Crazy journey!

I really feel I need to document all that has gone on in the last few months. I have been really bad about doing that but in the future I feel that looking back at all that has gone on will help us make decisions and be confident that we can do anything considering all we have accomplished. First I will start off with when it all started.... Jason was let go from his amazing job as an estimator and I had Addi then was told in June that I no longer had a job at my company just before I was to come back from maternity leave. So we started looking for a job for Jason but really had the most horrible time. I remember the comments that came from people "he just needs to try harder", "he needs to be making phone calls" etc. Little did people know that we probably put in 100's of resumes and made 100's of calls during the summer to try and find work for him. Thankfully we both had unemployment income coming in so it floated us for a while. We also had a great savings established so that worked out well. Then in September 2010 the most horrible day I can remember (september 21st) we got the knock on the door and found out Jason's brother had been killed. No one really understands all that goes into the military process for KIA Heros until you have to deal with it. It was 2 solid months of things that HAD to be done from receiving the body in Dover to the funeral and final investigations etc. Unlike anything I have ever witnessed in my life and something I wouldn't wish on ANYONE! Moving on from that..... Still no job for Jason which I truly believe was a blessing because of all that Jason had to do for his family and all the traveling that came from this horrific event. in April 2012 Jason stopped working for a horrible employer and started to take class for his CDL license. This previous job ruined us. I don't think people really understand all that went on with them. They were just down right horrible and I feel sorry for anyone that has to work for them in the future......... that is if they are even around. As everyone knows we took a job with lower in come (this horrible job) just so Jason had a job. He was promised so much up front. Promised he would be a manager, that he would run a certain part of the business etc. We took this as a good sign and went with it. Things were great for a few months until they started to try and cut costs. First cost cut was how they paid their employees. They started to do piece work rate which didn't guarantee us any kind of wage. Sometimes it was great but most of the time we lost lots of money because of how poorly the system was set up. The owners would make a huge mistake that would take the workers 2 times longer to finish something and so in turn those that did the work didn't get paid as much. This went on for a couple of months and then one pay day our check didn't go into the bank like it should have. We had direct deposit and usually it was there by 9 am. When 1:00 came around and still no money Jason finally got a hold of his boss. They gave some excuse about something I can't even remember and told them it would be a little longer. Jason decided to call the payroll company/benefit company to find out what in the world was going on and come to find out the company he worked for BOUNCED their payroll check. They didn't have a dime to pay their employees. We had bills set up for payment (we were living paycheck to paycheck so you better believe we set things up to come out the day we got paid), creditors that were expecting us to pay etc. Over $1,000 negative in our checking account later we still had no paycheck. Not only did we not have a paycheck but we now had bounced fees, return check charges and collection accounts that would now go on my credit because I didn't keep up with my end of the terms that were set for repayment. The following week we finally received our paycheck and a few extra dollars to cover some of the bounced fees but the damage had already been done. This continued to happen off and on for months. During this time we lost so much. We lost our good credit scores, we lost our reputation with our bank (always being in the negative will do that to you) and we lost the chance to keep some collection accounts with the hospital off our credit (well my credit). During this time we started the process of looking for another job. My good friend's husband started working for a company that was hiring so Jason put in an application and got a call back. We went up to Bountiful to interview and was given great news. The only thing he had to do was get his CDL and he would get the job. We started looking into him going to school to be a motorcycle mechanic as well in Arizona. So we started to work hard on some other options. The school didn't work out as it was not really possible to find work for him that would pay enough to support a family and go to school. The oil field job was still and option and they told us he needed to get that CDL so once they were hiring again he would be first in line to get the job. So we borrowed $3,000 sent him to school in April and he left his horrible job behind. Jason did well in the class as I expected. He passed everything right away and then we contacted the recruiter to notify him we had the license and was ready for work. He called back said they were ready to hire him and asked how we felt about moving to West Virginia. We said yes as we knew the pay would be great and would allow us to support our growing kids. A week later we get a call saying that wont be happening and wondering how we felt about Pensylvania? Just like before we said GREAT lets do it and so Jason was instructed to come up to Bountiful, grab the HR packet and fill it out. We sat through another interview and was given a date to orientation in the middle of the following month. We then got a call on monday saying that Pen. isn't a good fit and that we are a for sure go for North Dakota. Jason turned in his hiring packet which included all the items for payroll etc. To us it seemed pretty ligit! It seemed like this was for sure going to happen. Then no contact from the company and an email later we find the company has been put on a hiring freeze AGAIN. So discouraged at this point we stopped even trying. Being told for months we had this amazing job then NOTHING just stung.... it really hurt Jason's confidence as well. We spent all this money for a CDL and now had NO job and no possibility of a job. So Jason started looking around. A really good friend of mine posted that they were looking for CDL drivers for a company and to have Jason send in a resume RIGHT away. So we did and 5 minutes later he was set for an interview on Monday. The interview came and he was offered the job ON THE SPOT. We were SO excited! A job! After 2 months of no job we were so so excited. He started work and then we realized how horrible the pay was. They offered him $14.50 an hour............. to support a family of 5......... We were so grateful for the job that we just went with it and hoped that a raise would be in the future. After talking to many of the employees we found that this company just doesn't pay very well and raises are not something that happen often. My heart sunk. This is just another temporary job, another HOLE! We needed a career, something for Jason to retire from and something that would put us back living on our own. A few months into this job and working long long hours Jason got a call from a company about a possible job that would be based out of Utah. So Jason scheduled the phone interview and didn't expect much. The phone interview came and went and they asked him to go into the office for a face to face interview. We took the trip to Vernal for the interview not expecting anything much because we have been let down so so many times. He walked into the interview and walked out 10 minutes later. When I saw him come out I was crushed until he looked at me, grinned and gave me the thumbs up! He was offered the job on the spot again. The only difference with this company is they are a large company and everything has to be formally done. So we waited for the formal job offer in the mail. On Wednesday the following week we finally got the offer. So much to do in order to get the official hire date. He has gone in to get a drug test done. They had to shave his chest because the hair on his head was not long enough. They sent tons of things to fill out and read and this morning we just got another packet of things that need to be filled out. The job is still not 100% official but it is more official then anything we have really done so far. This will be a career. Something he can move up in the company and retire from with great retirement and great benefits!!!! So hopefully the end to this very very long story will be "and they lived happily ever after".