The Job and Thanksgiving!

First of all, thank you to all my friends and family on Facebook who shared in our excitement of Weston's new job and move back "home" that we announced yesterday.  It's crazy to think it's been 12 years since I have lived in middle Tennessee.  How is that possible??  I'm not old enough to be away for that long.  ....oh wait, I turn 30 in a couple weeks...eh, moving on.

I am going to post some pictures from Thanksgiving throughout this post as I talk about our move.  Hard to believe that last Thanksgiving we shared the news of our bun in the oven.  Now this year, we have a happy, 6 month old baby girl.  We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner a day early on Wednesday with Weston's parents visiting us in Birmingham.  Weston had to work on Thanksgiving and through the following weekend.  So Hannah and I made our way up to Tennessee afterwards on Thursday.

Now onto Weston's job, I just want to share with everyone how proud I am of Weston.  He is so smart, driven, and hard working, and he is super humble about it all.  Getting back to Nashville seemed like a slim possibility after anesthesia residency.  Weston has told me for years to not get our hopes up.  And I didn't even let my mind wonder to the possibility living there.  With the new healthcare laws, there is such an uncertainty in the medical profession.  This is probably one of the most difficult times to get out of residency and find a job.  And the Nashville area has really one big anesthesia group that runs all of the surrounding area's hospitals.  So if they weren't hiring or chose another equally qualified candidate, then Nashville really wasn't a possibility.

So it certainly was an answered prayer to hear that the group in Nashville was hiring four positions, and Wes was able to get an interview with them.  While he waited to hear back for one long month, he was able to get two other job offers.  One north of Nashville that didn't feel like the right fit for him.  And another great job opportunity in a small town in North Alabama that was extremely lucrative with a partnership offer 18 months after starting.  When we heard back that he had the job in Nashville, we were ecstatic!  There were over 100 applicants, and Weston was offered one of those four positions!  It was meant to be.  And suddenly the Lord's plan for our family keeps getting revealed to us piece by piece along the way.

With Nashville being such a desirable place to live and work, we knew that the salary wouldn't be nearly as good as the other offer.  It was an easy decision though after we really thought about it.  You can't put a price on the quality of life.  We are so excited to be nearby our family and friends.  No more traveling during the holidays.  We are able to celebrate family member's birthday or just meet for dinner on a random Tuesday night.  Hannah can grow up and play with her cousins, and both sets of Hannah's grandparents will be close by too.  Not to mention that Franklin/Williamson County has excellent schools and oozes with southern charm.  It's where we were raised.  It just feels good anytime we are back.  This is the life we want to give her.  Through the Lord's provision and Weston's hard work, it's going to happen.  You might as well pinch me.

As for the details on Weston's job, he isn't assigned to a hospital yet.  He will for the most part be working at one hospital.  He finishes his anesthesia residency at the end of June, and he will start his new job in July 2014.  We're not sure exactly where we will live.  We definitely want to be within Williamson county.  Our plan is to hopefully sell our house here in Birmingham, and we'll rent for a short period in Franklin/Nashville while we decide what area we want to settle into our new home.

Thank you all again for your well wishes.  We are so happy to be going back!