Good-bye and Hello

This summer had been a lot busier than it seemed to be. Maybe it seemed to drag on because I was sick through most of the latter part, but Clay was also putting in extremely long hours at work. He had worked a 90+ hour 6 day work week and him and some other guys had actually figured out how much overtime he was working and what his hourly pay would have boiled down to if he was paid hourly. It was roughly around like $3.15/hr. Absolutely pathetic. 

We both knew this was going to be our last wind project because we just couldn't do the long hours anymore, we needed to settle down a little more permanently because of this baby coming, and I just wanted some stability, as well as Clay did. So, the option at the time was to figure out what we wanted to do next with Mortenson - try and get back into the FCG group that we originally started in, or try and get into one of the offices to be more settled. 

Clay went back and forth with the main guys of each group seeing if they had any positions opening up anytime soon. We had been told so many things that we thought we'd end up in Virginia for a while. Then it was North Dakota or Iowa. Or we could have gone to the Seattle group. I also thought that Clay would enjoy working somewhat with his old boss in the Phoenix group. As for me, I hated not knowing what we were going to do, when we would be moving, and where for how long. 

Out of the blue, one of the guys Clay works for (he works for the owner/company of the wind farm) commented that he should apply for the assistant supervisor position of this company, Enel, and work aside him which he is the supervisor of the wind farm. We looked into this company more and asked about its benefits, etc. and then thought long and prayed hard about this. 

I was at the point where I wanted to get out of Enid. I just wanted to move anywhere else. I didn't want to live in Oklahoma, of all places, for the rest of my life. So I may just have had a little bit of a bad attitude in thinking about this position. 

A little about it - it would be a permanent position. We wouldn't be moving in 6 months or a couple years. This position would be running the wind farm for as long as it was there. That's what we wanted. Clay was to the point where he wanted something more consistent - not the type of job where it's different stuff/tasks everyday - that's what's been giving him so much stress. Also, it would be a 40 hour work week. No Saturdays or Sundays, which Clay pretty much has been working every Saturday and lately most Sundays. Anyway, the list goes on of the pros with this company and position.

So what the heck, he applied. 

To make a long story short, from the application process to the end, it probably took three months to find out he got HIRED!!! 

What a relief! I finally know what we're going to be doing with our lives for quite some time now. We are moving out of this apartment (thank goodness!) and moving into a HOUSE the weekend after Thanksgiving! We'll rent for a little bit so we can save up to hopefully buy our own house in the near future :) Finding a house to rent has been an adventure itself. The rental market here is crazy! Because of all the oil workers and air force base, it's very much a demand so once you find something you like, IF you find something, you better pounce on it fast! We definitely lucked out. 

So here's to our future - with Clay being home earlier than 7:00 p.m. and having time to spend together as a family!!!

As for our old company now, MORTENSON, they've been incredible. 

Great company to work for. Clay has been lucky to work with wonderful people and we've met some great friends along the way. Although the wind group wasn't exactly the route we thought we'd end up in, it in itself has helped us out tremendously. It has gotten us completely out of debt, been able to save up an emergency fund, and even buy a new (used) car and still stay out of debt! (Thank you to Dave Ramsey as well!)

Don't be jealous that I joined the mini-van club. I'm cool like that. You can thank me later when I haul all your stuff around town that couldn't fit in your sedan. 

We had originally planned to get another Accord from the same guy we bought the one we have now. However, he was a bust and did not help us until the last minute, which the cars he found was out of our price range. Clay kept hounding me saying it would be a good idea to just get a mini-van. I said I would NEVER own one, and stuck to that. But as I was getting desperate to find a car (maybe not that desperate), it just made sense to get a mini-van. Clay's parents had picked us up from the airport and it was SO easy to get Kort in and out of his car seat in their mini-van. And with my belly ever growing, it made it a lot more comfortable to do so. Then we found this pretty. And we bit the dust. Purchased. New mini-van owners. Let's just say it's kind of hard adjusting to a bigger car to drive, but I sure love it. Now you can make fun of me. I don't care.

Here's to Enel, Clay's new company, with high hopes for our future here in Oklahoma!

(Now there's no reason why you can't come visit us now. No excuse to say that you don't know when you could because we'd just be moving again . . . cause we won't, for a while :))