Colt's residency here in Temple ends at the end of June 2017. In a few of my previous posts, I've mentioned us checking out both the Waco and Tyler areas for potential jobs after residency. I guess I might as well post a little job update on where we will be moving and all the decisions leading up to that. We had a lot of back and forth and weren't sure for a while. I think by the time the decision was made, Colt was just ready for it to be over. I guess it's a good thing for him to be wanted by multiple places though right?!
Colt interviewed in April with ESP/Providence in Waco and was offered a job. He had two weeks to make a decision. It was an early job offer. However, his class is pretty competitive and several of them are wanting to stay in the Temple/Waco area. A lot of the class a couple years above Colt work at Providence and were really happy with their job at the time.
We felt like we had two weeks to make a fast decision. Since we initially had thought we would be going back closer to both of our families, we decided to at least still entertain the idea before he signed with ESP. Colt didn't want to go back to Dallas at all and honestly, I didn't either. The last time I even drove through Rockwall, I text Colt and told him I was glad we didn't still live there. Josh is going to Trinity Mother Francis in Tyler. A couple of residents above Colt currently work there as well and really enjoy their jobs. Tyler would be about an hour from Colt's family and about 1.5 hours from my family. Colt was really turned off by the idea of Tyler initially because as of right now, the doctors are having to commute some shifts to Sulphur Springs. Colt just didn't want to have to commute at all when he could work somewhere where he didn't have to do that. Even though the shifts at the main hospital in Tyler are 9 hour shifts, the shifts in Sulphur Springs are 12 hours. When you add the commute time on to that, that makes a long day. Most of the guys try to schedule a double when they work in Sulphur Springs and stay the night there. Of course my parents chimed in that we could always stay with them! Colt is just very much about lifestyle and being home. Plus, he doesn't like to drive. However, just to have peace of mind about it, we made the trip that I mentioned in my
previous post.
In the meantime, two of Colt's bosses were also heavily recruiting him to stay in Temple as an attending. I honestly think Colt would be very happy teaching other residents and would probably love it. His initial thought was that he wanted to go somewhere else and work a year or two and get some different experience under his belt before possibly coming back to Temple to be an attending. We've been happy living here the past few years and love the Temple/Belton area. The negative is that it's 2 hours from Colt's family and 4 hours from mine. Our families don't get to see Kinley near enough. It would be nice to be a little closer as she's growing up and to be just be quick day trip to see my family. Also, the thing that created a little bit of drama with staying on as an attending is that 3 of the chief residents also wanted to stay as well. If they were to keep all 4 of them, they would technically be overstaffed. They were having to work on avenues to open up all 4 spots.
We crunched a lot of numbers and did a lot of talking. We ended up deciding that we at least wanted to stay in this area to keep ties with Scott and White and dropped Tyler out of the equation. Colt actually got ESP to rewrite his contract and include a clause that he could come back and pick up shifts at Scott and White. In essence, he could have the best of both worlds. He could get the experience and potential to earn a little more, but he could also teach maybe a shift or two a month to see which setting was the best the fit for him. He ended up signing with ESP. Not long after signing, we actually ended up buying 5 acres of land in the Hills of Childress neighborhood in China Springs, right outside of Waco. The land is in the same neighborhood that some of our friends live in. The neighborhood is actually a wildlife preserve so pretty much every time we've been out there, we've seen turkeys or deer. We looked at a few different lots out there. There really wasn't anything for sale because it's high demand and everything was purchased so you kinda have to talk to people that own land that are willing to let some go. The 5 acres that we bought were not for sale at the time. We bought it from a lady that works for ESP that wanted to sale and purchase more acreage. Our plan was to start building on the land around January 2017 so that the house would be done around the time we would be moving. I learned a lot about construction loans and how the build process with the bank works! We worked on our house plans. Basically Colt ended up drawing it from scratch combining a few that we liked. We worked with an architect in Waco to finalize the plans and actually ended up buying them from him not too long ago. I LOVE our plans!
Here's some pictures of our land.
The pond wasn't actually ON our land. It backed up to our land. However, our plan was to hopefully end up buying the acreage behind us because the man who owned it was basically land locked with no access point.
We thought it was a pretty good plan. Maybe we rushed into it a bit though because our plans to build a house on this land, changed. ESP started having a few billing issues and just some red flags that made us a little uncomfortable... so we put Tyler back on the table. Colt got back in touch with the recruiter at Trinity Mother Francis. She said they were definitely still interested because he came so highly recommended. The first weekend of September, we went back to Tyler. This time it was a formal trip and the hospital put us up in a hotel for a few nights. The first night we had dinner with the two residents from Temple that currently work there. The next day, they had a realtor give us a tour of the neighborhoods and area. Then Colt had his interview, tour of the hospital and lunch with several of the other doctors on the last day. When I picked up Colt that day, I was fully expecting him to say that he had done his due diligence and we weren't going to Tyler. However, he came to the car really impressed. He felt really confident in the management and liked everything everyone had to say. He felt like it was a more solid program. Most of the doctors there go there and stay there. I had some hesitations about the schools in Tyler since most of the people we talked to have kids that attend private schools. However, after talking to a few more people and doing a little more research, there are definitely other options in both Tyler ISD and surrounding areas. Ultimately, we decided that if we have the opportunity to be close to family, we might as well try it. I have a feeling if we stayed in Temple, we would honestly probably stay here forever and never move closer to family... and if you know my family (especially my dad) ... he's not moving anywhere!
Since we did go ahead and buy our houseplans, we do still plan on building our house ONE DAY. It just won't be near as soon as planned. That's a little bit of a bummer because we were excited about it. If all goes well in Tyler, we hope to eventually find land there and end up building. In the meantime, we will try to rent if we can find something or may end up buying with plans on moving again in a year or two. We thought about holding on to our land in China Springs in case we end up moving back soon, but we have a few people interested and will probably just go ahead and sale it and get it off our plate.
Both of our families are pretty excited about us being closer. Although, I will miss Temple, I'm excited too. Plus, the threesome including Josh and James, are all staying together and all going to Tyler. Colt, Josh and James see each other everyday so they get to stay together. James was actually going to ESP with us in Waco. After the changes and Colt being so impressed with Tyler, he scheduled a trip to Tyler and ended up changing as well. I think and hope it'll be a good move! I know it's a done deal this time and I don't see us changing our mind yet again! Colt has been told that he has a job here if he ever changes his mind or is ready for a change so that's definitely good to know!
