Exciting Announcement

                As I wrote at the end of my last blog, the Keller household is undergoing changes. I am now here to fulfill my promise and fill you in on the news. It’s been hard to get the time to write so if this blog seems fragmented it is probably because it was written at multiple sittings in short bursts of time.

                To start, the gym where Levi and I worked since moving to Seattle officially closed its doors April 1^st. The owners have been in operation for over 20 years but it is time for them to retire. A software company purchased the building so there will no longer be a gym facing the canal in Fremont. Sound Mind and Body gym was like a second home to Levi and me. We met many of our good friends there. The bosses were great. We trained for our athletics and made it to the Olympic Trials while working out at this gym. It was where Levi began his own business as a personal trainer. It was my last “job” before becoming a stay at home Mother. But as cliché as the saying is, it rings true, as one door closes another opens.

(SMB goodbye party with my good friend Alexis and her baby.
I met Alexis while working at SMB)

                On March 27^th, 2014 Levi accepted a job as a Tukwila City Fire Fighter. All the events leading up to his landing this job couldn’t have been more perfect and it comes at the perfect timing. Levi has always wanted to be a fire fighter. Back in Idaho he looked into applying and found there weren’t any openings and they only accept applications at certain times. Then we moved to Seattle and both focused more on our athletics and Levi building his personal training business. Last year my younger brother John came to Levi with a few fire fighter job postings. He told Levi, “You were born to be a fire fighter. You should really look into this.” Little did John know Levi has always had a desire to become one. At the time John was curious about the career too but after much thought and research concluded engineering was better suited for him. But as a result Levi started the process to becoming a fire fighter. He took some tests through Public Safety Testing, a company that administers tests for several Fire Departments.

                 After taking the test his results were then forwarded on to several different agencies. They did not necessarily have any openings but his results would be kept on file and when and if there were any openings his results would be put on an eligibility list and if he scored high enough he would be contacted to begin the interviewing process. Months went by and soon Levi saw that the Seattle Fire Department was hiring. They had a different process for hiring, a very long one with their own in house testing. Around August of 2013 he took the Seattle test. There were 5800 applicants. A few months later he was notified that he scored a 95% and made it to the 1^st round of oral board interviews. In January he did his first oral board. A month later was notified he made it through to the final oral board interview scheduled for March. Now here’s where things get interesting.

                In March he received emails from the Auburn Fire Department and Tukwila Fire Department saying he scored high enough on his Public Safety Testing and was invited to interview with each department. So he began the process of interviewing with other agencies. He interviewed first with Auburn and had a great interview. But after the interview he was notified that the company who administers the results made some sort of error that may compromise the interview process and so they needed to reschedule and create a new format for their interview. I’m not exactly sure what happened but basically a company made a mistake (that had nothing to do with the candidates) and as a result they needed to redo the interviews. He was told he would be notified when they had a new date set.

                In the meantime he received an email from the Tukwila Fire Department saying he was in the top percent so was eligible for an interview. But there was a catch. Only the first 20 people to get their application that was emailed to the candidates back would receive an email. Levi filled everything out but was notified that he was not one of the first 20 to respond. He did not delay. There must have been a lot of response. He was a bit bummed but still had two possible jobs in the works. Around this time Auburn had a date set mid March to redo the interviews.

                Seattle contacted him with his second oral board interview date. He scheduled only to later be called by American Ninja Warrior saying he was accepted to compete on this season’s show but it was the same day as his interview with Seattle. He called Seattle and they were able to reschedule him to Tuesday the next week so he could do both. The week before he was set to leave for California he received an email from the Tukwila Fire Department saying they had one interview opening for Thursday. After some calls to American Ninja Warrior, he was able to change his flight from Thursday to Friday morning and still make it in time to compete. He would just miss out on interviews for the show. Thursday he did his first interview with Tukwila. By Friday they called him and told him they narrowed their search down to three candidates and he was one of them. He was scheduled for another interview, this time with the Fire Chief as well, for Monday. Levi told me every question they asked him he had a real life experience that fit perfectly with it.

                His interview went great and by Monday afternoon they offered him a position and were doing an expedited hiring process. He accepted the position. As long as his background checks went through he had a new job. Tukwila wanted to get him enrolled in the Fire Academy as soon as possible. Levi still interviewed with Seattle the next day so he didn’t reschedule last minute and baring anything crazy happening with Tukwila but their eligibility list doesn’t even come out until May.

(The newest member of the Tukwila Fire Department)

                For the past week Levi has been attending pre-Academy training and his Fire Academy Training begins April 9^th at Bates Technical College in Tacoma. We took a couple trips to Tacoma to look at some apartments that offer a short term lease and found a little two bedroom that does. We are set to pick up the keys today and move in Saturday. We are trying to bring as little as possible with us to Tacoma since it is not permanent and will move back to Seattle when his schooling is done. He will go to the Academy April 9^th-June 19^th then will do another couple weeks for Fire Fighter 2 training at the school as well. After that it’s Post Academy Training for 6 weeks in Kent followed by 5 weeks of EMT school also in Kent. So you can see his spring and summer are pretty much booked.

                When Levi was getting shown around the Tukwila department he asked how the position opened up and was told the head Fire Chief of the department retired after 40 years. They moved everyone up, thus freeing a fire fighter position. The man who was showing Levi around said it was unheard of for them to hire like they did. Levi was confused at first and the man clarified that he has never seen them hire someone without any experience. Most people do years of volunteer work, go to the Academy, some get EMT certified, etc. Levi was as fresh as one can be without ever even having gone on a ride along. But they must have seen the same thing as my brother John. Levi was born for this. 

                We are excited to walk through this next door that God has so graciously opened for us.