I’ve decided in a way that there is so much that goes
through my head that never makes it to a sheet of paper to be remembered. So much happens in my head, my mind doesn’t
ever stop turning. I’ve learned just at
this moment that that is where Sierra gets if from… Me… Anyways, my mind goes at a very rapid pace
and there is so much I think about, contemplate, ponder and wonder that what
ends up happening is that I continue to cycle through all these thoughts/topics
and I end up contemplating each topic/idea so far and then my mind goes on to
the next thing. I compare it to when you
are downloading multiple things at once on a computer or phone or whatever, and
you seen the download percentage, on file at 4%, then other at 16%, then 3
others at 45%, 88%, and 32%. Anyways,
lots of thoughts in my mind tend to be this way. So many things are buffering but I sometimes
feel like it’s really hard to complete the thought or get an answer to what I’m
searching for. I decided that we are
experiencing so many fun things in our lives right now at the stage of life we
are in and unless we write it down or record it somewhere, it will never be
remembered but a faint thought or turn into a lost treasured moment that gets
lost forever. Kenz and I have been so
busy with life, just like every other young family our age, and who has time to
record the memory in anyway but whip out our cell phone and snap a picture or
video of the happenings. So that’s how
our family’s memories have been recorded in the past 5.5+ years of marriage,
pictures, videos, all stored on iPhoto and we pray that our computer never
crashes and we lose our little family’s memories. So, Kenz and I have decided we are going to
record our thoughts, life events, special insights on a little blog. This isn’t a cry for attention or anything
else, but more the purpose is for us to record the little thoughts, memories
for ourselves, and if people want to read along and stay in touch with our
family, great, we love that. We recently
left lots of our friends and family in Utah and moving to Twin Falls. Hopefully this is a way that we can keep in
touch with lots of those of you we miss and wonder how you are. So what I’m going to do to start this whole
blog is to kind of back track to almost a year ago because we had so real eye
opening experiences that are worth recording.
Back in May of last year, we were able to complete a large
milestone in our family’s life. Dad was
finally done with school forever! What a
ride, a stress relief, such a happy time.
The graduation, festivities in and of itself could be its own blog post,
but to say the least, it was such a purely happy time in our lives. For years, each and everyone of us sacrificed
in our own way so that we could support our family together, and this avenue
was for me to obtain my Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Sierra was born the first semester I was at
The U, Noelle born right before finals of my last academic semester. Most of my whole family was able to attend
the graduation and festivities, and I can’t explain how great it felt to
accomplish that aspect of life.
Through the spring a year ago we searched and searched and
searched for answers from above to know where we should work, raise our little
family etc. This is a decision each and
everyone of us face and it literally took over our lives during arguably the
most stressful time in our lives. I knew
that I wanted to work in a home health setting, but at the time I was trying to
contemplate the dollar figure, with autonomous work environment, with work
schedule, the people I get to work with, cost of living, how I was going to
repay all these student loans I needed to get the degree I received etc. In Dec 2015, I remember looking at a job
posting for a company called Encompass Home Health and they were looking for a
PT in Twin Falls, Idaho. Kenz grew up in
Rupert and we had been to Twin several times.
Anyways, for whatever reason, I felt really prompted that I needed to
apply for this job. I would graduate for
another 6 months, but for whatever reason, I felt a strong urge that I should
apply. So I did… The day after I submitted the application, I
got a call from the Branch Director called and was very interested. We chatted over the next few weeks and sure
enough an offer came. So here we are and
I have this really good job offer to move to of all places Twin Falls,
Idaho. Anyways, Kenz and I at the time
weren’t ready to just jump into the saddle and go. We felt that we needed to keep our options
open. We weren’t sure we wanted to live
in a smaller town, away from all the conveniences and friends we had made in
Utah. Like a good Branch Director, she
followed up with me, and I had nothing to report that we just weren’t sure we
were ready to move yet. I look back and
I probably would’ve hated that I offered a job to this guy who couldn’t make up
his mind. Anyways, I started meeting
with more people in Utah who I thought could be potential employers. We ended up getting an offer with a company
that I interned with the summer prior to work as a home health therapist in
SLC. The perk was this company was a non
profit company and if I worked for them for 10 years, all my student loans
would be forgiven. Sounded like a great
deal to me. We’d make enough to get by
and more, raise our kids in a place that we were comfortable with, be close to
some family, have all the conveniences life offered. We went to the temple, prayed, fasted, did
everything we could to decide between the two good options. We didn’t get a direct answer at all. There was no clear answer we could get about
what direction we should go. As the dad
and husband, I felt at a loss as here I am supposed to be leading my family and
I’ve got no direction at all.
Zilch. Both options were good and
so we just went with where I was most comfortable which was with the company I
interned with. We planned on staying in
Utah and see how things went.
Well after graduation, the board exam, and licensing came
through, I started working. Long story
short, the job was not everything I had hoped for. I had a hard time making the money we needed
to save for a home and accomplish the financial goals and stability we
desired. I held in and just had faith
that Heavenly Father would provide. I worked hard, I did all I could to do what
I knew, but life was hard. One morning
at the end of June I went on a run in the AM just as the sun was coming
up. I was just running circles around
this park near our home and got this absolutely sick feeling that I had made
the wrong choice. I remember to this day
sitting on our little patio on the 3rd floor condo we were renting
at 6:30 AM thinking, why in the world am I getting this feeling now? I’m already all in where I’m at and I can’t
just switch now, That Twin Falls job is probably not even available
anymore. I remember sweaty and all,
walking in and waking Kenz up and telling her, I don’t know if I made the right
choice. She couldn’t believe the thought
either after all the tormenting stress we had been through just coming to the
decision that we were going to take the Utah job. I remember being so confused and frustrated
that I was feeling the way I was. I
somehow brushed it out of my mind and carried on doing with what I committed
to, and with the decision we made. Out
of curiosity, I looked and the Twin Falls job was still available. But, I checked again out of curiosity about a
week later and it had been taken down.
So I just brushed the curiosity out of my mind and again went all in
with where I was at. But that didn’t
last long, I kept having promptings in that direction, so I finally reached out
to the Branch Director in Twin Falls, and asked if she had anything
available. To our excitement, we found a
place I could fill and we committed to move at the end of the month. We packed up, mostly Kenz while I worked with
the patients I had, we loaded up the biggest UHaul we could get, (and it still
didn’t fit everything we had. We had to
leave a bunch of stuff in my brother Shane’s garage who conveniently lived one
building over. I drove this Fat Uhaul
with the 96 Honda on a tow hitch fully loaded with a bunch of judd we couldn’t
fit in the truck and made the journey north to more rural, farmland filled Twin
Falls.
Looking back, it was a miracle we were able to find a place
to rent in Idaho as the rental market was virtually non-existent compared to
KSL classifieds in Utah. We were able to
move into a nice comfortable home around the corner from a friend I went to PT
school with.
Looking back, for whatever reason Heavenly Father saw fit,
He decided to teach us through experience.
We literally came to a fork in the road.
A very bumpy road at the time, may I add. We took the road we felt good about and we
ran into a dead end. I can’t tell you
how much stress, emotional fatigue and anguish I went through, Kenz went
through and I’m sure Sierra and Noelle had to go through as I figuratively
stopped the car at the dead end wondering what the judd I was doing at a dead
end when I did everything that I was prompted to do. We back tracked, took the other fork in the
road, but instead of taking the alternative fork with a grudge or wonder if we
were going the right way, we took the alternative fork knowing with complete
confidence that we were going the direction we were supposed to at that time in
our life. We were able to move forward
with faith. I had a little bit of a
confused state with Heavenly Father wondering why he didn’t just tell us the
“right” way to go in the first place. We
would’ve had confidence taking that path if He just told us in the first place
right? Why did we have to take the dead
end route and be worse off financially because of it? I came to realize that we wouldn’t have
learned some important key lessons that we hold so dear to our hearts now if we
didn’t go through what we went through.
I’ve never really questioned anything God has prompted me to do, I just
follow the prompting no matter what. So
we have felt like Heavenly Father really directed us to be where we are at for
whatever reason that is, we are confident in that and have faith in that.
So here we are living in the land of canyons, big
waterfalls, Chobani, Cliff Bar, potatoes, beets and corn, happy to make friends
and raise our little family and continue to follow our dreams and make them
happen. We have contemplated over the
past 3 months if we like where we’re at.
Do we want to transfer to Boise or Utah to have more convenience that we
enjoyed in Utah? We’ve come to the
decision and answer that we are where we are supposed to be for now. We recognize how much Heavenly Father has blessed us and we are very thankful for the blessings we've received and the constant
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