i thought it wise to update you on our imminent move across the country. this will very likely be my last post before the move but don’t worry, after we get to seattle, i’ll have no friends and plenty of time to blog. and, this is going to be a long one, but there are some pictures at the end to reward you.
so, we’re moving to seattle. it’s been a very crazy 2 weeks, and we have a very crazy 2 weeks ahead of us.
going all the way back to
july of 2012, we found out we were staying in iowa city. honestly, northwestern mutual wasn’t ever our first choice for bryan’s career, but it was the best option at the time and bryan doesn’t shy away from hard work. and we were excited to stay in iowa city with all of our dear friends and near my family in ames.
northwestern mutual proved to be exactly what we thought it would be. it’s a fantastic company with fantastic products (really, i have nothing bad to say about northwestern mutual as a whole). however, bryan was starting from the bottom and responsible for finding 100% of his own clients. as i said before, bryan doesn’t shy away from hard work, but this obstacle was exactly why the company wasn’t ever our first choice for bryan’s career.
i will also say that bryan has done a great job! he’s met most of his personal goals, helped a lot of people and passed his series 6 license exam all within 6 months of his start date, he’ll take (and most definitely pass!) his series 63 license exam next tuesday as well. being a financial advisor excites him, he’s great at it and truly cares about people and their needs.
as 2012 went on, we continued to discuss and keep an open mind about bryan’s career. there aren’t a lot of other options in iowa city. we were content in iowa city and content with our jobs, but we really felt the need to be forward and that was not happening. frankly, we were surviving, nothing more.
in the beginning of december, we were talking to bryan’s parents on the phone, and his mom mentioned a possible job opportunity in seattle…for me. a lady in her office was retiring in march of 2013 and as my mother-in-law described it, her job was “tailor-made” for me.
while this was exciting, it was an unexpected opportunity so i didn’t quite know what to do. we struggled and prayed throughout the whole month of december, asking God to show us what He thought of this. namely, i struggled between my strong to desire to have children and my strong desire to see my husband find a job he’s great at and he loves. taking a job in seattle would mean more waiting to have kids, but there was a good chance that bryan would be able to find a job he loves.
at the end of december, i felt that i should at least submit my resume and see what they think of me. so on december 31st, i called the owner of the company, mentioned that my mother-in-law referred me to the job, and told him i was interested. he was kind and took down my information and told me to send him my resume.
[side-note: i’ve never actually had to put together a resume before and i’ve actually really never had to interview for a job. people just walk up to me and offer me jobs-ha!]
i worked hard on my resume that week and after my in-laws gave me a lot of feedback and edits, i sent it on january 4th. every time i looked at the “education” section of my resume, i grimaced…no college degree=no chance at a job like this. we decided to keep my application under wraps until i heard something more hopeful, because it was very likely that i wasn’t going to get the job and nothing was going to change.
and i didn’t hear anything at all until february 1st!
january was a very painful month, but i think it was for the best. i died to myself several different times. i died to my desire to be a mother, i died to my desire to go a new adventure to seattle, i died to my desire to control everything. meanwhile, bryan and i decided that if i didn’t get the job, bryan would start to look for other options for his career anyway.
i also discovered that i really wanted to move to seattle (as did bryan). i was determined to be content either way and to stay present and productive in my current job and life. but as each day of january passed without hearing anything from seattle, i was more and more disappointed at the thought of not getting this job.
finally, in late january, bryan’s mom called me to tell me that they were going to call me soon to set up an interview. an interview, an interview, an interview! that’s at least something, at least i have a chance!
on february 1st, they finally did call and we set up my interview for the following wednesday, february 6.
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we cancelled our internet back in january (see above, “surviving”),
so layla and jeremiah let me steal their apartment and internet
for my interview over webex. i found this note, layla is the best! |
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| layla also texted me this picture right before my interview. ha! |
the interview went so great that i was pretty sure they were going to offer me the job, they promised to call to let me know the next day.
they called as promised and all within 2 hours on thursday, i got the job in seattle, bryan passed his series 6 exam, and our first nephew was born!
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| bryan with baby jonah! |
i’ll end with a small FAQ section:
- my start date in seattle is march 11th, my last day at veritas will be march 4th
- we are in the process of selling everything we own. my goal is to fit everything into 10 boxes to UPS over to seattle.
- we will be living with bryan’s parents for a little while until bryan finds a job
- the job hunt for bryan is officially on, with a lot of promising options
- we’re really excited! so excited that we haven’t really even felt super sad about it yet. i’m sure it will hit us eventually, we have some of the best people in our lives here in iowa.
whew! there you go. everything you wanted to know about our move across the country!
alsberries 