Just after our last blog post, Tom and I took a trip down to Independence, KS so that Tom could interview with a Mental Health agency. Tom got the job but, while we were super grateful, we were a little uneasy about the offer that they made. The salary that they offered left a lot  to be desired and from the look we got of the place we just felt like things would be extremely tight for us on the salary that they offered, that is if we were even able to break even to begin with. On top of that, they wanted Tom to sign a contract agreeing to work there for four years and if he for whatever reason needed to leave the agency before the fulfillment of the four years we would have to pay them back monetarily for whatever supervision they gave him towards his clinical license. We were pretty stressed for a few days simply because something did not feel right to us about the offer but we didn't know why and we worried that if we turned down the job that maybe no other job opportunities would present themselves for a while. That being said, Tom and I spent a few days thinking over things, doing a lot of internet research and, after realizing that we had no idea what constituted a "normal" job offer, we e-mailed some of our old professors to ask for their advice/insight. After conferring with them the uneasiness we were feeling started to make a lot more sense and ultimately Tom and I decided to not take the offer in favor of continuing the search and hoping that a better offer would present itself.
On the bright side, Independence is home to one of the historic Laura Ingalls Wilder homes and a really ginormous train that we initially thought was on of the largest trains ever made...sadly, we were wrong about that, but it is still pretty cool looking.

After, leaving Independence we drove down to Cherstin, Dan, and the chillins' in Oklahoma City being as it was only a 3 hour drive south. We got there Thursday afternoon and spent Friday with them before leaving Saturday afternoon to head back to Springville. It was good to get to see them as they live far enough away that that doesn't happen as often as we would like. So, Friday night while we were in OKC we got a text from Mama Bibber saying that she had heard there were supposed to be some pretty nasty storms in OK and KS the next day and asking us to look into and be careful the next day as we headed out. Cherstin helped us look into that night and the weather service was saying the storms weren't supposed to start until Sunday so we thought we were fine and we left the next afternoon without even thinking to check the weather reports again.

Now, I apologize for the inordinately sized map of Kansas below, but I feel that it is necessary to explain what happened next on our adventure.

As we headed out of OKC that afternoon we checked with Dan to find out the best route to take on the way home. He said there were two ways, he said we could either go up through the OK panhandle, which he didn't recommend because apparently it is extremely boring, or we could take the 35-N back into KS and then take the 70-W at the junction in Salina, KS. Tom and I left and everything was fine for the first little bit, we took the 35-N and junctioned with the 70-W just fine. If you have never been to KS, it is pretty much a whole lot of nothing but cows and corn. As you can kind of tell on the map, heading west on the 70 after Salina there really isn't anything until you hit Hays. So, Tom and I were driving towards Hays when I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to use the bathroom. Thank You, Noah. We stopped at this rest area in the middle of nowhere so that I could use the facilities and, Thank Goodness we did. While we were there Tom heard a weather service report saying that they were having "extreme weather" in Western KS. We kept driving but we turned on the radio and tuned into some weather reports. As we got closer to Hays it sounded as though the thunderstorms and everything were heading towards Hays. At that point, Tom turned to me and said that he thought we should turn around and start heading back towards Salina to wait out the storm. We turned around and as we were waiting in Salina we heard on the radio that a tornado had been spotted in the Hays area and that people were being advised to seek shelter. Tom and I were super grateful we made the decision to turn around because a) we were traveling and would have had no clue where to stop and take shelter and we would have basically been up a creek and b) I have been absolutely terrified of tornadoes ever since I saw Twister in the second grade and I sincerely hope I never have to live through one. We ended up being delayed 3 or 4 hours and we still had to drive through a pretty good sized storm but at least there were no tornadoes. Thank goodness for the promptings of the spirit and a husband who listens to them. :)

On the way back to Utah we stopped in Denver and spent some time with Desi, Mike, and their kidlets, and Matt, Alyssa, and Jack. We even got to be there for Desi's Birthday! We really are grateful that we are close-ish to them and that we get to visit at least somewhat frequently. 

After turning down the job in Independence, Tom and I decided that we actually wouldn't mind trying to find a way to stay in Springville. That being said, Tom began focusing his job search more in the Salt Lake/Utah Valley area. However, we also realized that we needed to look in other areas as well in case UT didn't work out so the job search also included WY and ID. 

I've always had this secret desire to be crafty-pants even though I do not have a crafty or artistic bone in my body, but after some searching on Pinterest I decided that for Father's Day I would make Tom a personalized mug. 

He also got breakfast in bed.

Tom eventually got another job offer from an agency in Gillette, WY. The starting salary that they offered was awesome and Tom and I were seriously considering it, until we found out about the agency's insurance plan. The agency offered healthcare benefits that would have covered Tom 100% but they wouldn't have covered Noah and I at all. The monthly cost to cover Noah and I through the agency's insurance plan would have been $1500 a month! At that point, it didn't matter how good the salary was, Tom and I were pretty sure that it would be difficult for us to make it work with an insurance premium that high. We looked into private insurance options but they all said that they wouldn't cover maternity care and that they wouldn't even insure me right now because the pregnancy was a pre-existing condition and that if they did insure me after we had Noah if I ever became pregnant again they wouldn't cover maternity care. And, we know Obamacare will be taking effect soon, but there have been a ton of mixed reports about the effect that that will actually have. So, in the end things just seemed a little dicey in terms of insurance for Noah and I and we decided not to go with the offer in Gillette either.

However, while Tom was considering the offer in Gillette he contacted our friend, Stephen, from the MSW program who had gotten a job in WY to figure out how licensing works. Stephen was super helpful to Tom and mentioned that if things didn't shake out in Gillette that his agency, in Rock Springs, was hiring and that he would be willing to put in a good word for Tom with the HR and agency directors. So, after turning the job offer down in Gillette, Tom applied for and was offered the job in Rock Springs. We gave the offer some thought, did some research on cost of living, etc and decided that Rock Springs would be a good option. So, long story short, we're moving to Rock Springs. We would have liked to have found a way to stay in the Springville area but with the number of people from our cohort and from the U who wanted/needed to stay in the area the job market for Social Workers was quickly becoming saturated. And Rock Springs seems like a nice, quiet little town. Also, the agency Tom will be working for has been really accommodating and has agreed to let Tom start work in mid-August so that we can have Noah down here seeing as how I'm already so far along. Speaking of which, as of my 36 wk appt on Monday, my Dr. said that I am dilated to a 2 and that I am 75% effaced so there is a chance that Noah could make his debut before August 6th! Knowing my luck though, the kid will decide to camp out there and be a week late or something. 

Tom and I, I think are still a little nervous just because there are a lot of changes coming up, it would be stressful to either move or have baby just on their own but, when you consider we'll be doing both in a matter of weeks it is a little anxiety provoking, at least for me, but we're moving forward with faith. Here's to our new adventure! :)

Tom's started watching Doctor Who and he is super cool!