Christmas

Christmas Eve we drove down early in the morning to catch Dave and Charlene before they went up to her parents. The kids were very excited to see everyone and they totally got the idea of presents this year. It was more exciting for me as a mommy too to see them enjoying themselves. We then went to my Mom's house to hang out the rest of Christmas Eve. My mom has a tradition of opening all gifts to each other on Christmas Eve and then doing stockings and Santa gifts Christmas morning. They were very blessed even though everyone was tight financially. Sam was excited because he got some new tracks for his Hot Wheels. Evie got various princess type things and Melody gave her some beaded necklaces, bracelets, and earrings which she wore all day and then promptly lost or broke. LOL The joys of Christmas.

Christmas morning they played with all their new toys while we waited for Dianne and Stephanie to come over. We then opened all our Santa gifts and the stuff from them. We spent the rest of the day hearding and supervising children while they played with all their stuff. After a nice meatloaf for dinner we decided to just drive home so we could all sleep in our own beds. The kids crashed on the way home and slept through the night after all the hard playing. Overall it was a very fun weekend and one I think we will remember for quite a while.

Good News

Yesterday afternoon we finally heard from Dwayne's new boss about his salary for moving to Denver. Instead of offering him a raise they offered him a promotion. With the new promotion comes a huge pay raise. We will be making $15,000 more a year. That is huge and almost doubles what I was bringing in with my little part-time job. This news has been a huge relief and has lessened so much stress for us. So it looks official that we are going to Denver. We still don't have a set time line yet for moving but it looks like we are still heading for Feb 1st to be out there. Considering this is Christmas week, it will be next week before we can start lining things up with the moving companies, etc. I've also let my work know that next week will be my last week working. That will leave me available in January to get moved and packed and do all the things I still need to do.

I probably won't write again for a few days as we are traveling back to Oregon this weekend to spend time with family for Christmas. The kids are so excited to open all their presents. I'm so grateful we were able to do things for them this year and get gifts for each other. God has definately had his hand on our lives. Though it was a little tough there for a while. I think it makes the other side that much sweeter. Please pray that our transition will go smoothly.

Colorado It Is

Dwayne and I flew out to Denver Wednesday morning. My cousin Talia was very kind in babysitting my kids for two days while we went out on our scouting expedition. Sheri was able to drop us off at the airport and our plane was on time. Though we did get a little confused about which gate we needed to be at. Because it wasn't labled well we almost missed it but it worked out in the end. Getting through security is much easier than it used to be too. I haven't flown since shortly after 9/11 when everything was so ridiculous on what was allowed or not allowed. We read up on the regulations before we flew and had everything ready. I was even allowed to take my embroidery scissors through without even a blink of an eye.

We arrived in Denver to clear sunny skies and brown coloring wherever you look. Winter in Denver is not pretty. There wasn't even any snow to give it a winter wonderland kind of feeling. We got our rental car and with me clutching the map and attempting to be the navigator we proceeded into our new prospective home city. Luckily, we found the hotel without too much trouble. ProBuild put us in a Hilton in the tech area so it was a nice place. The hotel gives out free cookies in the evening and a free newspaper in the morning. We felt a little out of place but it sure was nice to be doted upon a little. And Dwayne and I hadn't had alone time in quite a while. After a quick bite in the hotel restaurant, Dwayne went off to his meeting while I dinked around the hotel. He came back so much more relaxed and calm. It was nice to see him not quite so stressed about the whole thing. I was a little frustrated though because they still haven't given him a firm deadline or salary. After a little talking though we decided that no matter what the money offer is, we will be moving. The choice before us is a for sure job with company paid moving expenses, or no job and only 3 weeks pay as compensation. With the job market the way it is right now, it just doesn't make sense to give up a sure thing. Dwayne's boss took us out to dinner at an expensive restaurant that evening. Company paid of course.

The next morning we woke up and got ready to run around town with the realtor. She had a few places lined up but there wasn't much available in our price range in the areas we wanted to look. The culture is a bit different in Denver than we are used to here in the NW. Because Denver is such a city of professionals and Denver is a city where many corporations have their corporate offices, the city is more "upper crust." Money is a bit more available and people have more of it. There are very few middle class houses available for rent. You can either afford a really expensive and nice house or you own a condo or live in an apartment community. There isn't many places for the people in between. The suburb that does have them, we found out, is considered the "ghetto" and not the place we would want to live. And until we lived there a bit and discovered the bad places on our own, I wanted to make sure we would be fairly safe. So we found a really nice apartment in the town I had my heart set on living in called Parker. Apparently, 80% of ProBuild workers live in Parker and it was highly recommended. When I visited the town website, I got excited as well. The town seems to be very nice with lots of community events. It is considered a suburb of Denver but far enough away to still have a small town feel to it. Douglas county also has the best schools in the state. I figured if worse came to worse and I had to send the kids to public school, I wanted it to be in a good area. Dwayne will only have about a 15-20 min drive to work.

Our realtor was from Seattle so she was very helpful in answering our questions and what we could expect as northwesterners coming to live there. The elevation will take some getting used too. People get a little bit of elevation sickness. I felt it a little while I was there but it wasn't too bad. Browsing throughout the day rather than large meals and lots and lots of water takes care of the worst of it. Also, Denver is very very dry compared to the NW. She said that was the hardest part to get used to. So I'll need to make it a habit to use moisturizer more often to combat that dryness. But the plus side is that I get over 300 days of sunshine to enjoy. Looking around was a bit weird for us. Everything is so open and spacious. I'm used to trees or hills or mountains or shrubbery blocking my view of things. You get the Rocky Mountains on one side and nothing on the other. People seemed very open and accepting the idea of my homeschooling the kids out there. Even the state-created welcome to Denver book had a section on homeschooling as a viable education choice and resources to help you get started. After some research, I found out that Colorado's schooling laws state very clearly that the parents are responsible and have the right to choose whatever education they feel best meets the needs of the child. Because of that, all of the schools in the Denver area have an "open" policy. You can pick whichever school you want for your children to go to, pending room of course. They have a wide variety of private, charter, public, online, and homeschooling options available. It is refreshing to talk about my choices without feeling defensive about my decision or feeling like I have a stigma attached to me as one of "those" parents. The state is largely Rupublican with Denver of course being more Democratic. But being a "big business" type of city it doesn't seem to be too far left. At least from what I have perceived so far.

Friday was spent traveling. We went to the airport far too early not sure how security was going to go. Our flight was uneventful and we even arrived in Portland early. We quickly grabbed the kids and headed home. Today I spent working all day while Dwayne caught up on laundry. So that is where we are at the moment. More decisions really can't be made until Monday and even then many people won't be available as it is Christmas week. I have a sinking sensation that we will be on pause for a couple weeks and then it will be a hurry up and rush kind of January. Please keep us in your prayers that we can find renters for our house quickly to help us get out of our lease and that our moving will be mostly uneventful.

We Have Water!

We finally got water Saturday afternoon. It was such a relief after 4 days of no water. Luckily, Dwayne's boss let us borrow 3 7-gallon containers full of water. Dianne was up to visit and very lovingly washed all our dishes for us. I thought that was very nice. We managed to make her some cupcakes and give her a birthday gift since her birthday is today. Friday, I got to take a shower. Dwayne's work has a shower facility since they have a small workout room for employees. I managed to sneak in there and use it. It was great to be clean after 3 days. We also had the ProBuild company Christmas party to go to that night. There was no way I was going to the party without a shower so I was very grateful they let me use it.

The party was kind of quiet and had a desperate feel to it. They lost so many employees this year. It was definately smaller. They did have a few door prizes but not as many as years past. They had maybe 10 prizes total. We did win something though! (Of course, not the things I wanted.) We got a George Foreman quesadilla maker. When they said a George Foreman and then Dwayne's name I groaned. I knew that I would never use the sandwich maker. When he brought it back to our table though and we got to look at it, I got excited. I'll actually use the quesadilla maker. I like quesadillas and they are something the kids will eat but I don't make them too often because I overfill them so much and the filling spills out all over the pan. Now we will be having quesadillas often!

Just to let everyone know, I won't be sending out Christmas cards until after the holidays and we have moved. I was going to send some out because I didn't last year but with the transition to Denver, I've got so much going on right now. Once we get moved and settled in our new home, I will send out a family newsletter and let you guys know what is going on and where we are at.

I probably won't write anything more here on the blog until after we get back from our scouting trip. We leave tomorrow afternoon to take the kids to Talia's who so graciously offered to watch our kids for us while we are gone. We then fly out Wed. morning. We will be back Fri afternoon but have to grab the kids and head home that night. I have to work Sat. morning. Please pray that we find a great place to live and Dwayne gets offered a killer raise.

No Water

Well, yesterday we woke up to it being about 6 degrees outside and our pipes frozen. We so rarely have this freezing cold up in the northwest that I didn't think about the possibility of no water and didn't take simple precautions like letting a faucet or two keep dripping. But of course we are now regretting it. Our toilets are full of stuff we can't flush, the sink and dishwasher is filled with dirty dishes, I have to get very creative with dinner, and to the kids' horror, I can't make them any juice. Most of the advice we have recieved says to put a space heater in the crawl space and let the pipes warm up that way. Dwayne made a trip to Home Depot yesterday since that is one thing we didn't have. Luckily he was able to find one of the last ones available for about $20. We had it running under the house last night but it got so cold, I don't think it did much except keep the worst of the cold at bay. I'm hoping today it will get warm enough above freezing to unlock the pipes and we can see if there is any damage. I'm debating on whether or not I should call the landlord and demand she get a plumber out here to help us. As tenants we have the right to water, however, if we can suffer through it for a day or two, the forcast says it should warm back up to above freezing temperatures. I may just buckle down and buy enough water to at least get a flush or two out of the toilets and make the kids some juice. If I don't see any results by tomorrow, I'll probably be calling the landlord.

In work news, I finally started hearing from Dwayne's company yesterday regarding moving stuff. I was relieved to finally start seeing some progress but a little overwhelmed with everything that was being thrown at me as I received all the information within a couple of hours. But I have a contact person for everything relocation related and what is covered or not covered in Dwayne's policy. The realtor should be lined up today and we have our plane and hotel reservations. So it is official, we will be flying out to Denver next Wednesday for a company paid scouting mission. Please pray that things fall into place easily and it is very clear that this is the direction God wants us to take. Career-wise it makes sense so we are moving forward unless something tells us to stop.

It looks like we are moving.

Well, it looks like we are officially moving to Denver. Dwayne put in a counter offer to the company on Friday and didn't get a rejection out of hand but a we'll see what we can do. So we know we are going to get a raise of some kind. That is really exciting. We are flying out on the 16th-18th to do a scouting expedition. Thankfully, Talia has agreed to watch the kids those few days so we can go. It will be a good opportunity for them to get to see and know the kids before we have to take off for real. We should be getting a lot more information next week to help us line up some places to look at, the moving company we need to call, when we really need to be out there, etc. It is going to be an interesting juggle to get everything lined up just right. If worse comes to worse though, Dwayne can fly out and start working and the kids and I will drive out to meet him. My biggest concern is just going to be finding a place to live. Once I have a place to go, the rest of the stuff in my brain will work out no matter the timeline.

So I've been doing a little research about Denver. It should be a really nice city to live in. It is within a couple of hours from the ski slopes (though I don't ski), it has more city parks per capita then any other city, has lots of museums and other cultural stuff to discover, and the most important, a new zoo to discover! It also has one of the best pediatric hospitals in the country, you know, just in case the worst happens. Denver has on average 300 days of sunshine a year, though not all of those sunny days are warm. LOL I don't know what I'm going to do with all the sunshine. Melt probably. It does get snow but locals say that it usually melts pretty fast in the city. You might get only one or two storms a year that shuts things down for a couple of days but the rest of the time it is manageable and the city keeps on working just fine. Though the snow does stay and stick around obviously in the nearby mountains. The views are breathtaking and Denver works really hard on its pollution and clear air policies so you actually get to see those beautiful mountains most of the year.

So there are many things to look forward to and I'm actually starting to get excited. I think I'll get more excited once a few more things line up but this should be a fun and exciting adventure.

Colorado!?

This last week has been fine. Just the same routine of cooking, working, harnessing the kids, etc. Then out of the blue yesterday Dwayne calls me and asks if I am ready to move to Denver. I was silent for a few seconds waiting for the punchline and nothing was forthcoming. "What? Really? Wait, what is going on?" He then told me that he would get more details in a half-hour or so when he was done with his conference call with HR. Apparently his boss has decided to accept a managerial position at a physical store. Because his requirements were to stay in the area because of his family, they allowed the team to stay on the west coast. Now that he is moving to a new position the rebates team will be relocated to Denver as the corporate office originally wanted. What this means is that Dwayne still has his job. They don't have any intentions of replacing him but he will be required to relocated to Denver. They have a very generous moving package to help us with that. If he decides not to relocate then all we get for compensation is 3 weeks of pay and some counseling to help find a new job. It's almost like if he would just quit the position. So technically, he isn't layed-off.

After the initial shock, my first thought was when do we have to move? I didn't even have too many questions on if we even should. I think we would be foolish to not take a position that is guaranteed and basically handed to us on a silver platter. Especially with the job market the way it is right now. I have too many friends and family who are struggling because they can't find any work. If we do this, it will be very very quickly. They anticipate having room for him at the latest Feb. 1st. So that gives me about 6-8 weeks to figure this out and get moved out there. I'm trying really hard not to freak out.

Dwayne is going to check out a couple local options today and then put in a counter offer to HR on Friday. They are offering to give him the same pay he is getting now. That would be 3 positions within the company that he would have not received any kind of raise. We are hoping to get at least $10,000 more a year because that will make up for the little bit I was bringing in with my part-time position. Please pray that they accept and we will be covered in that way.

So as of now, it looks like we are going to accept and be moving to Denver, Colorado in the middle of winter. How do I mentally prepare to move my family not just 2 hours drive away but two days? I will have to make sure we keep our communication lines open with the family. I'll do my darndest to keep up on the blog and I think I may check out Skype. Then the grandmas can talk to the kids over the internet and get to see them at the same time. Wow. I'm still in shock. I hope I know as early as the beginning of next week on what I need to do and whom to call. I hate not knowing my path and what I should be doing.