ward who is over Emergency Preparedness and she occasionally sends out emails when she can find great deals on food for food storage and stuff. Last week she sent out an email about a fresh fruit and vegetable co-op that delivers to various areas in Las Vegas. So I went on the website, bountifulbaskets.org and ordered a $15 basket of fresh fruits and vegetables. You don't get to choose what comes in your basket, in fact I didn't know what I was getting until I picked it up. But I was pleased with the produce I received and felt like I had gotten a ton of fresh produce for my $15. Anyways, amongst other things, we had 2 coconuts in our basket! I have never had fresh coconut before... so I had to google how to even open them! But here are the kids as we experiment with our first coconut! None of them liked it, though they all tried it. Not even Josh would drink the coconut water! So unless anyone has an amazing recipe for fresh coconut... they will just be a fun experiment!

Sleeping Baby

At night Josh and I check on the kids before we go to bed. When I saw Jorgan asleep like this propped up in the corner of his bed, I had to stifle my laugh! Josh ran and got the camera, and even with the bright flash in the dark room he didn't wake up! I did lay him down and cover him up before we went to bed, but he was sure cute sleeping sitting up!