A Leap of Faith and a New Job

With the recent arrival of our little Felicity, Nate and I had some big decisions to make regarding employment and child care. These decisions weighed heavily on our minds throughout my pregnancy, and I hoped we would be able to make a decision regarding my returning to teaching or not next year by the time she arrived and my maternity leave started.

With the hope of me being able to quit my job and stay home full-time, Nate started seriously job hunting in January. He spent numerous hours searching for jobs, submitting applications, and had a few interviews but no job offers.

Felicity arrived, and I told my principal that I would let him know my decision as soon as I could, but without Nate getting a better paying job or at least better health insurance, I wasn't sure I could quit. In the meantime, we were starting to feel a time crunch as the school year came to an end. My principal was putting pressure on me to make a decision, and Nate still didn't have a job offer. Nate and I both wanted me to be able to quit and stay home with our girls, but it just didn't seem like it would be financially possible. I'm the one who carries our health insurance, and luckily our coverage lasts until the end of August so that bought us more time for him to continue job hunting.

So on the last day of school (May 27th), we took a leap of faith and I quit my job. I actually cried after I did it because I've loved teaching the past 9 years. We hoped and prayed that if we kept doing everything we should and Nate continued his search, that the Lord would bless us and everything would work out.

Within days of my officially quitting, Nate received a phone call for a 2nd interview for an operational analyst position with Zions Bancorporation (owners of Zions Bank and other regional banks throughout the western U.S.). He'd interviewed with them at the beginning of May and never heard anymore, so he figured they'd already filled the position. He passed the 2nd interview and a few days later had the final one. While he was waiting to hear from them he even had an interview lined up at another company, so things were definitely looking more optimistic. Last week, Zions called and offered him the job. What's even more amazing is there was never any discussion of salary during the interview process, yet when they offered him the job, the salary more than replaced the income we were losing from me quitting. And even more amazing, my health insurance coverage ends on August 31st, and he's eligible for benefits at his new job on September 1st. Another positive note is that Zions owns banks outside of Utah, so it may offer us a way to move out of Utah like we hope.

The only downside to the new job is the commute. Nate's current commute is about 6-7 miles and takes about 15 minutes. His new commute will be over 30 miles (one way) and probably take 30-45 minutes. I realize many people commute that far or longer for work, but for us it's a big change.

Nate's last day at his current job is July 1st, and he'll be starting at Zions on July 5th. We couldn't be happier that we took that leap of faith and just hope that Nate enjoys his new job, new coworkers, etc.