I almost forgot about this... and I wanted to make sure I wrote it down because it was a great marriage and learning lesson that I don't want to forget.
While I was in school getting my degree, Trent had a dang good job. Seriously. For newlywed college students in Rexburg, it was a miracle. I remember one night we were praying together and in his prayer Trent basically told Heavenly Father that we were doing what he asked and he needed to bless us. It was the most real prayer I had ever heard in my life. I remember thinking, "You can't talk to him like that? Even if everything isn't alright for us right now, we just tell him we trust him and we are grateful for what we have thus far." I almost didn't say Amen at the end of the prayer. I just paused and waited for the lightning to strike. But you know what happen instead, he blessed us?! He heard our prayer and gave us the blessings that our faith deserved. That was awesome. I'll never forget that prayer.
Flash forward. Trent has climbed up the company and within a year received a $10k dollar raise. He is getting $2k bonuses every four months and we are able to pay for both of our college tuitions at the same time.
Flash forward to 6 months later. I am finishing up my degree and we have to move to Salt Lake City, Utah for student teaching. There is actually another center in Salt Lake City that Trent can do the same thing and just transfer there. Tender mercy number 2,629 at this point. Again, Trent gets another $5k raise with the same bonus every four months. That's $15k raise in a year and half folks.
Flash forward 3 Months: I am finishing student teaching and we are planning on moving back to Rexburg where Trent will start school full time and I will begin my first year of teaching. Trent lets the company know that he will be leaving to do school full-time. As you can tell, this company LOVES Trent. He had been given awards for Trainer of the Year and so many other recognitions.
So he gets a phone call. Basically, they tell him that they will pay him the same amount of money if he only works from 4-8 p.m. Monday - Friday. That is right... the same salary for only working 20 hours a week. With both of our salaries combined, we would be making around $75k. Not too shabby for two people, one who is still in college. So, we obviously took it right??
Nope.
I begged Trent to take it. All I could think about was all. that. money. We could easily pay for the rest of his college, have children, and live somewhere nice... like a HOUSE! I wanted it so so bad. But Trent knew. He didn't want to do business for the rest of his life. He wanted to do Civil Engineering. And so he sat me down and explained that he wanted to focus all of this time, energy, an attention in doing the best in school. He wanted to become the best at his degree because then we could make $75k with just one income, instead of two. So... we turned the offer down. I am pretty sure they thought we were crazy. I thought so too. But we {the Lord, Trent, and I} counseled together and we felt at peace with our decision.
Now that it has been awhile since that event and things have unfolded, there is NO way Trent would have been able to do all these things without letting an area drop. His school assignments take him hours. I am talking like three hours for six problems. He works extremely hard for his good grades. If he would have taken the job, he would have either neglected his work, grades, family or priesthood responsibilities. Or maybe each area would have been weak. I saw this saying in another couple's house. It said, "Live like no one else now, so you can live like no one else later." I love that. I think it explains everyone up here perfectly. We are all making the sacrifices needed now, for a better future.
But goodness... that $75k would be pretty nice right now ;).
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