Happy Anniversary!!!

Two years ago (yesterday, Feb. 1st) we became the proud owners of our own Insurance Agency. I can't believe it has already been two years! Two years ago my husband and I took a VERY VERY VERY large risk. We packed up, sold our house and moved our new little family away from the only home we had known. We landed in Throckmorton, Texas of all places. (Well, it really made sense... Byron is from here after all.) We have always known we wanted something of our very own, we NEVER dreamed it would be an Insurance Agency, but hey.... who can argue with fate? Two years and one VERY God filled interesting story that went something like this....

A two year plan, that is what we had decided on. We would save and save and save for two years so that we could start something of our very own. This is the conversation Byron and I had with his mother while sitting at our dinning room table at our house in Springtown, Texas. Byron was working in the Oil Field and I was trying to decide if I wanted to continue teaching, and if I did.... what school would I choose? Boyd or Bridgeport? We knew very quickly after Baylee was born that we didn't want to be in the metroplex area when she started school. Our goal was to, in two years, have enough money saved up to put down or pay for or start something of our own. We had NO idea what that something would be, nor did we focus on that too much. We were all agreed, that was the plan as of June 2007.

Shortly there after I turned down the Ag. Teaching position that was offered to me by Bridgeport. I also then resigned from my teaching position at Boyd. I just didn't feel like I could leave Baylee. (lots of new mom anxiety) July crept up on us and I got a second call from Bridgeport offering me more money and the Ag. Teaching Job. After lots of thought, talks and prayer, I decided to turn down the job for the second time. (of course after I did this my mind raced with lots of questions and second guessing.... WHAT HAVE I DONE???? WHY DID I DO THAT?) If I had only know THEN, that single decision was the hand of God guiding me toward the path HE wanted me to follow. But at the time I didn't know that, so I still second guessed myself for almost a month.

August arrived and Byron and I got a phone call. This phone call was OUT OF THE BLUE. There was a man in Throckmorton who was THINKING about selling his Independent Insurance Agency. The whole kit-n-caboodle. WHAT? An Insurance Agency???? HA, you HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING. REALLY? I've never even read my Homeowners policy, I know squat about insurance.

I don't know honey, is what I told Byron.

Byron: It could get us back to Throckmorton.

Ashley: What about our two year plan?

Byron: I don't know, we can at least go talk to him and see what it is all about.

Ashley: Fine, I'd like to see your parents anyway and we could go to the Ranch Rodeo in Wichita Falls if we go this weekend.

Byron: "Chuckle" okay.

So, that Saturday of August 18th, 2007 we sat down with Mr. Glenn Boyd and talked insurance. We left with a whole new prospective on the insurance world. Kind of one of those nod your head type moments where you are thinking to yourself, "hey, this might work." We went home that Sunday and talked about it a little more, prayed about it. In the next two weeks I did a little homework, talked to some Independent Agents, thought a little more about it. Then I made the decision. I THINK I can do this. Well, that set the ball rolling, and FAST! Before I knew it, it was October and I was sitting in the middle of a THREE DAY Insurance Law class. Then I was studying for my State tests. By the middle of November I had passed everything. This now meant that I could actually go to work or "legally" work in the Insurance office. So, mid-December Baylee and I packed up and during the week I learned the insurance business and on the weekend we headed back "home" to spend some time with Daddy.

By February 1st 2008, all business dealings and negations had been finalized and we were the proud owners of Gray's Insurance Agency. Except, there were a few catches.....Byron didn't have a job in Throckmorton and we didn't have a house. Minor things we didn't consider when our TWO year plan was condensed to 7 months. OOPS! So, Byron stayed behind in Cleburne waiting on a transfer to the Breckenridge location and Baylee and I moved in with Gigi and Pop. Towards the end of April we found a little rent house and moved all our "stuff" from Azle into it. We did the weekend thing with Byron when we could. We knew it would take some time to get Byron transferred, but we weren't counting on it being SEPTEMBER of 2008! Yep, that's right, we went over 9 months living apart. (of course... in hind site this was a HUGE blessing, you will see why in a few minutes)

Byron working in the Cleburne area meant that we didn't have to draw anything out of our new little business, this also meant that the Agency could pay for its self in less than 10 months and then build equity. We had NO idea how lucky and blessed we were at the time, but again.... God has funny ways of showing us the things he wants us to see.

September rolled around and by the end of the month Byron was finally HOME. Whew..... Now, when I make my next statement.... please don't freak out or take me wrong, Throckmorton is a small town and housing is VERY hard to come by. This being said, normally, in order to find the type of house you will live in forever.... you either have to wait for someone to get put in the nursing home, or pass away. Luckily, in our case we didn't have to do either. We found THE HOUSE we both loved and it just so happened that the couple who owned it were re-locating to Wichita Falls! Whew, mark that one off the list. We closed on the house on February 12, 2009. A little over a year AFTER we moved to Throckmorton.

Now, here comes the AMAZING part, well you will probably gasp, and I did too when it was happening, but looking back now I see all the ways God set us up to make it through all this. Towards the end of MARCH 2009, a little over a month after we signed and purchased the house, Byron got laid-off from his job. Yes, yes.... HUGE shocker, but that is when the Oil Field fell apart. We knew that was a risk when he got into the business.

SO, after we pulled ourselves together that day we made the decision that WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS. And boy did we! Byron found odd and end jobs that kept him busy from April through the end of November and the Agency paid most of our bills. In late October he interviewed for the County Extension Agent job, (and little did we know we became pregnant). Mid November he got the call offering him the Extension Agent position starting December 1. About a week after that phone call we found out we were pregnant!

If there is one thing I've learned over the last two years, its this: Sometimes our two year plans work out WAY better than expected. Want to know why? Because GOD is in control, and they really aren't your plans anyway!

So for those of you who have always wanted something of your own, GO FOR IT! Even if you don't know what it is... Trust me, you will be lead in the right direction if you have the right guide. Everyone's journey is different, just have Faith.

Oh Happy Day!