Big news

Each time I've moved I've done a complete mental and emotional transplant into my new situation.

When I moved to NY I brought with me every book I owned (seems silly in the nook and ipad day in age we live in now.) because I was sure I was never leaving. I lived at that point like I had to make up for every day I'd ever lived outside the city. Every moment, even two years into it, was as valuable as my first one there. I lived to soak up all the culture, bustle, energy, and smelly garbage subway stench I could. I LOVED every single day.

Likewise, I can honestly say that I have never taken a single day here in Riverside for granted. The tree lined streets, the smell of orange blossoms in the winter, the mid-90's in the summer and 70s in the winter, the fog that rolls in from the ocean in the morning and burns off to a beautiful blue sky by brunch, the historic architecture, small unique shops, the hop and skip to the beach, mountains, or Disneyland, the Mission Inn and it's stunning atmosphere, Mt Rubidoux and the annual ward hike to the top, our ward in general and all the wonderful women I've learned to admire and love.

I even love our unique living situation. Residents here have become our family. The kids are lucky enough to have several Grandma's and Grandpa's that light up whenever we see them. Even Mesa has a following. Believe it or not, I've never gotten tired of our small apartment, either. It's a pain to try and keep clean, but I love having my family close. There's something so peaceful about never being outside of each other's sight. We revolve around each other. . . sit together. . . play together . . . sleep together . . . all in our little one bedroom nook.

Brent's company is renowned for their training program. We were lucky enough to receive it, and somehow "lucky" enough to be given one of the most difficult buildings to run. Not just a Skilled Nursing Facility, Plymouth Tower is a Continued Care Community, meaning it has all three levels of care (Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing, and Independent Living). Typically they would have an Executive Director for each of these divisions, but because we are a smaller building, they "let" Brent run all three. By himself. Yes, three jobs, for the pay of one. He worked for 2 1/2 years without a single day off. 12 - 14 hours a day were the norm, 7 days a week. When one section was succeeding, the company wasn't calling to congratulate him, they were calling to see if the other sections were doing as well, and if not, they reprimanded that he wasn't dividing his time wisely between the branches. Financials were always tricky because with a small bed facility you have less paying patients, but need just as much full time staff as a bigger building (all buildings need a Director of Nursing, Staff Development, full Rehab department, etc) therefore the ratio of expenses and income are never ideal. The building when they hired him had just been bought out of bankruptcy, was in the middle of a remodel (picture jackhammers all night long next to an elderly woman's room who is trying to sleep), and it had the worst reputation possible in the community (think "worst story you've ever heard about a nursing home"). Brent's job was to fix it. All by himself.

First he had to fire everyone that contributed to the failing building. Then he had to hire people who would give great care. But he couldn't do it all at once, because in the meantime the building needed to continue to function. So in stages he replaced groups of people. All while trying to keep the moral of his employees up. And the remodel continued. And continued. And continued. Brent refused to pay off the state employees like they wanted to get them to pass inspections. He refused to pay doctors off to send patients (like his competition). He committed to doing this with integrity, and all the while the transition crept at a snails pace.

I've never seen anyone work so hard. Brent's learning curve was like Mt. Everest. But he kept climbing. He turned it from a 2-star facility into a 5 (out of 5) star facility in the first year. He didn't ever complain about having to do 3 jobs instead of just one. He was constantly trying to come up with more ideas on how to make it successful. Every out of the box thought was visited by him on the many sleepless nights he had throughout the last couple of years. He became certified both as an Assisted Living Director and Skilled Nursing Director, doubling his qualifications. He lived every detail on what makes both function, thrive, and succeed. His hair turned grey, he gained 30 pounds, and his phone worked in overdrive clicking, ringing, and vibrating, with emails, texts, and phone calls all day, and all night.

We slowly stopped getting so many panicked knocks at our door for emergencies at 2, 3, and 4:00 in the morning. Then in May the building had the best financial month it had ever had. EVER. Emails from other directors in the company started flooding in, congratulating Brent on his success. But the next day Brent's two regional directors were in his office, with, believe it or not, stern faces. They patted him on the back and informed him that if he didn't double the financial number by the end of June, he would be out of a job. Boom.

Deflated and shocked, we knew there was nothing more we could do. We decided to lay our burden at the feet of the Lord, and made a family commitment to fast and go to the temple every single week. We doubled our fast-offering, continued to pray our guts out, and multiplied our efforts in our callings. And the day after our first fast, the building exploded with patients. We had so many inquiries we were turning people away. The end of the month came, and we reached the number the regional administrators had challenged us with.

More emails, more congratulations. And more subliminal messages that it needed to "stay this way". Each week we continued, never letting up on our temple appointment, our fasting and prayers. Each week we knew this month could be our last, even though our numbers were better than they ever had been.

It dawned on us that maybe the company didn't want to pay us the bonus that we'd earned, and would be eligible for soon, if the building kept succeeding.

I remember feeling the fear of the unknown, and hearing Brent's concern about not knowing how quickly we'd find another job outside of Ensign. It was like the Lord heard us talking that night, because the next day Brent ran into a recruiter. He casually mentioned that he may be interested in finding another position, I think just to face the fear head on and know what our options were. Within 24 hours we had 4 solid job offers on the table, each of them for more money than we were making now. At first it was just peace of mind, and we weren't serious about leaving, because Brent couldn't imagine walking away from a building he felt so invested in. We turned them all down, and left the situation with that much more confidence that it wasn't the end of the world when we felt threatened by Ensign.

The hours didn't let up, the problems didn't cease, and the waiting list to come to our facility grew longer. Brent continued to digest information, becoming better at his job more and more unique in his skill set.

And one of the companies who had expressed interest didn't stop calling.

After 4 interviews trying to persuade him, an offer that doubles our pay, the prospect of living close to family, the opportunity of running a much bigger and more affluent building, and knowing it won't be even half the hours of stress, Brent finally has realized that leaving this building doesn't mean he's abandoning it. He turned it into a successful place, and he's reaping the benefits by moving up to the next situation.

So, we're moving to The Desert. The new building is a few miles from where two of our most favorite families live. Brooklynn will get to see even more of her cousins, whose company trumps Disneyland and Christmas COMBINED. We're looking for a house, with a real backyard, and look forward to seeing more of Brent even without having to live where he works.

It has been more than a blessing. It has been a miracle. It will never be lost on us that the success of Plymouth Tower happened only after we had done every thing we could do, and finally let The Lord do the rest. We have continued our weekly fast and temple session . . . there are just no words for the way He has changed our home. Our hearts. Our lives. as we relied on Him during our strongest hour of need.

I am so grateful and so aware of the genuine mercy He gives us. Three years ago when we were praying about what career path to pursue, I would have never allowed myself to hope for the situation we've been blessed with.

It is going to be hard to leave my beloved Riverside. A little piece of my heart will always always always be running it's beautiful streets, riding through Norco, and celebrating the perfect weather here.

Brent starts the third week of September, which gives me about one month to figure out where we're moving and somehow make it all happen. Wish me luck, here comes the next chapter.