Mattie is working HARD

A quick pause from the prayer responses for an aside about Mattie's hard work

A couple years ago, Matt interviewed for a position with a company downtown that our friend Ryan works for. While the position didn't work out, Matt apparently made quite an impression on the big bosses. The big guys would occasionally ask Ryan how "Babyface" was doing in reference to Matt. This fall, a position opened up and they immediately asked Ryan to get in touch with "Babyface" because they wanted him for the job. Matt getting this job means so many great things for our family. Not only is it a significant pay increase, but already this job makes Matt happy. He is able to continue finding out what his clients needs are, putting together what best meets those needs, and checking in on them to make sure they are still happy which is what he loves (and is really, really good at), but he is also fairly compensated for it (which wasn't really happening at the bank). As soon as the job was offered to Matt, you could see the stress leaving him. I think he also likes having what I call a "big boy" job that he drives downtown for and makes him available to meet up with friends for lunch. Another great benefit is the flexible nature of his position that means he can go into work fairly early and get home before the girls are up from nap. At the bank, although he worked 15-20 minutes away, he wouldn't get home until 7 making our evenings short.

This job does mean some traveling, but for all the benefits it brings our family, I cannot get frustrated at that. He has quite a bit of travel this first year, usually spanning a week at a time. I can't help but think that there are families out there who are compensated much less for a lot more travel. Or to think about our military families (like Matt's sister) who have to be separated from their loved ones for 6 months at a time. So while we do miss him on his trips, we are glad for what it offers us.

Mattie is also halfway done with his MBA and will be plowing through to finish up next December. He had a really tough semester in the fall so we are hoping that things are a bit more manageable from here on out. Again, it is hard to have him gone for two nights a week and to have him studying a lot in the evenings, but we know this is just for a season and it will be beneficial in the long run. I find it amusing that Mattie needs time to study because he would torment me in our undergrad as I worked through pages of notes and read numerous books and articles to make it through my History degree (as compared to the zero homework in his AgDevo)...my how the tide has turned!

We are so proud of our Daddy and all the hard work he does!