December Came

Back in late August/September, Andrew was informed he would be laid off at the end of December. What a great way to end the year, with a BOOM. 

As soon as Andrew found out that he would be losing his job, he immediately started applying for jobs. He had some interviews, but nothing seemed to workout. One place was interested in him, but told us the pay was $15.00 an hour and so Andrew said, "see ya" in the most professional way possible.

This job hunting process was frustrating. One of the places that invited Andrew back for a second interview didn't even bother to get back to him. After 4 phone calls, emails, and who knows what else to attempt to follow-up, we finally gave up on that company.

In September, we were very hopeful. We still had several months for Andrew to find a job and his company kept hinting that they would hire him on in another department. Well, that never happened. When December finally hit, we were worried. Let me rephrase that. I WAS WORRIED. I'm the worry wart in the relationship. We balance each other out nicely. When Andrew gets worried, he hides it much better than I do and I hope to be more like him.

Deciding our holiday plans was a nightmare because we were unsure of our future. Andrew had a really promising interview the second week of December and we were banking on him getting that job. When we got the disappointing "thanks for interviewing, but we don't want you" email, we were back to square one. (Hey, at least they emailed!)

We were blessed to get severance for the month of January. I'm also working, so we knew we would be fine, but I'm not planning on being the breadwinner. Because we had such a fun year, Andrew had 0 vacation days left in December. We didn't want to risk him losing his severance. His company ended up letting him go on vacation a few days early which was very nice. 

We spent New Years in Spokane with Andrew's family. While there, my brother Joel told us that Andrew should apply at his company because they had an opening in QA. Andrew did, and that day got called for an interview.

The day after we got back from vacation, Andrew interviewed. The interview went well and he was invited to lunch with the CEO a couple days later. Andrew was offered a job and of course took it. He was only unemployed for 4 days!

This is a complete career change for Andrew. His degree is in chemistry. At his old company, Andrew was building chemical instruments and testing them/tweaking the problems. Now Andrew is finding bugs with computer software programs. He has NO experience, but has been learning quickly. He seems to really enjoy what he is doing. His new company treats him like an angel and I'm more than slightly jealous. (Catered lunch 2x a week, a new Mac, etc.)

We feel so blessed. We are thrilled to save a little extra this month because Andrew gets severance plus pay from his new job. Sometimes things don't workout how you want them to, but it's for the better. (My stress levels would have loved a new job in September!) Through this process, I have learned that I need to be more trusting. Here's to hoping this job is long-term, so we don't have to go through this process again anytime soon. :)