Friday, March 28, 2014

We are MOVING!!!!

Y’all don’t know how long I have wanted to share this news! On March 17th, Jace signed a contract with Ernst & Young accounting firm and we will be moving to Nashville, TN summer 2014. As with any job search process, it had high moments and some rough days.

Jace started researching and applying for firms late last Fall. He compiled a detailed Excel spreadsheet of firms, their location, the contact person, when he sent his resume, and the date and response from the firm. When I say firms, this includes both accounting and law firms. As a tax attorney, there are three main tracks for employment: government, law firms, and accounting firms. Jace chose to focus on accounting and law firms and he sent over 50 letters to firms. The firms he sent letters to were located in: Atlanta, Jackson, MS, Lexington, Louisville, Jackson, TN, Bowling Green, Nashville, & Memphis. Honey, we were a letter sending machine. Jace folded and signed his name, I stuffed and put on stamps. I felt like every week we were buying stamps and praying that one of those letters would come back with a potential lead.

November and December 2013 were hard months. We had sent letters and weren’t hearing back from many but when we did hear from firms it was basically, “your resume is impressive but our firm is not hiring right now”. Those were some hard days and made us feel the same emotions we had when he was applying to law school.

Jace was really good about telling me where he was applying and we would talk about the benefits and drawbacks to a particular city where the firm was located. Several were located in Atlanta and I was scared of living in such a large city and commuting to and from work. I distinctly remember one night, while doing the dishes, the city of Dallas was brought up. I filled that sink with tears and told Jace I just couldn’t go that far away from home. I hated to tell him no to a potential job that he may love. I felt as though I was squashing his future in some way by saying no but knew I had to speak up because I didn’t think I would be happy in Texas. You know when they say that marriage will be filled with decisions and you must work together as a team, well honey we did just that! Big decisions have been made so far in our marriage, decisions that affect the other person but there is no one else that I would rather make these decisions with than with Jace.

The holidays came and went and Jace received his grades from the first semester (they were stellar by the way!) and we sent out another round of letters with his updated GPA. January brought more dark days and the roller coaster of emotions kept us on edge. One day, one of us would be optimistic and the other would have a bad day. One day we were all about accounting firms and the next moment we were all about law firms. We even toyed with the idea of going back to Paducah but that idea was short lived.

At this point I knew the law and accounting firms by name and where they were located. We talked about them all the time like they were family members and it was a sign that we had both gone crazy. I was so consumed by worry and tired from the waiting game that I just broke down one day, on the elliptical of all places. I know I scared the poor girl in the gym when I was choking back tears. I just couldn’t handle the ups and downs of this process much longer and I reached out to Lauren and Whitney and did something that I never do: I asked for prayers. Those girls emailed me scripture faster than anything and I felt their love immediately. I also texted a lot with our dear friend, Haley. Her husband and Jace went to law school together and they just went through the job process last year and she could relate to every emotion I was feeling. Those girls saw me through some rough days and I won’t forget that.

Around February the tide started to turn and honey that is when the ride really started to get fun. Our first job lead was from a law firm in Jackson, MS. Though nothing materialized from the call it sparked a new sense of hope within us. Shortly after the MS call, other firms started calling and wanted to set up Skype interviews. A law firm out of Nashville wanted to set up a Skype interview with Jace and another accounting firm based out of Atlanta had invited Jace to dinner interviews. We finally had leads; leads that we had been praying about for so long. I swear to you one day, Jace called me every four hours with an update on a job lead and interviews and it was hard to keep up with what all was going on. Ernst & Young (EY) was one of these job leads.
                                                                                                                                      
EY wanted to set up an in person interview at their Nashville location and they would pay for our travel! Honey, I was in the car with my bags packed when he said this. The interview was on a Wednesday but first he had an interview with a law firm out of Chattanooga on that Monday. I remember we left Gainesville at 6 AM and drove all morning until we got to Chattanooga. We stopped by Kennedy’s and Elizabeth’s house before the interview and Kennedy showed me around Chattanooga while Jace was interviewing. After Kennedy’s tour, I had basically moved us to Chattanooga, mentally, and was ready to look for homes on the North Shore side of town.

From Chattanooga, we drove home and spent less than 24 hours in Graves County. We didn’t anticipate getting to go home that early after the holidays and it was the nicest treat to be back. Tuesday night we drove to Nashville and Wednesday morning Jace went to the interview. He met with five individuals and y’all the second he called me after the interview was over I knew we had a good shot. Jace was so excited and said it went so well. The following Tuesday the job offer came in. We had two weeks to make our decision and during this time we waited to see if the Chattanooga law firm would come back with an offer. Now, I’m not going to lie, I was ready to forge Jace's signature on  EY’s offer and didn’t see the point in waiting. EY was so incredibly nice to Jace and I knew he would be happy there. However, Jace wanted to give equal weight to both firms so we waited for two L-O-N-G weeks.

All Jace and I have ever wanted was to be close to our families and we felt that Nashville was the best place for us. Nashville provides the job opportunities that both he and I are looking for and was just a short drive from home. We can’t forget about the Teak too! She is only 3 ½ hours from Nashville! Throughout this whole process, we prayed; oh did we pray. We prayed that our will would match up with God’s will. We prayed for patience and understanding throughout the journey. Our motto was, “You {God} lead, we will follow”. Well, he lead us straight to the place we had been praying for and we both felt God’s peace wash over us and knew without a doubt that EY was the place for us. Jace signed the contract on March 17th and it was a great day!!!!

I don’t care what you tell me, a job search is a process and it is spiritual. We were completely out of control but knew that God was walking this journey with us. I laid my burdens on him and you know what, he took up my yoke and helped me. Even on those hard days, He was working behind the scenes creating something far greater than we could have imagined.

Though this process has been emotionally draining, Jace and I came out stronger. Eight years of being apart makes you learn how to communicate and work as a team and we did just that. I shed many tears through it all but I wouldn’t do this with anyone else. I am so happy to know that Jace is going to work for a great company that treats him well and respects the education and knowledge he possess.

We will be boxing our things up and leaving Gville June 2014. By this time, our school days will be behind us and we will both be working. So long are the days of writing papers and studying for finals. I told Jace after this first year of marriage that was filled with two moves, a graduation, and a new job that maybe we should take a year off and just do nothing but work. No major changes or life events; just work.

I do want to go on record and let it be known that just because we will be living in TN I will not wear that God-awful TN orange. Is there a tackier color than that orange? (However, I will wear UT apparel if I am employed by UT in the future) In addition, the words to Rocky Top will never be sung. The only volunteering we will be doing is at the church! Lord help us, Jace and I are already worried that the babies will want to go to college at UT. So if you have moving boxes, send them our way. If you know of good places to live in Nashville, let us know. Watch out Nashville, the Stampers are coming!

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