A KAUZ Worth Fighting For

As mentioned earlier, we left Wichita Falls after not quite a year and a half, and are comfortably settled in Idaho.  But we can certainly never forget our time in Texoma, the friends we made there, or the job that brought our family there in the first place.

After I graduated from BYU, we still went a few weeks with no job.  KAUZ, the CBS affiliate in Wichita Falls, offered me my first job as a dayside reporter.

For the first 7 or 8 months I was a one-man-band, which meant I shot the video and did the interviewing, and then wrote and edited everything.  Then I had the great opportunity to co-anchor the morning show with Lindsey Rogers. We would both come in early, do the morning show, and then still have time to go out and shoot a story for the day.  I was glad I still got to report even while anchoring.

My last day at KAUZ was bittersweet.  Whitney came to take pictures at the station.  I will always miss my co-workers, who all became my friends.

One thing I will always remember about KAUZ is how much we ate.  Goodness gracious, it’s no wonder I put on some pounds while I was there.  If food was put on the public table in the middle of the newsroom, you could expect it to be gone within minutes.  You’d think none of us got to eat anything at home.  Check out the spread of food the receptionist, Tina made for me on my last day of work.  I know, it looks like I died or something with my picture there on the table.

Overall, my job at KAUZ was a wonderful first job.  It got my feet wet in the field of broadcast journalism.  Honestly, it was pretty much what I expected out of a first job.  It was helpful in all the ways it needed to be for someone fresh out of college.  I loved the experiences, the opportunities, and the people.

While it was tough getting by, we know there was a reason we lived in Wichita Falls.  We’ll probably be discovering more of those reasons as time goes by.

One Step Forward

Great news! We completed one small step in the huge adoption process. We got the pre-approval paperwork taken care of. That means we:

• Filled out a basic application with our information
• Each got a physical (from our new primary care physician, who was mentioned as one of our recent miracles)
• Had our fertility specialist from Wichita Falls fill out a form to show that yes, we struggle with infertility
• Had our bishop fill out a form about us (understandably, he spoke with our bishop in Texas simply because, quite frankly, our current bishop doesn't know us very well yet. But he got things taken care of quickly)
• Had loved ones fill out reference letters on our behalf (a huge Thank You to those who did!)
  
• Are set to pay the first big sum of money as the application fee

Tuesday is our next appointment with our caseworker, Jon. The next steps (which will probably take a while) will include getting background checks from each state we have lived in during the last five years. It's a race between Utah, Texas, and Idaho. Who will have the quickest turnaround time?

We know it's a small step on a huge journey, but we're excited to have one part done. And hey -- that could have taken a lot longer, but it didn't.

Miracles

Here we are, finally settled in Idaho, and my mind is reeling with things I have been wanting to write, but have not had the spare minute to jot down. Indeed, the task is almost overwhelming.

But our family has seen many miracles over the past weeks, and I feel very compelled to write them so I’ll always remember them.

So the long story:

We had been looking for a new job for nearly six months. We loved living in Texas and had made some awesome friends. But the bottom line was we were not making enough money, especially to adopt. We were really struggling. We had put adoption on hold because it’s rather difficult to start the adoption process and then move out of state right in the middle. So we were waiting to start the paperwork to wait to get approved to wait to be selected. Waiting to wait. Waiting to wait is the worst kind of waiting there is. It is excruciating. If you have ever had to do this, then you know exactly what I mean.

There were several opportunities that fell through. Spencer was even offered a few jobs that we had to turn down because we knew they weren’t the right fit. We wanted to say yes so badly, but we couldn’t. So we waited some more.

Finally, we got an interview with a station in Idaho. It was an anchor position. Spencer wouldn’t have to work Sundays. We would make enough money. We flew to Idaho for the interview. We met the news director, and got know the area a little bit. We did some house hunting. We found the perfect little home to rent quite close to Spencer’s work. We really hit it off with the landlords. They still had a bit of work to do on the house, but promised us that they would let us know first, before they posted it online, when it was finished. We hoped to get the job and move to Idaho about the time the house would be finished.

A couple of months later we still didn’t know if Spencer had gotten the job. We had been in touch with the news director, but no decision had been made.

The landlords who were holding the house for us told us that they would have to go ahead and rent it to someone else since we still didn’t even know if we were moving. We understood, but were disappointed. I felt like we had found the place we were supposed to be. I wanted it to work out.

About a week after that we got a call from the Idaho station… and a job offer! We could finally move forward. We could finally pursue adoption! That same day, we got a call from the landlord we had met on our first trip out. The house was still available, and they wanted to know if we wanted it. Miracle.

Up to this point in our marriage, every home we had lived in had a washer and drier or at least a community laundry room (at our apartment complex). The home we were moving into was not furnished with a washer and drier. We were just planning on finding a Laundromat to use for a few months until we saved up enough for a set of our own. Spencer mentioned this to his co-anchor, Lindsey, in passing. Lindsey had just gotten married a couple of weeks prior. Both she and her husband had owned their own washer and drier, and so they had an extra set that they wanted to get rid of. She asked if we wanted them, and even offered to haul them to our house in her husband’s truck. This all happened the day before we moved, so we were able to load the washer and drier right onto our U-Haul. Miracle.

The only other thing our new home was lacking was a lawn mower. We were planning on asking to borrow a neighbor’s mower until we could purchase our own. We met a nice family in the ward at church, who happened to live on our street. Spencer asked them if it would be possible for him to borrow their lawn mower for a couple of hours to take care of our lawn. As it turned out, they had recently acquired a second mower, and asked if we would like to have it. The refused pay, insisting they did not need two lawn mowers. Miracle.

We met with our caseworker and were FINALLY able to begin the paperwork to start the adoption process. I felt so strongly during our meeting that we are where we are supposed to be. We learned that the LDS services office we are working with has one of the highest placement rates in the country. Miracle.

We needed physicals as part of the adoption process, so we found a local doctor to meet with. He filled out some of the adoption paperwork and was very kind and helpful. When we went to pay the bill, the receptionist told us that the doctor only wanted to charge us a third of what a new-patient office visit normally costs. Miracle.

I couldn’t help but tear up, I was so grateful for our doctors kindness. It was a bit of a struggle not to lose it in front of the nice receptionist.

It might sound simple. It’s just a washer. It’s just a lawn mower. No big deal, right? But it’s a big deal to me. It’s a reminder that Heavenly Father hasn’t forgotten us. It’s a reminder that He has a plan for us. We have waited so long, and I know we have a while to wait still until our baby is finally in our arms. Heavenly Father is so merciful to send little reminders along the way that He’s right there with us. The more I look the more miracles I see. We are so grateful. We are so blessed.