Changes

Its amazing to me how much can change in just a few days. Even more amazing how much can change because of a single conversation.

The state of Arizona is in a massive budget crisis right now. They're making massive cuts all across the boards. Adam's job has been so secure because of a lawsuit involving a family that sued the state for failure to provide mental health services or something to that effect. Because of the crisis they have shut down the office of the court overseer type person. Basically for the next two years, all bets are off. They're going to slash services to the bone most likely. There have already been threats, protests and violence because of the proposed cuts to the mental health system.

Tomorrow there is going to be a big announcement. All the corporate big wigs will be there. And more ominously they want all the larger, male employees to be present in case of problems. So suddenly Adam's previously stable job is looking a lot less stable. Its not for sure, but its definitely a lot more likely to go south now.

Which started us talking about contingency plans. Given that we feel its time to start working towards having a second child now instead of later, the odds of my being able to handle two very small children plus school are pretty much non-existant. I'm feeling like now is not the time and the season for me to continue my education. Now is the time for me to be a mother.

And paying for those kids is going to require a higher level job, so Adam is looking at going back to school, at least part time, like night school or something. And the school he really, really wants to go to is UT Austin. It has a top ranked MSW program, its only a 3 hour drive to my folks house and a very quick internet search found 5 job openings in the same kind of work/pay that he does here. AND the housing market there is MUCH cheaper than here. We can get a lot more, a lot NICER housing there for the same or cheaper money.

But oh  my wow, all the things to think about with a move like that. The Arizona family will not be happy about it. My parents will be THRILLED but the in laws... will probably be extremely less than pleased. We have a house here that we own. And we've only been in this house since 2008. Thats just 2 years. And I'm not sure with the current market how hard or easy it will be to sell this house, or if we'll keep it and rent it out. And renting is a whole other can of worms.

I did some quick shopping online for moving trucks. I estimate that with truck rental, boxes, gas, motels etc that we're looking at a minimum of 2000 bucks just to move to Austin. And given Adam's line of work, they probably won't be looking to cover our moving expenses. And we'd need help driving because no offense to my sweet husband but he makes me incredibly nervous behind the wheel of a big rig. And we've got 2 cars plus a moving truck. So we can tow one car and drive the other, but that leaves one adult in the car with Caleb all by themselves, and the other driving that big rig solo. This is not okay. We'd really do better to have somebody big rig capable help me drive the truck (my Dad would be ideal) and somebody to help Adam drive the Honda (Mom would be great).

Then theres the question of house hunting in Austin. Part of me likes the idea of moving there, staying in an apartment for a while so we can scope out the real estate and really get to know the neighborhoods. But the other part of me knows just how much crap we have and how much I really truly hate moving so I'm thinking I'd rather shoot myself in the foot than move half my household into storage, the other half into an apartment and then move to a house 6 months later. Especially if I'm pregnant. So really its probably going to be me, making road trips to visit my folks and go house hunting in Austin while I'm there.

And all of this is assuming that things go south and that Austin is where we are supposed to go. And right this moment this plan feels really really good, but I don't know how much of that is just me wanting to be closer to my family so bad I can't see straight and how much of it is actual inspiration from my Heavenly Father.

We really, really need to get to the temple. We need clear personal revelation to guide us badly.

Then theres the other thought - what about my jewelry business? I can make jewelry anywhere, but it would be hard to be away from Kathleen. I'd miss her and it would be a lot harder to swap supplies and have meetings etc. I can still web design for them no problem. Ditto the database. I just ... would kinda feel like I'm abandoning them. I dunno maybe it will work. I'm sure Lynn would LOVE IT if we had a branch in Austin, Texas to go with our sales in Arizona, Chicago, and England. We'll have to see. I really think with video conferencing it could work. And Kathleen is tech savvy enough to pull that off. Only concern I have right now is what if we get our store front sooner rather than later? I would really need to be there to help with the set up and launch if nothing else. And honestly I'd love to work a place like that... Of course I'd be thrilled to open up our Austin branch.... :) But thats getting slightly ahead of ourselves me thinks.

I'm in love with a couple of the houses I saw online. They've got some really nice options for really nice price tags in Austin. I'm inclined to go with a bigger house, not b/c I need to own a bigger house, but because I want a guest bedroom (cuz my folks are gonna wanna stay over at least one weekend a month, not including visits from Adam's folks to see their grandbabies), plus like 2 kids rooms, plus a master bedroom, and a study/workroom for me and Adam would be nice. Ugh. I don't know. If we want a prayer of selling this place I definitely need to clean up badly. lol.