Our Big News!!!

We are so excited to make two big announcements. The first is that we are expecting baby #2. Brittney is due the end of March!!! For those of you who know the Gardner clan, March is the month of Birthdays. The official due date is actually on my sister Emily's Birthday.

Our second announcement is that Vance found a job last week. It was a very fast and unexpected thing. Vance has been searching and searching for jobs since he graduated in April. We were beginning to feel very discouraged after so many letters of rejection and hearing things like, "we have 120 people who have applied for the position, and will only be interviewing three." We began to wonder if we would ever find a job, but we had hope that with Vance's education and background, a door would finally be opened for us.

Last Thursday, Vance's mom called and said that she just found out that there is a high school counselor position that just opened up at Sugar Salem High School. She said they had hired someone several months ago but that person called and backed out. The school administrators were frantically trying to find some to fill the position that was supposed to start on Monday. Vance's mom is close friends with the school superintendent and the principal, and after hearing about the situation they were in she mentioned that she had a son that just graduated with his MPA and would be a really great fit. Vance called the principal and had a phone interview that morning. They said they were interviewing a few more candidates but they would let us know of their decision by 5:00 that night. We were really reluctant to get our hopes up because we had been disappointed before. That night the principal called and told Vance they had selected him for the position and would like him to start on Monday. We were shocked. We couldn't believe how fast everything happened and how it had all fallen into place. We really felt like the Lord was aware of our situation and had a hand in making this job happen.

Now, being a counselor at his old high school is not really Vance's dream job, but we really feel like it will be a great stepping stone to where he wants to be. Vance has always wanted to work for a university but just didn't have quite enough experience to go along with his degree. This job will give him the experience he needs in academic advising that will hopefully help him to get a job in the university setting in the next few years.

Vance is obviously already in Idaho, but I have to give a 30 notice here at Alpine storage. I am not going to be able to join him up there until the second week in September. It has been a little rough not having him around since I am still feeling pretty sick from the pregnancy and can't seem to function without an afternoon nap. I definitely have a new appreciation for single moms. We are really excited for this new adventure in our lives and feel extremely blessed for the new opportunities that lie ahead.