Why things happen

I was married on August of 2006, and I was living in San Diego. My wife and I investigated buying a place to live. We quickly learned that a house was out and a condo would be the only possible option. We soon learned that a condo would be at least $350k. Needless to say that convinced us that buying there wouldn't happen. Furthermore, financially succeeding would be almost impossible there due to rent and hosuing costs.

Before we were married we discussed moving up to Washington, where her family lives. We intended to move up there in 3-5 years (2009-2011). Around March of 2007, we decided to move up to Washington that summer. This was a difficult thing to do because I was leaving my friends and a great job, but I was confident that I was doing the right thing.

We moved in with my wife's parents in June and soon both of us were becoming frustrated by not having found jobs yet. It took us a little while, but we both ended up finding jobs we like. Now to to last week and my post about providence. I was offered a position as an analyst and this included a significant pay increase.

I am convinced of a few reasons why things seem to be going my way. These are in no particular order:

1. I am committed to learning and self improvement. I read books, fiction and nonfication, about various topics to learn new things and encounter new ideas. I disagree with some things, but the discussion is good.

2. My relationship with God has dramatically improved. I started attending Chruch again about a year ago, I pray more, I am reading the bible completely, and I am involved at church. Evergreen Christian Community in Olympia is an incredible place.

3. My wife and I want to start a family. Nothing seems to motivate you like a baby.

4. I am on the road to financial freedom. As I have posted before, I follow Dave Ramsey's baby steps. Currently we are on step 2. I also listen to the radio show as a podcast every day. It is about 40 minutes long, and I am amazed by people's story of stupidity and then hope when people call in debt free. I want coordinate an FPU class at church to extend this.

5. My wife is incredible. We always make decisions together and we both have a vote. She also makes good food.

6. At work, I strive to take responsibilities and lead. At USD, I got 3 pay increases and 2 promotions in 2 years. At FHS, I got a promotion after 7 months.

The common themes here are self examination, improvement/change, and commitment.