4 YEARS IN ARKANSAS!!

Well, we have now lived in Arkansas for 4 years! WOW…that’s TWICE as long as anywhere else that we’ve stayed in one place. I always told Neil that I’d move anywhere except Kansas or Oklahoma, because I was terrified of tornados. And where are we??? Bentonville, Arkansas…Right by the border of Oklahoma, and Kansas (and yes we get severe storms and tornado warnings every spring!) And funny, too, because when we moved here, it was under the idea that we’d stay for a year or two, and then try to get back to Utah (or at least out West, closer to family). Well, here we are still…and we’ve really grown to love it here. We love the mild winters. I love the humidity (Neil, not so much). We love the thick green trees, bushes & flowers everywhere. We love the small, friendly community. And we love Neil’s job and the opportunities that it’s given him in his career and for our family. Northwest Arkansas really is a great place.

It’s funny how things all happened, and we know that it was definitely meant to be. The way that everything fell into place is really very humbling, and has been a huge blessing. I don’t believe it was just by chance. I KNOW that everything happens for a reason, and we have been very blessed. It’s a very long story, but in a nutshell, this is how it goes…

Neil had been working for about 7 years for (3 different) health departments in Utah, moving up from an environmental scientist, to a manager, to a supervisor. We were getting frustrated with the pay and the lack of opportunities for the future, so we posted his resume on Monster.com. Well, a little while later, he got an email from Wal-Mart, wanting to interview him (I originally deleted the email, thinking it was junk mail, but pulled it back out of his trash file to check it “just in case it was really legitimate.”) Well, they interviewed him a couple times, then flew him out to Bentonville, to interview him in person and let him check out the area. It was all a bit of a whirl wind, especially because I was at the end of my pregnancy with Clay (and on modified bed rest and medication for high blood Pressure/preeclampsia, weekly non-stress tests, etc.) Nothing like a new job, a new baby, trying to sell a home, and moving halfway across the U.S. to help with high blood pressure, huh?!

Well, they offered Neil the position just a few weeks before I was to be induced with our 4th child. We posted our house in Saratoga Springs, Utah “For Sale by Owner,” and started looking for a place to live in Bentonville, Arkansas. We decided that since I couldn’t fly out there to look for homes, we’d just find someplace to rent and look once we got out there. We found a vacation rental with 3 bd/2 ba, and FULLY furnished (including all dishes, bedding, towels, and a washer & dryer, etc.) for a great price. That way we wouldn’t have to move ALL of our furniture and stuff twice!

Well, we had an offer on our home within 3 weeks (we got the offer the day before I was induced to have Clay), which was a HUGE relief, so I wouldn’t have to show the house right after having a baby, and trying to pack and get ready to move! We got everything packed up and moved to a storage unit in Utah, except for the essentials we’d need until we could get into a home in Bentonville, then Wal-Mart would bring all our stuff in a moving van and deliver to our new home.

Because Neil & I didn’t take advantage of Wal-Mart’s offer to fly us out to go house hunting for a few days (because I wasn’t able to because of the pregnancy), they paid for all our flights out here. Clay was doing great and I recovered quickly and felt great too. I was able to get some names of ladies in Bentonville (in one of the LDS Wards here), to ask LOTS of questions about pediatricians, schools, good neighborhoods, tornados, etc. It really put my mind at ease, since I wasn’t able to come out and see the area before we were actually all moved!

Once we got to Bentonville, we looked for homes for the first 3 days, and found one that would do. We didn’t LOVE it, because it was older and smaller than the home we had just left (we LOVED our previous home, neighborhood, ward, view, the price, plenty of space, etc., so it was very hard to leave), but this home was nice enough, and it’s what we could afford, and it was in a good neighborhood, close to the schools and Neil’s work, etc.

When Neil first got the offer with Wal-Mart, we were really excited, but we were a little disappointed that the pay wasn’t better (it was a little bit of a raise, but not as much as we had hoped, especially because the cost of living was higher in Bentonville). But we figured it would be a good opportunity that we couldn’t pass up, and that things would work out and it would give Neil more opportunities for advancement in the future. Well, within the first 16 months of being hired, Neil was able to move up from a Manager, to a Director, then to Sr. Director over Food Safety for all of Wal-Mart (covering the whole U.S.), and was also put in charge of Puerto Rico as well. We are still so amazed and very humbled with how things have worked out for us, and how blessed we are!

We really do love it here. We still miss Utah sometimes, and being close to family, temples, Deseret Book, and things like that, but we are so glad that we are here, and for all the opportunities that it’s given us. Who knows how long we’ll be here, or if we’ll end up moving somewhere else at some point, but we’ll just enjoy the ride and see where life takes us.

One of my favorite sayings is “Things happen for a reason…Just Believe.” Sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith, even without knowing how everything is going to turn out. If we hadn’t been willing to take a chance, we would have missed out on an incredible opportunity. We are so grateful and know, without a doubt, that Heavenly Father guides our lives and blesses us in amazing ways!