Back in 2007 when I got hired on as a student assistant in an office at Cal Poly Pomona, where I attended school, I never though I would still be here today.  I thought for sure after I graduated I would get to use my degree and do bigger and better things.  Well I also graduated during the biggest declines in our economy in decades so instead I worked on getting a promotion with my office just so I could start making more money to obtain my ultimate goal – to buy a house. In the summer of 2008 I not only got that promotion, I bought my first house.

Since then it has been phases of application after application, with an interview tossed in here and there as well.  Nothing ever transpired and the jobs I did get offered wanted to pay me pennies compared to what I was making now – I just bought a house, I couldn’t possibly make any less then what the State of California was already paying me.

I’ve wanted out for a LONG time. I’ve never felt like this was a fulfilling job. But it was easy, so I was comfortable. Hell, I got to blog, Facebook, and tweet most of my days. The past year my job became pretty tolerable – although I was starting to deal with a lot of old lady bullying (seriously.), my best friend had come back to work in a position that opened up in my office and I got to work with her.  I got to chat with her throughout my work day, and she has become my daily lunch buddy. It’s been a blessing and we’ve enjoyed all of the time we’ve been able to spend together practically non-stop over the past year.  It was like being roommates again, except now we go home to our husbands after work instead of each other.

Rewind back to June of last year a close friend of mine from High School, Katie, and I started spending a lot more time together – during our college years we kept in contact but didn’t see each other as much.  Once she moved back a little more local we started making more of an effort to see each other. I’ve known for a few years that Katie has wanted to open up her own Christian Preschool. It wasn’t until last summer that I realized it was all truly happening and her vision was coming to life.

She was building a beautiful preschool from the ground-up.  She trusted a lot of my knowledge and skills and often asked me for help in certain areas.  Last summer she mentioned how fabulous it would be for me to come work with her and be her right hand man.  I had said I would love to, and I knew we would work great together but didn’t think too much of it.

I could go on forever about the different things that have taken place since that conversation over a year ago but I’ll fast forward to today.  StoneBridge Christian Academy is scheduled to open right after Labor Day – and after the past month of talking and planning, I will be joining that team as the Office Manager.

You have no idea how excited I am. Although I am so sad to be leaving the job where I’m blessed to see my mom 3 days a week (she works in another office on the same hall as me for the past 5 years, I’ve been so lucky!) and I’m also leaving all of the time I get to spend with my friend Ashley, I know it’s time for me to move on and go to wear I KNOW God is calling me to go. It is so clear to me that this is where I need to be. Brad and I have been praying a lot and we asked for a very clear sign from him and he gave us two. It was between staying at my current job, quiting and just doing Photopia Photo Lounge full time, or moving to StoneBridge and it was clear as day.

Thank you for all of the prayers and support I have heard over Facebook, Twitter, and through emails. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!  Here are some photos of some of the process over the last year…

Before {source}

The new bones are up. {source}

It’s getting close! {source}

There has been tons of work since even that photo but I just wanted to show you a little bit of the journey.  Once it’s all complete I can’t wait to show you how gorgeous it is and tell you a little more about what I’m doing and how it’s going.  Of course that might mean the blogs might slow down a little again (not that they’ve sped up too much) as I won’t have as much time during work like I do now.

Keep me in my prayers as there will be lots of transitioning for me in the next month. I put in my three weeks notice yesterday, I’ll be taking a 2 week vacation between jobs (woo-hoo!), and then I will be starting in mid-late August. Yesterday, the confirmation that I made the best decision was we got an email from the President of the University a few hours after putting in my notice, stating that we would be getting cuts to our benefits as well as a pay-cut up to 5.25%. Adios, State of California.