WA HOOOOO!!!

We have had one of the biggest roller coaster rides in our life and finally, finally the ride is over!! Kurt got a job!! Since moving here Kurt has helped his brother, Jon, with his Masonry company but he has had slim to no work these last couple of months. Kurt also has been substitute teaching in Iron county but since the summer started he hasn't been doing that. So Kurt had a full time job trying to find work. It was been really hard and there has been a couple of frustrating moments applying for jobs. First of all he had put in too many applications to count. Whenever he turned in an application the receptionist would always put it right on top of all the other 50 applications. He actually came close to getting a job at State Bank but after the interview process we heard they pretty much did an ini mini miney mo between Kurt and another guy. The other guy prevailed. Then we heard of a security position at the iron mines. Kurt went applied, had to take a test and write a mock security report. Kurt worked security for Turtle Bay in Hawaii while going to school so he knew exactly what he was doing. Kurt called for a follow up on his application and the receptionist told him he got the highest score they've ever had on the test and mock scenario and that they were going to give him a call on Monday. Monday rolled by and no call. Kurt called them again on Tuesday and the HR guy answered. He told Kurt that the position had been filled a month ago and was sorry the other lady told us it was still open. We were SO frustrated by these two incidents. We were praying, and everyone, except me, was fasting, nursing you know, for us to get a job. We've had some high high's, Kurt being a stay at home dad, and some low low's. But even through everything we knew that there was something better out there for us and we just had to learn patience. Kurt just so happened to do a round of calling one day to see if anybody was hiring and this place called Nampac aka "the bucket factory" was. So he went in filled out an application and a week later they had him do a phone interview with a lady from corporate. The word corporate always reminds us of The Office. So he thought the interview went great but nobody called when they said they were going to. They finally called again a whole week after they said they were going to call. For those who have never done this interview process it seemed like months to us. Anyways, the second interview was at the actual plant with the plant manager, one of the shift supervisors, Kurt was applying for the other shift supervisory position and I can't remember what the other guy does. Again he felt like he did well but at the end of the interview the plant manager let Kurt know that out of 300 applications only 38 people had phone interview and only 3 people got a second interview. They still had the other two people to interview. We were supposed to hear something from them by the end of the week. After two whole miserable weeks they finally called for a third, yes really a third interview. This time a conference call with the Vice President of the company. We were peeing in our pants. We had emotions from being excited to being scared and nervous. We were wrecks!! We were hoping the third interview was more of a welcome/you got the job type of thing. It wasn't! The V.P. came out with swinging questions and Kurt did his best to hit him back. Since it was a conference call the plant manager would write the answers to some of the questions on a pad of paper so Kurt could give the right answer. That made Kurt feel good. After the interview the V.P said that was a great interview, apparently something he has never said before, and the HR rep said she was really impressed by him. But still nothing final like, "When can you start?" Kurt had to get a physical, drug screen, and a background check and then we were expected to get a letter in the mail letting us know if he got the job. Today we were so giddy going to the mail, hoping The Letter was going to be there, but nothing. We walked in the house, sat down for no more than ten minutes when Nampac called. Kurt had got the job!! The letter is in the mail but instead of starting on August 22nd like the letter will say they need him on the 17th!! So yes, Kurt is the Night Shift Supervisor, but it's actually more like the swing shift, for North AMerican PACkaging that makes and sells buckets all over the US.

AHHHHHH!!!

We knew things were going to have to start to pick up for us. They really couldn't get any lower. This was a real testimony booster for us. There were times when one of us would get depressed, start wondering what we were doing wrong, and then the other one would be there to pick you up. We heard stories of other people who went through the same exact situation and they said that when they got their job, they knew then that the Lord was just waiting to give them the perfect job. We seriously will never forget this time in our life. With Kurt being home it has been so much fun! The timing on everything was perfect with Alia being born and him being there to help me. You really learn how to count your blessings when that's all you have. It's also amazing how much you learn and how much you are blessed through your trials. A concept I've always been sad to think about but none the less amazes me when I look back at all the blessings that really come from trials.

So now a time for celebration! We're going out for ice cream. A couple of weeks ago Drew wanted to get some ice cream at Maggie Moo's, a Cold Stone knock off that tastes just as good, but we told her we couldn't because we don't have money because Daddy doesn't have a job. Drew has faithfully been keeping track of our situation.

"Mommy, can we get ice cream?"

"Nope."

"Because Daddy doesn't have a job?"

"Yup."

Ice cream has never sounded SO good!