Saturday, February 06, 2010

a new chapter in our life...

This has been a day filled with such relief, excitement and anticipation of what's to come for us.
This evening, Sean accepted a nursing position as Mercy Hospital in Clinton, Iowa.
He will be working in the Med/Surg Unit on the night shift.
The Med/Surg Unit is a great place for him to start, but the shift...well, not always the first choice.
You gotta start somewhere though, right?! :)
In all honesty, he couldn't be happier.
He'll be working 7pm-7am, 3 days a week.

Sean has been applying for jobs every since he passed his boards...it felt like he's applied for 100! He applied all over the state with hopes of either landing something here in Des Moines or in the Quad City area. Clinton is only about 30 minutes up the Mississippi River from the Quad Cities and so our plan is to live in the Quad Cities. However, that's not the immediate plan. He is going to be commuting to Eastern Iowa and working his 3 days and then coming home for a while. I will be able to stay at my job for a while that way. I do have to say that when I do finally leave my job, it will be difficult. I have a great job and work for a great company and if there's no position I can transfer to, it will be sad to leave. This move is necessary for us though. Sean needs this experience so that he can start Anesthesia School as soon as possible as that is his ultimate goal.

Sean will be starting either next week or the following week. Some paperwork and a background check needs to be completed for him to start, so we won't know until Monday when his start date will be. We have found an in home daycare provider who we are so grateful is able to watch Tate while I work on the days that Sean is gone. The plan is that we will be moved to the Quad Cities by April 1st. It's going to be a busy (and likely stressful) next couple of months getting things ready to move. I HATE moving...probably more than anything. I hate packing and loading a U-Haul and then unloading the U-Haul and living out of boxes until everything is unpacked. I hate it. I will survive, but I am not looking forward to that part!

I must admit that I am so excited to be living n the same city as Mike and Sarah and the girls as well as our dear friends the DeCooks and super excited to be living within 45 minutes of my parents, Cassie and Paul and the kids!

We will miss so many people and so many things about Des Moines! I can't believe I moved here almost 9 years ago! I met Sean here, made SO MANY friends here that will be some of my dearest friends forever, I have my Aunt and Uncle here who have always been there for me as though I was there own child, I owned my first home here, Des Moines will always be Tate's first home and I will have some of my most cherished memories of him as a baby here. It hasn't been Des Moines that has changed me, but I moved here a week before I turned 21 and I will be 30 this year. I think people change so much between ages 20 and 30. I moved here as a different person than I am leaving. I didn't realize how hard it would be to leave when Sean was applying for all of these jobs outside of Des Moines, but now that it's official...I am so emotional about it! Some of the most special and memorable moments of my life and of our family life have happened here.

This is going to be a whole new chapter of our lives. One I am looking forward to, don't get me wrong. I've just really enjoyed the chapter we're leaving.

I have said it before and I will say it again...I am so proud of Sean! I couldn't be happier for him. He is so excited to start working as a nurse. He's been wanting to be able to do this since he started nursing school what seems like a million years ago! It's been rough and the road has been rocky! He managed to make it through and now knows all of his hard work and all of the tough times were worth it! We both know that the road ahead won't be easy...he's not done. We are enjoying this little "break" while we can. A break from school, a break from studying constantly, a break from stress of worrying about taking and passing the state boards, a break from all of that. We just want to be able to live a more normal life than we've been living these last couple of years and we are welcoming this change with open arms! I'm not going to lie, the last few years have been hard on both of us and our marriage. There were times when we felt like things just weren't going to get better. The good Lord has provided for us even when we felt like things couldn't be going worse. We are so grateful for His blessings! We have come out on the other end stronger individuals and a stronger couple. We are grateful for that.

Sean, I am so proud that you have achieved this goal that you set out to achieve 5 years ago!
I love you!

4 comments:

Beckysblog said...

Congrats and good luck with moving and all the changes. I too hate moving, but just think, you'll be all moved in just in time to enjoy the awesome spring and summer!

sarak said...

Good work Sean. Jennie you are such a strong person you will do fine no mater where you are. We absolutely HAVE to get together before you leave though...

Chris/Stew; Brenda said...

Congrats Sean! We are very excited and happy for you guys!

Candi said...

Oh yes... much ahead of you all! I will be praying more for easy transition!! You should be very excited to start your new job!! Whew!! : )