Rob and Rachel: Second and Last Port Orchard Post!

So much has changed in the last few months, so this blog has become pretty outdated. Most importantly, we are no longer in Port Orchard! I'll try to pick up where we left off.

So let me start by saying we were really enjoying Port Orchard. We felt welcomed and at home there remarkably quickly, and met so many great people. Our ward was amazing. We met relatives of Rob's in the ward, and they saved us a seat in church every Sunday. We were invited to dinners, play dates, birthday parties, and craft days and so quickly felt like we fit in and had good friends. And our neighbors were amazing! They welcomed us and gave us yard toys and Collin still talks about the neighbor kids regularly. It was because of all these wonderful people we met that we felt comfortable and happy there.

Everything was great, except one important thing: Rob's job. We had felt good about the decision to accept this job, and tried to be positive about the job and our future there. Rob got nothing but positive feedback from patients and employers, and felt things were going well. But then, a few things started to trigger doubts. When we interviewed for the job back in June of last year (I was there too), the employer told us the numbers of the clinic's income, his plans for schedule, and plan for pay increasing over the first three years. We were happy with what was discussed. However, after moving there and starting work, we got the feeling this associateship hadn't really been as well thought-out as we'd assumed. Rob started hearing things to the effect of, "The schedule we had told you about before isn't going to work, and I can't come up with another one. Can you?" and "After doing a calculation of the percentage I told you you'd earn in the third year, I realized you'd be earning more than me. So, we'll have to figure something else out when we get there." And then there was his first paycheck- grossly and obviously miscalculated. On each of these things, we gave them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they haven't really thought through every detail, but they must still know what they're doing, right?

Well, during the 5th week of work, they went through the clinic's numbers with Rob. They had failed to let us know that in the 7 months since we'd originally interviewed, the clinic's income had dropped significantly. They explained that at the amount they were currently bringing in, after paying overhead costs, staff, etc. and paying Rob his small salary, they themselves were bringing home nothing. Even still at this point, we had no choice but to be positive, and figured that if they hired him knowing these were their numbers, they must have a plan.

Over that weekend, I tried to push away questions of whether this job was going to work out and whether moving to Port Orchard was a mistake. I felt like we were happy in the town, though I had a hard time picturing a long term future there. But, we had made a commitment to this job and signed a year lease for our house, so all we could do was give it a good try.

Monday morning, they suddenly let him go. No explanation or apology or even remorse for the position they knowingly put us in. We were shocked, confused, angry, and stressed. But, the most surprising emotion that came over me at that moment was relief. We didn't have to wonder any more. We knew the answer and we could move on. Our options were open again! Yes, we realized what a horrible situation this put us in financially and that there was lots of stress in our immeditate future, but we felt the peace of knowing that our lives were entirely in the Lord's hands.
We had felt confirmation of our decision to move to Port Orchard, and couldn't deny that now. We knew we'd be guided to the next step. And really, if that job wasn't going to work out, we were glad to have gotten out of there sooner than later.

We didn't waste any time mourning that 5-week disaster of a job, and within a couple of hours, Rob was out the door again bringing his resume to another chiropractor in town. Tuesday, he scoured chiropractic classifieds and contacted dozens of doctors. Thursday, he received one good job offer in Puyallup and Friday he recieved a second in Battle Ground. Our challenge over the weekend was deciding between the two. Sunday was spent fasting, praying, receiving a blessing, and ultimately deciding on Puyallup (much to my surprise- moving back closer to Portland was an appealing thought). He started the following Tuesday.

Rob was able to commute for the first few weeks, but that really was not ideal. He'd leave early and barely make it home by bedtime for the kids. The boys and I tried to stay busy, but were in kind of a limbo stage of knowing our time there was going to end soon. Rob finally found a house for us to move into, and we moved in the middle of April. Looking back, this all just seems like a blur. Moving for the second time in 3 months was really really annoying, but we did it and we're here and I think I've blocked those few weeks out of my memory. Everything happened so fast. I should mention that we had a lot of difficulty and stress with breaking our lease in Port Orchard, but we're past it now. It was expensive, but we knew it would be.

Anyway, Rob is very happy in his new job. It is definitely a much better situation and we were blessed to find it at the exact right time. We'll have to write later about Puyallup, but I just wanted to finish off our journal of our Port Orchard days! We had some fun times to remember.

Collin became Spiderman at our neighbor Breanna's birthday party.

We had one day with tons of snow! We had already put Collin to bed this night, then my neighbor called around 10pm to see if we wanted to play. We checked on Collin and he was still awake, so we bundled up and headed out! When there's only one good snow day, you have to take advantage of it!

The next day was perfect for snow play. The twins' first real snow experience! (This is Elliott.)

We made a snowman!

Me and Truman

Snowball fight!

Collin learned to write his name the day before Valentine's Day! I had shown him how a few weeks earlier but he hadn't quite picked up on it, then surprised me one day by doing it all by himself. Now he writes it all the time. (This picture isn't from the first time, but sometime around then).

Valentine's Day! We went to a little party in the morning, and the boys loved eating their treats. (Truman)

Elliott

These little puddle jumpers (E,T)

A couple of babies trying to get into my cereal. (T in front)

You can't see it, but the twins are staring at the neighbor's dog in this picture. They would cautiously walk towards the fence and make barking noises, but they wouldn't get too close. The dog's name was Shadow, and now at our new house, every time they hear a dog barking from the other side of the fence, they both yell, "Da-Dow!" (T,E)

Collin and our neighbor Jaimon. He would come over and play with Collin while the twins were napping. Collin loved it and so did I! Collin still talks about how he loves and misses Jaimon.

We rode a ferry to the Ottos' house one day. The boys loved their first boat ride!

Truman and Mommy

Elliott and Daddy

Port Orchard did have some beautiful scenery. This was right outside the library. We would go there every Friday for Story Time.

Elliott wanted to be festive and colored the floor green for St. Patrick's Day!

Collin's special leprechaun hat and pot of gold picture.

Jackson Park (T,E)

The best thing about our Port Orchard house was the huge backyard! Perfect for picnics.

Also the bunnies that came out of the "woods" (greenbelt) were pretty awesome.

We painted with pudding one day. It was messy. The boys mostly just wanted to eat it.

Truman

Elliott

Elliott had his first urgent care trip after splitting his eyebrow. I don't really even know what happened. I was bathing the boys and Elliott was the first to get out of the tub. As I was getting the other boys out, he ran into my bedroom and then started crying. When I got him, his eyebrow had a cut. We assume he fell against the edge of our bed frame. Anyway, Rob was at work in Puyallup so I called my neighbor who ran right over. We decided we didn't need to rush him in since the bleeding had mostly stopped. But then later that evening, we decided we should bring him in to make sure the wound wouldn't keep opening up. Rob took him. They just glued it together and put medical tape over it, and Elliott was a brave little boy.