This is the question I get asked most often after moving to Utah last November (2009). My answer is that it is wonderful! I really love it here. The gorgeous mountains, so much to do, we live in a great location, we are by a lot of family, something I have missed for the past several years.
But what about the Mormons? Well, being raised Mormon and in Idaho, it was not a shock to me like it might be to other people. Some things still shock me, like the daily LDS coverage on the news, or some of the signs around town--the billboards for gifts for missionaries. But for me, it is a trade-off to be around so many Mormons. It really allows me to witness to the LDS in a new way. Take, for example, a couple weeks ago at the Utah Fair. I wore my Jesus Freak t-shirt and I got two "I really like your t-shirt"'s and several dirty looks. Why would I get those dirty looks (most of which were from adult women about my age)? What makes them uncomfortable or disgusted by my t-shirt?
Was I offending their good taste, or their moral sense? Did I cause some sort of extreme dislike or revulsion? Or do they feel uncomfortable how I feel about Jesus compared to how they feel about Jesus? What is a Jesus Freak? My salvation comes from Him and He is my focus, my life! Some people call those of us that put our faith in Him freaks--abnormal in some way. Well, that is just what I am! I am delighted in my salvation which is offered only by Him.
So, since this is my first post. What else would you like to know about me?I have worked in manufacturing for a number of years and in the late 90's I was working for an electronics manufacturer and found my niche. I became a quality auditor. From there, I was promotted to quality administrator, performing many of the day-to-day tasks involved with the quality organization. I learned about ISO and other international standards and learned many of the different ways to measure and improve quality.
In 2001, I quit my job to open my own home daycare business. There were a lot of things that prompted the move. I met a lot of wonderful families and I am still in touch with several of them. Most of my daycare kids were three-year-olds, so when they were all getting ready to go off to kindergarten, I decided to close my daycare. At that time, my husband, Frank, found out he was going to lose his job because they were going to transfer the jobs out of the country. This left us with a lot of options and we both decided to quit our jobs (at least let them come to an end), and go to school full-time. We both decided on Biology degrees. I researched for a long time and my dream job was a quality manager at a medical device or pharmaceutical manufacturer. I wanted to interact with the stricter laws and regulations with medical devices or pharmaceuticals, so I looked at resumes and job postings online for those positions and knew that at a minimum, I would need a biology degree.
After we got our degrees in 2007, I went right away looking for a job. It was tough because most manufacturers wanted experience with the FDA and medical device experience and I had none. I could not get a job at a pharmaceutical manufacturer because they were even more strict than medical device manufacturers! I searched and searched for several months and we were getting quite discouraged! We decided that Frank really wasn't as specific in his job search as I was, so he wasn't really looking. I felt like I had put my resume EVERYWHERE! Every little place I could think of had my resume!! In September 2007, I was contacted by a small medical manufacturer in Connecticut! From Idaho, that was quite a distance!! I had to pay 1/2 my way to Connecticut for the inteview and was quickly offered a position as the Director for QA. We were in Connecticut in a month and I worked there for two years. After two years, I was offered a job back in the west at another medical device manufacturer, so back to the west we traveled. On the same road that took us to the east and now we are in Utah!
More about me to come!!
