-Warning-
This is really long. It is the long version of how blessed Kelly and I have been over the last couple weeks and how God orchestrated so much in our lives.
So, lest you should not have time or interest in reading the following novel, here's the short version:
Blessings that all occurred in a week:
1. Kelly got a job
2. We found someone to take the rest of our contract for our apartment
3. We were blessed to receive nearly everything we need for our little girl from loved ones at a baby shower
4. We received an extra check from my work that covers everything we have left to buy before this baby is born
5. We found a buyer for our 2-door car before we even listed it for sale (we are buying a 4-door)
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I have been so overwhelmed by gratitude lately. I have considered writing this post many times but haven't quite known how to adequately express my thanks to all who have been blessings in our lives. I think I'll just give it a shot and hope all my thanks to God and others will come through alright.
First, the back story:
Kelly is graduating in three weeks. With his imminent graduation looming, we have been wondering what our next step is. Where are we supposed to work? Where and when do we move? Where is this little girl going to born? (I'm 30 weeks currently and moving super late into the pregnancy has never been a favored plan but one I kind of anticipated) Are we going to have a job? What job should we take? How are we going to afford a daughter?
So many questions existed, yet neither of us has been worried about them. Three and half years ago when we got married I would have been a basket case with so many big things happening all at once, and with so many unknowns. I'm a planner. Ideally, I like to know where we are moving. Like, exactly what apartment we are moving into, about 6 months before we move. I like to know everything. Luckily I have learned, like Nephi, to move forward anyway, "not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." God has shown me time and time again that He takes care of us.
We had been praying specifically for these things to be made known unto us, but we knew He would reveal them in His time, and not ours. I have learned that His timing always works out. And this time has been no exception. So many big things, at least, big things to us, came together all at once. These things I will mention may seem small, insignificant, or random to others, but to me they have been huge blessings that have completely opened up the door for us to start planning our next stage of life.
It started when Kelly got contacted by a recruiter for Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City several weeks ago. We had not considered applying there, but we had applied several other places at that time, and his chances of getting the positions seemed good. When we heard about applying for the Goldman job, we talked about it, prayed about it, felt good about it and decided the worst thing that could happen was that he wouldn't get it. As he already had pretty good connections elsewhere, we were not worried about being unemployed when the time came.
So we applied. The man we were in contact with told us they were moving fast and would call us the next day (Tuesday) to set up an interview for the following day (Wednesday) in Salt Lake. We never got a call. We never got set up for an interview. We figured: Well, they didn't want us. Whatever. And we moved on. That same week on Friday I left for Washington to spend a week with my parents and have a baby shower at home. Kelly figured he would be busy with work, school, an internship, and his club frisbee team (he's on two teams - coaches one and is a player on one). Well that was all true, but he also became busy with a ton of other things, all at once.
While I was driving to Pocatello to pick up a friend who would be driving home with me, I got a call from Kelly. He had received a call from Goldman Sachs and they wanted to interview him for a different position than he had originally applied for. He obviously accepted and awaited more information about his interview and the position. He got that confirmation Monday evening and his interview was set for the very next day, Tuesday.
Kelly researched the company, the their stock prices, their investments, the CEO, his own position he was applying for, everything he could find about the company. Then he drove down for his interview Tuesday morning. The interview had two parts. The first part was two people who were asking about what he knew about the job he was applying for. Kelly said after all his research, he never could quite get the answer to that question right, so eventually he just asked them "What will I be doing in this position?" To which he finally received an answer. There was more to that part, but all in all, he told me he was pretty sure he failed it. The second part of the interview he said went really well. It was two different people now, and some of the same plus lots of new questions. He really enjoyed these interviewers, but when he called me after the interview he said "It was good experience for me to interview with a company that large, but I'll likely not be hearing from them again." So we threw that job idea out of our minds.
With that idea gone, we moved on with our lives. That night was the baby shower I had gone home for. I had originally felt weird going all the way back to Washington, to a place I haven't lived in years, so that people could 'give me stuff.' Though I badly wanted to be there to see so many people who helped me become who I am and supported me and shaped me through young women's and high school and my early young adult years. We had no idea how many people would attend as it was week day and there were other things going on that evening. Well, much to our surprise, about 40 people showed up! It was supposed to be outside in my mom's beautiful yard where there was plenty of space, but of course that was the one day that week that is was rainy, so we were all inside. My friend Alyson and my mother co-hosted it, and it was beautiful. I wish I had taken time to take more pictures, but I was so busy talking so many people I care about and that I hadn't seen in years that I never got around to it. I drove to Washington owning essentially nothing for this little girl. I was so abundantly blessed by friends that there is now little else that I need to get! I could not believe it. I went through those gifts countless times in the days that followed, being in awe of everything, and feeling so grateful that others had blessed us to now be so prepared for her arrival. My lovely friends in Rexburg only added to the feeling this past weekend.
Two days later on Thursday, my mom and I were at the temple. As we walked out, I received a call from Kelly. He had been offered the position at Goldman Sachs. We had not actually talked about what we would do if we got it. That idea hadn't even been on the table. As we spoke, we thought we would actually turn it down, as the other positions he had applied for would actually pay better and be permanent. This job was just a temporary contracted position. We learned its basically how they work a graduated internship. They give you a contract so that if they don't like you, they don't have to keep you. Well after our own research, we decided we didn't want a permanent offer from them anyways at this point because they tend to work people to death and we didn't want to be stuck there forever if we didn't like it.
Before making a decision, Kelly decided to speak to the head of the accounting department, who is also a good friend and previous professor of his. Kelly then spoke to his boss at SIRI who also happens to be a professor of his and the person who submitted Kelly's resume to another potential employer. Kelly told them the situation and that he planned on not accepting it. They both pretty much gave him the same advice: you are not closing any doors by taking the Goldman Sachs job. If at the end of the contract, you hate it, you can still get a job anywhere and most likely have way more options because Goldman Sachs is now on your resume. "Take the job" was what he walked away with.
Thursday afternoon Kelly called me back and told me he was planning on accepting and asked how I felt about it. I actually felt surprisingly calm, considering this job came with no benefits and was on the lowest end of the pay scale of jobs he had applied for.
I was able to see the benefits that could come from this job:
--It would rev up his resume fast. Working with a global, billion dollar investment firm right out of college could open so many doors for him.
--If he decides he doesn't like this kind of work, then he knows early on in his career.
--If he doesn't like it, he could have so many other job offers because of his experience at Goldman, so finding another job shouldn't be too hard.
--If he likes it and wants a permanent position, his chances go up a ton of getting it since he already works there.
--If he got a permanent position at the end of it, his salary would likely double (because its a contracted position, they hire him through an agency, kind of like a temp agency, so they take a huge percent of his wage, which is why this job doesn't pay so well. Once it was permanent, it would be directly through Goldman so his pay would go up a ton.)
Once we decided to take the job, things really got moving. We would need to move in the end of July so we needed to find someone to take the last month of our housing contract here in Rexburg so we wouldn't be stuck with paying for two apartments in August. Just so you know, finding someone to take your housing contract in August is not easy. Most people leave Rexburg for the summer. They don't want to move in till September when school starts. We posted our apartment online anyway and got a couple hits, but like we suspected, it was people who wanted the apt in September. I randomly decided to post the apt on Facebook just in case someone knew someone that needed an apt in August.
Not more than 5 minutes later a friend of mine told me she had been looking and our apt fit all the requirements. I was blown away. I thought finding someone to take our apt would be the hardest part of making all the arrangements, yet less than 24 hours after Kelly had accepted his job, our contract was taken. I was quickly seeing every question we had asked and prayer we had offered be answered.
We had been provided with a job. We had found someone to take our apartment. I had been looking online for apartments in Utah and found plenty of options. We had been blessed with most of what we needed for our baby. I was simply overwhelmed and so grateful.
Remember, Kelly and I had been apart for all of these transactions. We had been communicating a lot, obviously, but had each been dealing with different parts of the arrangements. He was dealing with interviewing, researching and accepting a job (all while he still had work, school, and three day frisbee tournament in Cedar City). I had been dealing with getting rid of our apartment contract, searching for housing in Utah, and solidifying our needs for having a baby (or not needs, as the case may be. Like all the hours I spent making bows with my mom:) I think we make a pretty good team.
I arrived home to Rexburg Saturday evening, and Kelly got home about 4 in the morning from his frisbee tournament. On Sunday after church we went for a drive and reflected on everything that happened while we had been apart and how blessed we were. We then then remembered we hadn't been home to check the mail so we headed over to do that. In the mail was an envelope from work that looked like my pay stub. I usually don't do anything with those for a while because they don't contain anything I need, just a record that I got paid. Well this one had a sticker on the front that said "open, blah blah, something..." so I opened it. I totally forgot that I get paid for the sick days that I don't use. Due to that fact that I have been blessed with great health through this pregnancy, I didn't have to take very many, and was now being handed a check for almost the exact amount we had calculated we needed to buy the larger items that were left for having the baby.
I thought God couldn't possibly give me anything else, but it still wasn't over. We have 2 cars, one of which is getting old (subaru outback), and one that only has 2 doors (ford focus - good car, and we love it, but not ideal for a car seat). We had been praying about what to do with the car situation and hadn't really found an answer, when suddenly we felt like maybe we should sell both of our cars and just get one good 4-door option. In SLC we will be living close to all of the public transportation options which Kelly could take to work, and then we would really only need one car. So we decided to sell our cars. Right as we decided to list our cars for sale (but hadn't actually done so yet) Kelly's brother called and asked us if we ever wanted to sell our Focus and that if we did, he wanted to buy it (his wife will be going to grad school at BYU next year while he commutes to work at the Utah Tax Commission and they will need a second car).
Seriously? Again? Everything, I mean absolutely everything, has come together so fast for us to move on to this next stage in our lives. We can't believe it. I know a big part (or maybe all of it) has been our efforts to increase our offerings to the church, but I had do idea the blessings that would result could be this enormous. All we did was increase our fast offerings and in return He: gave us a job, a taker for our apt, a buyer for our car, almost every single thing we would ever possibly need for our baby, plus the extra money to buy the things we still needed.
I have not been able to stop thinking about Malachi 3:10 where it says: "Bring ye all the tithes (though in our case it was our fast offerings) into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
So happy for you and wonderful to see how you glorify God for the good he does in your life.
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