Monday, September 12, 2011

We’re moving to Washington!!

This is Ryan writing.  A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.  Over the course of the last few I had two job offers.  One at Umpqua Bank in Eugene, OR and another at Washington Federal Savings in Seattle, WA.  Salary-wise they were pretty comparable.  Other than that, every other factor was clearly better at Washington Federal Savings.  This afternoon I officially accepted the offer from Washington Federal and declined the one at Umpqua.  Here is some information about Washington Federal Savings and my position.  I’ll be putting more info on my blog later. http://ryanandhisbike.weebly.com/biking-eugenespringfield.html

I will be working at the corporate headquarters in Seattle.  Specifically I will be a Fair Lending/CRA analyst within the Legal and Compliance department.  I will be performing statistical analysis of the loan decisions to ensure compliance with fair lending laws.  I will also be conducting other statistical analysis that is needed by the bank.  This means I will be working with the CFO doing some financial analysis, the Treasurer doing some risk analysis, as well as some other departments as needed.  This means I will essentially have 4 or 5 managers.

In the summer of 2007  I worked as a finance intern in their accounting department.  I worked with the CFO that summer and through that connection I found this job.

This is a newly created position.  My skill set will be unique within the bank.  As such I think there are great opportunities for me to take my career wherever I would like.

Washington Federal has branches in WA, OR, ID, NV, UT, AZ, NM, and TX.  Currently they have over 13 billion in deposits.

We are sad to be leaving Oregon but are excited to finally move to Washington and settle down.

Friday, September 9, 2011

A Multitude of Blessings

I was going to keep things quiet and close to my heart for a while this time around, but I don't think I can keep it in any longer.

We're having a baby!

I'm incredibly happy but ridiculously sick. Which is why I decided to fess up and tell you all. I don't think my excuse of "I just wasn't feeling good" is going to last much longer. Plus my mom is telling people willy-nilly. When I was pregnant with Nathan, I gained weight right away and last time I was hardly sick (I know now this was a sign that things weren't going well). This time I've already lost nearly 5 pounds and I'm only 7 weeks along.

I'm not telling you this to complain or appear ungrateful. I just want you all to know that I need your help and your prayers right now. I'm so grateful to know I have all of you wonderful sister-friends, and sister-cousins, and moms, and aunts, and everyone!

More blessings to come: the job search is going GOOO-OOD.

I just wanted to point out that spell check didn't like "willy-nilly" and kindly offered these suggestions instead: willy-billy, willy-silly, willy-dilly, willy-hilly, and willy-filly.