2011 is going to end up a year like no other for the Shown Family! Like we didn't already have enough excitement
adding a new member to the family... now we are going to add a cross-country move. As my friend Angie said: "What the WHAT?!?!" For those of you who haven't heard yet, I'll let you take a deep breath and relax a second before we get into all the details...
Okay. Ready?
Yes, that's right, the Shown Family is moving! Why? Where? When? Lots of questions! I don't even have all the answers myself. Because I like a good story (and this is going in
the book), let's start at the beginning. Jerry was born in Arizona. I was born here in Green Bay. I moved to Arizona in 8th grade, met Jerry in high school, had Roz in 1991, and got married in 1996.
Whew! When Jerry graduated from ASU in 2000 he wanted to move and asked me where I'd like to go. Back to Wisconsin was, of course, my answer. So we moved here in May of 2000 with Roz (then age 8) and no jobs. We're adventurous like that.
Actually, Jerry had a hint of a job when we moved and he did, in fact, get that job when we moved here. He worked temp jobs all summer and started his short lived "investment executive" career that fall. He quickly found out that wasn't what he wanted to do with his life and starting looking for another job. In 2001 he was hired at LaForce as an estimator. LaForce, for those of you who don't know, is in the business of doors, door frames, and door hardware. Not many people really think about doors, but how many doors do you walk through each day?
Jerry definitely did not graduate from college with a desire to go into the door business, but once hired he did very well. Shortly after he started he was moved to the scheduling department where his "attention to detail" skills have served him well. He has a teacher/mentor gene so he spent some time in the training department as well. A few years ago he mentioned that he would like to move up in the company and pretty much the only way to do that is to become a branch manager, so he told LaForce he was up for it when the time came. Who knew when or where that would be!?!
Back in May of this year, Jerry and I went to the
annual LaForce dinner. While enjoying our dinner and visiting with Jerry's co-workers we listened to various people from LaForce upper management give little speeches. One person mentioned the possibility of a new branch for LaForce in the very near future and knowing Jerry was willing to move to be a branch manager, my ears perked up a bit at that news.
Shortly after the dinner, rumors started going around at LaForce about where this new branch was going to be located. Imagine our surprise when one of the places mentioned was Arizona! Honestly, at that point, I tried not to think about it. I was busy growing a new human being and trying to stay stress free to keep her put as long as possible. I couldn't let myself get worked up about a
possibility, but Jerry and I did start to quietly discuss our options.
The day of the
LaForce company picnic in July Jerry was called into the president's office and told that LaForce was, in fact, going to be adding a new branch in "a city just outside of Phoenix called Mesa" and that the place they were going to be purchasing currently had an office "out near an old Air Force base". Had he ever heard of it? [For those of you who don't know, that would be the former Williams Air Force base currently known as Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. We actually lived on this base-turned-student-housing for a few years back in the 90's!]
Quiet discussions then turned serious. Almost all our discussions began to revolve around the topic of moving. We discussed and thought and prayed and discussed some more. We told Roz and a few people who we could count on to pray for us and then thought some more. We wondered how to figure out if this was God's will for us. I came across the very helpful
Voddie Baucham sermon about just that. [You should really listen to it!]
"This job or that job? Open your Bible. What are the gifts, talents, abilities, and desires that God has given you? How well do they fit here? How well do they fit there? Think biblically about it. Pray biblically about it... Get wise counsel on it. And then trust the sovereign Lord of the Universe. Make a choice. Go with it. Enjoy."
Knowing Jerry had been wanting this for some time, money wasn't the main thing we based our decision on, but it did play a factor. We truly love living in Wisconsin and the deal would have to be right for us to uproot our family and move back to the place we said we would never return to... Jerry's boss told him no one ever passed up an offer because of the money, to which Jerry replied he just might be the first!
Over the next l-o-n-g month we didn't hear much that affected us personally. LaForce had to take care of business... close the deal, due diligence, and all that. We couldn't really say if we were going to do it because we didn't know the details and we weren't sure what LaForce would offer Jerry (we had a certain number in mind that would definitely
not be enough).
Wouldn't you know, the Friday before Annabeth was born Jerry got the first "official" offer. He was supposed to think about it over the weekend and get back to them on Monday. Annabeth was born Monday morning and, needless to say, Jerry didn't get into the office. He took off the whole week to be with the family, but did go in on Tuesday for a little while to begin the negotiation process.
I'll spare you all the details (ask Jerry if you want to know)... the end result is that Jerry got closer to (but not exactly) what he wanted as far as salary and benefits and accepted the offer. So, Jerry is now officially the branch manager of LaForce Phoenix. It's a
huge promotion for him and, while it takes us away from our beloved state of Wisconsin, it is a great opportunity. I am very proud of Jerry for working so hard!
Jerry will be heading down to Arizona the beginning of October for a short visit to meet the newest LaForce employees and check out his branch. He'll also try to find us a house to rent. We just finished up getting estimates from moving companies. The plan right now is for us to move down there in time for Jerry to start work the second week of November.
There are still some unknowns right now (trust me I don't like it either). We are just taking it one step at a time. Next up on our to do list: we are planning a BIG garage sale for this Saturday. We are getting rid of a lot of furniture and big items. There will be lots of free stuff... it's just going to the thrift store if no one takes it anyway. So stop by!
As for the rest of the details... you'll just have to stay tuned...
