February 10, 2014

A New Chapter

As you may or may not know, Scottie and I both work in the Software Industry, where he is a salesman for IT Software Applications and I am a marketer for an EMR Software IT Company here in Austin. We began this journey working at Dell selling computers to your everyday consumer, and moved our way up, got promoted, and left the company for better opportunities.


Well, two days before Thanksgiving and our annual trip to see my family in Louisiana, we got news that he was being laid off from his job. It was a scary feeling, but I remember being so calm in it all. Isn't it crazy how that works? I immediately met Scott for lunch and we talked about it. What was our plan? How can we make this work if he is 60% of our income, etc. How can we stay encouraged in this time? 

Getting laid off two days before the holiday season is the worst case scenario, but we didn't have a choice in the matter. We prayed, we sent out applications, and we waited impatiently. We are blessed to live in a city with so many opportunities in the IT world, so we had interviews lined up weekly. However, no one really hires during the holidays, so fast forward 2.5 months, and...

Today is Scott's first day at a new job.

He not only has been promoted to an Account Executive, but he is the lead on a new chapter in this company's history, in a hopefully very successful pilot! This company is a great little start-up located only about 15 minutes away from home and is a Software Application company for IT Professionals. 

I couldn't be more proud of him and envious of how he has carried himself the past two months. It has not been easy, cutting back on gifting during Christmas, cutting back on spending by not going out, eating in, cancelling gym memberships to save, etc. At times it's been disheartening when you don't hear back from a great lead you thought you had in the bag. It feels good to know that I have such a strong, courageous, and optimistic man in my life who didn't sit on the couch and sulk in his unemployment, he kept his faith, and he did projects during downtime. He helped me with little things throughout the weeks, he even made dinner (what!?). It's incredible how you can watch your spouse and be encouraged by how they deal with situations, how they react.


Trying times in your life like these are always the biggest lessons. How was I so calm and supportive? How did we manage to live on my income alone for two months? I got a Christmas bonus that carried us through the second month, we had enough savings and CC rewards to get us HEB/Walmart gift cards for groceries, we were seeing family over holidays who kept us feeling encouraged and loved through all of this. We know 100% that this was all in God's hands. Honestly! I have never felt so at ease in such a stressful situation. I felt like I could be his rock in this and I succeeded. We left it up to Him to decide Scott's next move in his career. We had complete faith in what His will would be.

He hated his previous job... it was the most difficult sales atmosphere where people were negative, there was favoritism, bullying, harassing, etc. He would come home feeling so defeated even though he had made a lot of money over a deal! We were already unhappy, so I completely believe that this was all God's doing. Scott deserved better. He deserved a career that he could thrive and grow and be encouraged, and doing honest work. We couldn't be more excited for this new chapter of our lives, and I couldn't be more proud to be his partner through all of this. As scary as it was for us, I am so glad that we experienced this situation and grew from it. I feel so confident in him and so blessed to know that we make such a great team and together, we really can get through anything life throws us. 

We truly appreciate all of the support and prayers we've received throughout this journey! 

Have a fabulous Monday, and wish us luck on his first day!!!! :-) 

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