Of course, in true Orme fashion, getting to this job has been a bumpy ride. As soon as we got to Texas, we set to work getting Tom's dental license. His job would start on September 20, and one month to get everything together was a little tight, but we figured we should be able to do it. The State asked for Tom's diploma, which we had packed away and hadn't seen since May 2009. We tried looking through our boxes and failed. We ended up forking out some money to get a duplicate made and sent, which of course took some time. We then submitted everything for him to get his license. Of course, when we called to get an update on the status of his license, we got the standard answer ... "It will take 2-4 weeks to process your application." Ugh!!! September 20 crept nearer and nearer, and we got more and more nervous. Finally on Tuesday September 14, we got a letter stating that he had been approved for a dental license in the mail!! We were so excited!!
Because of how the licensing is done in Texas, Tom was given written permission to begin working, but he had to sign a paper and pay a fee within 30 days or else he would not get his license. Unfortunately, when you checked the status of Tom's license online, it stated it was expired (on the same day it was activated ... go figure). Well the clinic required that his status be active online, so we headed up to Austin after we picked up the girls from school on Thursday to pay the fee and turn in the paperwork. Of course, we were told it would take 3-5 days to update his status online. How frustrating!!! Fortunately, his company decided to go ahead and fly him up on Sunday, so he could start work as soon as his status changed. By Tuesday morning his status was FINALLY showing active, so Tom headed to work only to be told that he couldn't work and needed to go back to the hotel.
Apparently, the government clinic he worked at required him to have his controlled substance permit (i.e. permission to prescribe meds). Now, you only need a dental license and malpractice insurance to work, both of which he had, but the clinic required this permit, which was still being processed from when we submitted it the week before. Immediately the company started calling to see what could be done. By Wednesday 2 or 3 employees from his company as well as Tom were calling to see about his permit. Of course, they were rudely dismissed after being given the same answer, "It'll take about 4 weeks to process." Seriously we were dying!!! 4 more weeks!!!! He'd already had a background check and everything verified. Why would it take 4 weeks to say, "Yes, you can prescribe meds."
By Thursday his company decided they'd rather have him wait at home because they still had up to 3 more weeks before he got his permit. We were planning to visit Tom that weekend because of a school holiday, but ended up getting him to come home ... and not on our dime! We were sooooo excited to see him, but the whole situation was frustrating and a little stressful. We needed him to start working soon because it's not like we have an endless amount of money in our bank account.
I jokingly told Tom when he got home, "Watch. You'll get your permit tomorrow or something." Sure enough, Friday morning I checked online, and he had been given his permit! As annoying as the whole situation was, at least we got to see him, and it was free!!! This morning, we dropped Tom off at the airport, and he starts work tomorrow!!! We are soooo excited for this job ... not excited about him being far away ... but excited that we'll actually receive an honest to goodness paycheck. Money that can be budgeted, bills will be paid, living expenses will be taken care of, and dare I even mention ... possibly put some away into savings!! I just hope now that the ride has ended, and he can get working now without any hiccups. I'll definitely be saying a little prayer tonight and in the morning!!
Monday, September 27, 2010
A New Job
Last year when we were looking for a job in Utah, Tom found out about a company that provides dentist on a temporary basis, or locum tenens as it's called. When we put our practice up for sale, Tom contacted this company again to get them to start looking for a job for him. We really felt like a temporary job would be good for us because we knew that we eventually wanted to buy a practice again, but needed to be in better financial shape. We also knew we just wanted to collect a paycheck for awhile and not have to worry about all the stresses that can come with owning a practice. When we asked the company to start looking for us, we told them to start looking in Texas.
We left Texas because we wanted cooler weather ... honestly, the sun and our family don't go well together - maybe if we had more pigment. We also had dreamed of going to Washington State and really wanted to make that happen. We also wanted to have a fresh start since our dental school experience had been sooooooo rough on us. The fact that cooler weather generally means less bugs, particularly roaches, was another perk to our plans. Of course our plans were obviously the wrong ones!!!
Well, last year while looking at the available temp jobs, we noticed something ... there were NEVER any jobs in Utah or Washington, but there were ALWAYS jobs in Texas. Honestly, if you're looking for a job, Texas is a great place to be.
In Utah we had needed the support of Tom's sister Cynthia and her family in order to make everything possible ... we really would have been homeless and bankrupt without them ... and maybe in an insane assylum as well. We knew we would need some more support, and with the great job opportunities in Texas and my parents living in Houston, we decided to head back to Texas. I knew my parents would help out because they had offered last year. Tom had forgotten about the offer or maybe I hadn't told him or maybe in our zeal to get to Washington and our urgency to leave dental school behind (i.e. San Antonio), we overlooked my mom's offer. I checked with my parents, and the offer was still good.
Once we decided on Texas, we knew we needed the right job ... not any ole job would do. In Utah we barely made enough money to survive. Tom even took on a job as an associate dentist for 3 days a week and still we made barely enough to cover our bills and living expenses. The sad thing is our bills and living expenses didn't include rent and utilities (they were free) or any student loan payments, which were on forbearance or deferment until Fall 2010. Last year we read a book by Dave Ramsey called Total Money Makeover. The author gives a plan on how to get out of debt, which we really liked and were ready to try ... but we made no money to put that plan in effect. With whatever new job came, we knew we needed money to cover all of our student loan payments, to pay our bills, to allow us to live minimally, and to give us money on top of all that to make extra payments so that we could get out of debt more quickly.
Thankfully, by the time Tom sold his practice, the company found a job for Tom as well as a little weekend job in Cedar City, UT before we moved. After looking at other job opportunities in Texas, we decided we wanted Tom to take this job, so he agreed and will now be working for a government clinic in Raymondville, TX, which is in a part of Texas known as The Valley. The job has great pay and lots of other perks. We also just found out that because of the location and the patients Tom will be seeing, the job might also qualify for Federal Loan Repayment. Bonus!! This job should definitely be sufficient to support our family and get us in better financial shape.
Unfortunately, Raymondville is 300 miles from my parents' house, and to save on expenses, the kids and I will be staying with my parents while Tom works in The Valley. Of course we will get to see Tom on weekends after he's been working a bit, but during the week we will miss him a ton as I'm sure he'll miss us. After about a year, we should be in a position to start looking to buy a practice again. I definitely am not looking forward to this year, but I can honestly say ... we've been through worse.
We left Texas because we wanted cooler weather ... honestly, the sun and our family don't go well together - maybe if we had more pigment. We also had dreamed of going to Washington State and really wanted to make that happen. We also wanted to have a fresh start since our dental school experience had been sooooooo rough on us. The fact that cooler weather generally means less bugs, particularly roaches, was another perk to our plans. Of course our plans were obviously the wrong ones!!!
Well, last year while looking at the available temp jobs, we noticed something ... there were NEVER any jobs in Utah or Washington, but there were ALWAYS jobs in Texas. Honestly, if you're looking for a job, Texas is a great place to be.
In Utah we had needed the support of Tom's sister Cynthia and her family in order to make everything possible ... we really would have been homeless and bankrupt without them ... and maybe in an insane assylum as well. We knew we would need some more support, and with the great job opportunities in Texas and my parents living in Houston, we decided to head back to Texas. I knew my parents would help out because they had offered last year. Tom had forgotten about the offer or maybe I hadn't told him or maybe in our zeal to get to Washington and our urgency to leave dental school behind (i.e. San Antonio), we overlooked my mom's offer. I checked with my parents, and the offer was still good.
Once we decided on Texas, we knew we needed the right job ... not any ole job would do. In Utah we barely made enough money to survive. Tom even took on a job as an associate dentist for 3 days a week and still we made barely enough to cover our bills and living expenses. The sad thing is our bills and living expenses didn't include rent and utilities (they were free) or any student loan payments, which were on forbearance or deferment until Fall 2010. Last year we read a book by Dave Ramsey called Total Money Makeover. The author gives a plan on how to get out of debt, which we really liked and were ready to try ... but we made no money to put that plan in effect. With whatever new job came, we knew we needed money to cover all of our student loan payments, to pay our bills, to allow us to live minimally, and to give us money on top of all that to make extra payments so that we could get out of debt more quickly.
Thankfully, by the time Tom sold his practice, the company found a job for Tom as well as a little weekend job in Cedar City, UT before we moved. After looking at other job opportunities in Texas, we decided we wanted Tom to take this job, so he agreed and will now be working for a government clinic in Raymondville, TX, which is in a part of Texas known as The Valley. The job has great pay and lots of other perks. We also just found out that because of the location and the patients Tom will be seeing, the job might also qualify for Federal Loan Repayment. Bonus!! This job should definitely be sufficient to support our family and get us in better financial shape.
Unfortunately, Raymondville is 300 miles from my parents' house, and to save on expenses, the kids and I will be staying with my parents while Tom works in The Valley. Of course we will get to see Tom on weekends after he's been working a bit, but during the week we will miss him a ton as I'm sure he'll miss us. After about a year, we should be in a position to start looking to buy a practice again. I definitely am not looking forward to this year, but I can honestly say ... we've been through worse.
There and Back Again
Many years ago as Tom and I talked about working on getting Tom into dental school, we also talked about where we ultimately would like to settle. We'd had many friends over the years from Washington State who LOVED living there. We looked at the climate and decided that a cool, rainy place would work well for us, especially for Tom who seems to be allergic to the sun and sweats like CRAZY!!! Later we found out they hardly have any bugs; after living in Texas and its plethora of roaches ... GROSS ... we really were excited to settle in Washington.
So along came dental school and finally after many years and a few ups and many downs, we arrived to Tom's last summer as a student. We took a trip up to the Seattle area to check out the area and to get things rolling on us finding a job in Washington. We LOVED the weather. We loved that in June we were wearing jackets. We loved the overcast days. We loved how beautiful it was, and we loved that we had friends in the area. We met with a dental broker during our trip and started to get things rolling. Throughout Tom's senior year, he made numerous trips back and forth to the Seattle area.
By April, we still hadn't secured a job, but it was time to plan our move. One night while out on a date, I had a bit of inspiration to have Tom call his sister Cynthia and ask if we could live with them after dental school IF for any reason something went wrong. After many years of having things go the hard way, I decided we'd better be careful and have a backup plan. In true Orme fashion, life took the hard road; by Tom's graduation we didn't have a job secured in Washington, and Tom had to retake a portion of his Boards ... the hygiene portion of all things.
Amen to Cynthia and her family's kindness, who had told us when we asked in April if we could live with them, "Did you even need to ask?" On June 1, we arrived in Utah at Cynthia's house. Tom retook, and passed, his boards a few weeks later. By the end of the month, we submitted his application for a dental license in Washington and continued our job searching. After a month and no progress in Washington, we decided to apply for a Utah dental license, so Tom could find a temporary job in Utah while we waited for things to work out in Washington. The Utah license came in 2 weeks, and we were now looking in Washington and Utah for a job.
Tom ended up making 2 trips back to Washington, and, on his last trip in September, he felt like Washington just wasn't the place for us (and no ... we still had not received his WA license at that point). We were sad because we had planned for so many years to live there and were looking forward to living Washington and now everything we'd planned and hoped for was gone. Since we were living in Utah and Tom had a license to work in Utah, we decided to find a job in Utah. We looked and looked and looked; by November ... 6 months since Tom had graduated ... the only opportunity we had was for Tom to buy a dental practice in Salt Lake. At the time, Tom didn't want to take it, but it was the only opportunity we could find, and we desperately needed a job, so Tom took it. On November 18, 2009, we became the owner's of Elmwood Dentistry.
You'll notice that, with the exception of me updating my blog background in February, the last post I made ... was in November. The last time I recorded sayings from my children ... was November 17. Buying that dental practice took life from harder to nearly impossible. We thought dental school had been hard, but the majority of the stress had fallen on Tom. With the buying of his dental practice, we both were under a HUGE amount of stress. We worked hard, but struggled getting the practice going. Months later we felt like we had hardly made any progress. We were blessed to always have enough to pay our bills, but we still stressed each and every month when it was time to pay, not knowing if we'd make enough through the month to replenish our bank account. In April, I discovered some MAJOR financial errors by Tom's office manager, and with our bank account low, we let her go so that I could come work for Tom to fix her errors and to eliminate having to pay for an office manager.
By the time June came around daily panic attacks was a normal thing. Often we just felt like bawling our eyes out, and we felt like we had to consciously move our bodies just to get through each day. The things we loved about Utah ... the beautiful mountains, walking to church on Sundays, snow in the winter, the changing of the leaves in fall, cool summer evenings, and most importantly being surrounded by family whom we loved ... didn't make up for the hopelessness and stress and panic we were feeling continually. On a trip to our nephew's wedding reception in Idaho, Tom and I started talking and by the time we returned home we had decided that we needed to leave Utah and try to get a job somewhere else. You wouldn't believe the amount of relief we felt once we made that decision. Of course the stress and everything was still there weighing us down, but suddenly there was a glimmer of hope; something we hadn't felt in awhile.
A few weeks later, we put Tom's practice up for sale. Miraculously, 6 weeks later the practice was sold for a profit; it was hardly any profit at all, but considering we'd only bought it 8 1/2 months earlier, making a small profit was a miracle. We really felt that we'd made the right choice and felt God's hand in the whole process. On August 6, we sold the practice. Tom immediately head down to Cedar City, UT for a temporary weekend job giving dental exams to a National Guard unit who would be deployed to Iraq shortly. Tom returned on August 8, we celebrated Declan's birthday, we packed up the van, and on August 10 we headed for Texas.
We are grateful for all of the love and support from our family and friends; it's truly what got us through this past year. Now here we are in Texas ... back again ... settling into life and feeling hopeful about the future.
So along came dental school and finally after many years and a few ups and many downs, we arrived to Tom's last summer as a student. We took a trip up to the Seattle area to check out the area and to get things rolling on us finding a job in Washington. We LOVED the weather. We loved that in June we were wearing jackets. We loved the overcast days. We loved how beautiful it was, and we loved that we had friends in the area. We met with a dental broker during our trip and started to get things rolling. Throughout Tom's senior year, he made numerous trips back and forth to the Seattle area.
By April, we still hadn't secured a job, but it was time to plan our move. One night while out on a date, I had a bit of inspiration to have Tom call his sister Cynthia and ask if we could live with them after dental school IF for any reason something went wrong. After many years of having things go the hard way, I decided we'd better be careful and have a backup plan. In true Orme fashion, life took the hard road; by Tom's graduation we didn't have a job secured in Washington, and Tom had to retake a portion of his Boards ... the hygiene portion of all things.
Amen to Cynthia and her family's kindness, who had told us when we asked in April if we could live with them, "Did you even need to ask?" On June 1, we arrived in Utah at Cynthia's house. Tom retook, and passed, his boards a few weeks later. By the end of the month, we submitted his application for a dental license in Washington and continued our job searching. After a month and no progress in Washington, we decided to apply for a Utah dental license, so Tom could find a temporary job in Utah while we waited for things to work out in Washington. The Utah license came in 2 weeks, and we were now looking in Washington and Utah for a job.
Tom ended up making 2 trips back to Washington, and, on his last trip in September, he felt like Washington just wasn't the place for us (and no ... we still had not received his WA license at that point). We were sad because we had planned for so many years to live there and were looking forward to living Washington and now everything we'd planned and hoped for was gone. Since we were living in Utah and Tom had a license to work in Utah, we decided to find a job in Utah. We looked and looked and looked; by November ... 6 months since Tom had graduated ... the only opportunity we had was for Tom to buy a dental practice in Salt Lake. At the time, Tom didn't want to take it, but it was the only opportunity we could find, and we desperately needed a job, so Tom took it. On November 18, 2009, we became the owner's of Elmwood Dentistry.
You'll notice that, with the exception of me updating my blog background in February, the last post I made ... was in November. The last time I recorded sayings from my children ... was November 17. Buying that dental practice took life from harder to nearly impossible. We thought dental school had been hard, but the majority of the stress had fallen on Tom. With the buying of his dental practice, we both were under a HUGE amount of stress. We worked hard, but struggled getting the practice going. Months later we felt like we had hardly made any progress. We were blessed to always have enough to pay our bills, but we still stressed each and every month when it was time to pay, not knowing if we'd make enough through the month to replenish our bank account. In April, I discovered some MAJOR financial errors by Tom's office manager, and with our bank account low, we let her go so that I could come work for Tom to fix her errors and to eliminate having to pay for an office manager.
By the time June came around daily panic attacks was a normal thing. Often we just felt like bawling our eyes out, and we felt like we had to consciously move our bodies just to get through each day. The things we loved about Utah ... the beautiful mountains, walking to church on Sundays, snow in the winter, the changing of the leaves in fall, cool summer evenings, and most importantly being surrounded by family whom we loved ... didn't make up for the hopelessness and stress and panic we were feeling continually. On a trip to our nephew's wedding reception in Idaho, Tom and I started talking and by the time we returned home we had decided that we needed to leave Utah and try to get a job somewhere else. You wouldn't believe the amount of relief we felt once we made that decision. Of course the stress and everything was still there weighing us down, but suddenly there was a glimmer of hope; something we hadn't felt in awhile.
A few weeks later, we put Tom's practice up for sale. Miraculously, 6 weeks later the practice was sold for a profit; it was hardly any profit at all, but considering we'd only bought it 8 1/2 months earlier, making a small profit was a miracle. We really felt that we'd made the right choice and felt God's hand in the whole process. On August 6, we sold the practice. Tom immediately head down to Cedar City, UT for a temporary weekend job giving dental exams to a National Guard unit who would be deployed to Iraq shortly. Tom returned on August 8, we celebrated Declan's birthday, we packed up the van, and on August 10 we headed for Texas.
We are grateful for all of the love and support from our family and friends; it's truly what got us through this past year. Now here we are in Texas ... back again ... settling into life and feeling hopeful about the future.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Mom's Closet
What better place to hide than Mom's closet? Especially when you've stolen her phone and you don't want her to know AND you're carrying around your blanket that is supposed to stay in your bed.
Of course, once he was discovered and he saw that I was taking pictures, he popped out to pose. I LOVE how big his eyes and eyelashes are in this picture. None of the girls have those eyes and eyelashes ... go figure.
Finally he was in a position ready for taking pictures. I didn't even have to say "Cheese."
Of course, once he was discovered and he saw that I was taking pictures, he popped out to pose. I LOVE how big his eyes and eyelashes are in this picture. None of the girls have those eyes and eyelashes ... go figure.
Finally he was in a position ready for taking pictures. I didn't even have to say "Cheese."
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Watercolors
Mom was foolish to think that the watercolors would stay on the paper.
It made for a good laugh and a good bath!!
It made for a good laugh and a good bath!!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Our Little Thief
While Mom and Papa are busy making pizza ...
someone else is quietly trying to steal some cheese.
Love it!
someone else is quietly trying to steal some cheese.
Love it!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
All Boy!!
Boys are soooooo different from girls!!! Car tracks of course have to be turned into fighting swords. If you can't tell, I am a bit nervous about sparring with a crazy duel-wielding 2 year old. Thankfully they're only made of soft plastic!!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
In Her Eyes
I always love seeing the world from Taylor's eyes. She sees it so differently. These Mother-Baby Matching cards instantly became the perfect book in her eyes. She carted them around for awhile, flipping through her "book" for everyone to see.
