Unemployed to Employed

Some good things have been happening for us.  Matt started his new job today.  Going to the beginning.  Matt had been so miserable with his job for about a year and half.  I asked him not to quit without having another job first.  So it wasn't until Thanksgiving or shortly after I think, that he started to look for a new job.  From my earlier post 25 things, I said that Matt had been forced into a positon to quit.  I realized that one of my biggest fears had just happened.  Matt was unemployed.  It's a very scary, very real situation, and can happen to anyone.
Matt quitting his job has been the best thing that could have ever happened for our family.  It pushed us into action.  Change needed to happen, and boy have we had a lot of change.  Matt was able to get unemployment money.  $235 a week for 25 weeks.  He was making more money with the unemployment money than the position Matt's boss had open for him.  Of course Matt had to do his part and apply for jobs and go interview.  Matt kept up on his part.  He got his armed license about a week after he quit.  That really opened more doors for him.  He applied for school, he wants to get a degree now in Criminal Justice.  Matt is very passionate about security work.  I hate to admit that in the past I was really afraid of peoples judgements about what my husband did for work.  Like all he was capable of being was a mall cop.  I have realized, who am I to stand in his way?  He loves doing security work, so let him do something he loves.  I'm so glad he has decided to go get a degree in criminal justice, it will open even more doors for him to find his perfect job for him.  I am proud of him!
Matt quit his job January 14.  I read a book called the Jack Rabbit Factor by Leslie Householder, and got Matt to read it as well.  It was such a good book, and gave me hope.  We followed the advice in the book, and set a goal for Matt's job.  I with a little help from Matt wrote out a 2 page detailed goal having lots of gratitude, and had a date at the top of it that we thought was a reasonable day to have the goal acheived.  We chose February 11, 2013 for the day that Matt would be hired.  I read that paper out loud morning and night, and pictured Matt with a job with all of the details that we had listed.  I tried very hard to let go of the outcome and just give it to God.  Matt read it almost every night.  I'm glad that I was there to remind him.  It's not really his thing.  It meant a lot to me that he read it as much as he did.
The past several weeks have been very hard, but very good as well.  During this time that Matt has been out of work he applied to 35 jobs.  Interviewed for 6 of them.  One of the jobs he interviewed for was Allied Barton a nice government position that was an armed sight.  Right before Matt quit, one of his friends from the government census called him out of the blue asking him if he was looking for a job.  Matt told him that he actually was.  His friend went on to tell him about this government site through Allied Barton.  It was an armed site, and he was working there.  He wanted Matt to work with him.  We don't find this to be a conincidence that his friend called from out of the blue.  Matt hadn't talked to him in almost 2 years.  Because of his friend Matt went and got his armed license.  He didn't get the job though, they had already hired someone that they thought was more qualified.  He interviewed for a very low paying job, and didn't take it.
The next place Matt interviewed was another armed site, but he never heard back from them. Matt contacted another friend that he had worked with at Guardsmark who left to work for Brinks.  The money delivery trucks.  His friend gave him the information he needed to be able to apply for them.  A few weeks went by and then Matt talked to his friend again, and his friend realized that Matt didn't have a job.  He went and talked to the management and they actually moved his application from the bottom to 3rd in line.  They contacted him shortly after.  Matt interviewed and he is still under the hiring process.  The hiring process is very extensive and intense.  Lot's of background checks.  It can take awhile.  Don't really know if they will ever contact him.
During all of this process a situation happened with one of my crossing partners at work.  She had to have someone come sub for her while she was gone for a week and a half.  The guy that subbed for her was Fred.  He was an older man and he was so nice.  It was refreshing to work with someone who was very friendly and laid back.  I'm so grateful that Fred was talkative.  I learned that he was looking for better work.  He had been unemployed for 2 years.  I was able to tell him about our situation and he was so sweet.  He came back at our afternoon crossing with some information for jobs he had applied for.  I don't find it a conicidence that Fred ended up working with us.  I know he was meant to.
One of the places Fred mentioned was for Tesorro refinery.  Matt went an interviewed.  They needed fire watchers because they have a bunch of welding jobs to do.  It was only a month and a half job. 14 hour shifts 7 days a week.  I can't remember the pay, but it was really good.  After the first 40 hrs you would get time and a half.  They were only going to be hiring 20 people and they had already had 200 applicants.  You had to have a training to be qualified.  After Matt interviewed with them he realized that he wouldn't be able to do that job because he was going to be going to school.  How would he do it if he was working more than 40 hrs a week, and everyday.  So he didn't go to the training.  Matt was grateful he didn't because later I ran into Fred again and we talked.  He told me that they have to wear firesuits, climb ladders, and watch for fires the whole shift.  Doesn't sound like a lot of fun.  Good money though!
Because of Fred the other job headsup he gave us, Matt was able to apply for it.  It is one of the biggest government security sites in Utah.  It's at Camp Williams.  Matt actually talked to the guy who was hiring. The guy told him that they had finished hiring people (Fred was 1 of them) , but that they would be hiring again in about 4 months I think he said.  Matt has realized that he really wants a Government security job, and so he is going to do everything he can to help make it happen.
This last Friday we went to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner with the girls.  We had a gift certificate that needed to be used.  While there Matt got a call from Superior Protective Services.  They told them that they got his resume and application from off of Monster.  The guy said they really needed to hire somebody ASAP and would he like to come in for an interview at 9 in the morning.  Matt said yes.  We had a good rest of our meal, and went home.  Shortly after getting home, Matt missed a call.  Then he saw that mine was ringing from the same number.  He had me pick it up since it was my phone.  They asked for Matt.  Matt gets on and starts having a phone interview with Burlington Coat Factory for their Loss and prevention area.  It's been very interesting with the interviews, and the way things have played out..  I will go into more detail in just a bit about the job Matt was hired for.  I just wanted to finish up on the other things that happened through this whole unemployed process.
We decided to move McKenzie and Madisynn's bedroom downstairs, and have our office upstairs.  One day we just decided to do it, and so we started moving everything around.  We had our office as a guest bedroom as well.  The thing is we couldn't have the office be a guest bedroom upstairs. This meant that we would have to get rid of the nice Queen sized bed that my Mom gave us.  I actually started to stress out about it.  I didn't want to get rid of it, and give it to someone else.  It was a nice bed.  I decided to call my Mom and see if she could take down the little twin bed she had in her guest bedroom and put the Queen size bed there.  I started to cry about it to her because I was so stressed about it.  She got me to calm down.  She would take it back, and she would make room for it.  It would all be okay she said.  I love my Mom.  She made me feel better about it.  I'm glad that it could be in her house and be another area for a couple to sleep.
After we got finished moving the furniture around and taking the big bed down we had to hurry and get to my crossing and get the girls from school.  Matt was going to be mean and tell the girls that because they hadn't been treating their room nice upstairs that he was taking it over with his office stuff and that the room downstairs would be my office, and that they wouldn't have a place to sleep.  Big meanie!  He just wanted to see what their reaction would be, and oh boy did he get a reaction.  Well at least from one of the girls.  McKenzie burst into tears saying she didn't do anything.  Poor girl.  She is so sensitive.  I knew that was going to be her reaction.  Madisynn didn't seem to care.  Silly girl!  After Matt got the reaction he wanted he told her he was just messing with her, and took them to their new room.  They got really excited after that.  I'm so glad!
We painted the girls room downstairs the same as their old bedroom, but had more of the bright lettuce green.  We kept the light blue for the upper part of the wall, and the lettuce green for the bottom part.  I had a theme planned.  The blue sky the green grass, and then we would have purple and pink vinyl flowers, and butterflies around the top boarder of the walls.  Have purple curtains for the window and the closet.  The whole thing goes with their bedspread.  Anyways we got the paint done in a few days.  Oh yea and during this time our waterheater went out and had to be replaced.  Luckily we had a good friend that was able to help us and come install it.  It was $550. Ouch!  I'm grateful that it's taken care of, and done well.
During this time I had received an email from the Carol Tuttle Blog about Tapping or EFT.  I was really curious about what tapping was.  So I watched a little video about it, and found out that the 2013 World Tapping Summit free 10 day online event was going to happen within a couple of weeks.  I found it so interesting that I registered for it.  EFT is emotional feel good therapy.  You tap on your pressure points while saying little scripts, affirmations.  It's emotional release.healing.  It's really cool.  Anyways I liestened to almost all of the speakers, and had so many eye opening things happen.  It was amazing!  It felt so good to tap.  One of the speakers was speaking and tapping about clearing the clutter, and making room for better things.
I took the advise and realized that I had some things that I had been storing that were causing me stress.  It was clutter, and it was bothering me.  I needed to get rid of it.  I have been holding onto my baby stuff for almost 7 years.  I decided it was time to get rid of it.  It was very hard for me.  I felt like I was throwing a part of my life away.  I knew that it was time to move on.  I was hoping that as I cleared and got rid of this stuff that was stressing me out that maybe something even better would come.  Maybe I would get that answer of yes I need to have another baby, or no I'm done.  So as I was cleaning and had started to realize what I was doing.  I started to cry, and my Mom called shortly after.  She asked me how I was doing, and I said oh i'm ok.  She said you don't sound like it. I'm an open book.  She knew.  I told her what I was doing and she was so good and listened, and gave me good advice.  I love my Mom!
It's been almost 2 weeks since I got rid of my stuff and it really feels as if a load has been lifted.  I know that if I do have more kids I can buy new stuff.  Better stuff.  Along with getting rid of baby stuff we organized and got rid of other stuff that was causing clutter and some problems.  We took the rest of that stuff to the DI Today.  It feels good to have it out of here.  Something good is coming.  I can't wait to see what it is!
I have been doing affirmations daily.  Trying so hard to be positive.  Praying so hard daily.  Trying so hard to just have faith, and let it go, and give it to God.  Be the Victor and not the Victim.  Be patient, and let go of the outcome.  Not be anxious.  I am really proud of myself I never lost it with Matt the whole time he was without work.  I had many nights where I cried in the bathroom and poored my heart out to God, or quietly cried in bed on the nights matt stayed up later than me.
1 other thing happened.  The night we started painting the girls room was the night of our ward chili cookoff. While there the Bishop came up to Matt.  He told Matt that he heard about his job situation, and asked if we were ok.  He asked if we needed help, assistance in any way.  Matt told him No, and that we had a good savings account.  The Bishop said that anytime we could ask for it, He didn't want us to take from our savings.  Matt told me that when we got home.  We didn't want to have to rely on anybody.  The next day was Sunday.  The Bishop and his wife were speaking.  We were both fine until the Bishop got up.  He started talking about accepting help, and helping others, and unemployment.  We felt like he was looking right at us and directing it towards us.  Not in a bad way, a very good way.  Matt cried through most of the Bishops talk.  After church I found him, and talked to him.  He told me that he went home durning priesthood.  I was shocked.  I asked him what he did.  He said he sat on the couch and cried, and just thought.  He was starting to get worried.  Our goal for him to get hired was February 11th.  It was February 10th.  He hadn't heard anything.  He was worried about how he was going to provide for our family.  He didn't want to accept help.  When I heard him voice these things I got scared, and started to cry a little bit.  One of our home teachers and his wife and kids were coming over to give us a lesson.  I told Matt maybe it was time for a priesthood blessing.  He thought that was a good idea.  We would mention it to our home teacher when he came.  At the end of the lesson we were talking and we brought up the blessing.  Our home teacher called the Elder Quorum President and asked if he would come help give Matt a blessing.  He came right away.  After the blessing, Matt felt better.  He now knew that he was on the right track, and that things would be okay.  The 11th came and no job came.  We handled it really well.  Matt's job is still in incubation.
During this week both Matt and I came to the conclusion that we needed to ask the Bishop for help.  We decided that we could use help with our groceries.  So when Sunday came again Matt went and asked the Bishop for help with our groceries.  The Bishop said that he would have the Relief Society President come and fill out a food order for us for the Bishop's Storehouse.  He also wanted us to put in 8 hrs. of service there.
When the Relief Society President came we sat at our kitchen table.  We started talking and I started to cry. This was really hard for me to accept help this way.  It's easier to give than to receive.  She talked with me and reassured me and that we would be ok.  That this was a good thing.  When she left I felt better.  We would be able to get our food in the morning.  It was a neat experience.  I'm glad we had the opportunity to receive.  I wish that I was able to help volunteer with Matt at the Bishop's Storehouse.  I couldn't because I was spending the whole week cleaning at my Mom's house.  Matt said it was a really good experience, but was only able to put in 4 hours in 2 days because they got slow, and all of the shelves were stocked.  It's ok though.  We can go and serve anytime we want.  I think I will.  I know it will be a great experience.
Going to Matt's last and final interview.  He showed up about 20 min early, that's his style.  Got there before his interviewer was even there.  After he interviewed he called me up and said he was offered the job and he took it.  I was very happy to hear that.  Then he told me that the job site was in Provo, and hour away from our home.  He told me that he was going to be working graves.  I was instantly filled with dread when I heard the words graveyard shift come out of his mouth.  I was so tired of trying to keep kids quiet, and worry about every little noise, him not getting enough sleep, him falling into the same patterns as before.  I couldn't do it.  I got upset.  I told him I was happy that he had a job again, but I wouldn't do graveyard for long term.  He had to find another job.  He agreed.
Yesterday he went in for his training.  He came home so happy, and that made me happy.  He said he felt like he fit right in.  Also good news, he isn't working graveyard shift.  Hooray!  He is working swing shift.  His schedule is Monday-Friday 5 p.m. - Midnight. $14.75 an hr. this is to help compensate for gas.  Nice!  He gets to carry a nice flashlight in a nice case, handcuffs, and pepper spray.  His armed license actually helped with this job.  You have to have an armed license to be able to carry pepper spray on a site.  I'm so glad he got that license!  He started today, and they are actually giving him more hours until they hire someone else to help with the load.  That will be nice, it will make up for the time he was without work.
Eventhough this was a hard thing experience to go through, I'm so happy it happened.  I learned some amazing things.  It brought our family closer.  We relyed on God.  Our prayers were answered.  This is not Matt's job that we wanted for him, but it is another door opened, another stepping stool to his job that is waiting for him.  It's coming.  We don't know when, but it is.  Timing is everything, and God will let it happen when the time is right.  I'm so thankful for my Heavenly Father.  I'm so thankful that he loves and appreciates me for who I am.  I'm thankful that he will always love me no matter what.  I'm thankful for him watching out for us, for listening to me.  I'm thankful for his kindness and generosity.  I'm thankful that he has put certain people into my life to help things come about.  I'm thankful that we had a savings account with more than enough money to help us through this time.  I'm so very grateful that Matt was unemployed for 6 weeks, and not 6 years.  I'm thankful for the people that knew our situation and prayed for us, and always asked us if we needed anything.  We felt loved, and we still do, I'm so thankful!  I'm amazed and delighted at how easily things fell into place and worked out for us.  We are truly blessed.  Something good is going to happen.  I can't wait to see what it is, and where it's going to show up!