Where ya' been lately?

I guess I have been out of contact for several months. Life has been hectic. And stressful. First, my husband is retiring in April of 2013 from the United States Marine Corps after 20 honorable years of service. He has dedicated his life to serving our country and I am so grateful for the years he has spent in service. It has been thrilling at times and painful at others. In total he has been on 7 deployments and logged over 3400 hours flying as a crew chief on the CH-53 Heavy Lift Helicopter. But transitioning from military life to the civilian workplace is difficult. After now achieving the rank of Gunnery Sergeant, he will soon begin a new career at the bottom. In preparation for this, he has been using his G.I. Bill to attend college through Liberty University, which offers a considerable discount to military veterans. He is earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management in hopes of improving his employability chances. I am so proud of him for starting this new path later (at the age of 38) in his life. He is so very intelligent and is a hard worker. He is truly doing all he can to prepare for his new life as a civilian employee.

As I have shared before, Lily's medical expenses have accumulated considerably over the last two years which has now resulted in the depletion of our savings account. With retirement looming in the distance and an uncertain employment future, my husband has taken a second job in hopes of building up savings to prepare. We had hoped he would get a contract job working either on Camp Lejeune or New River Air Station here in Jacksonville, North Carolina, but with the downsizing of the military and President Obama cutting military funding, steady and dependable contract jobs are no longer available. Contract workers work along side the military in training troops, designing systems, construction, and equipment maintenance. My husband was in line for a job training pilots and crew of the CH-53 Helicopter, but deep military budget cuts have eliminated this possibility. Now the contract work is only available on a year by year basis. And when you have a child with special needs who requires medical care on a weekly basis, year by year employment is not a viable option. Perhaps if he does not get a job he can turn his part-time job into a steady future. Either way, serious changes are about to take place for us.

Because my husband is a senior ranking Staff Noncommissioned Officer in the Marines, he is able to leave work whenever necessary to take Lily to her weekly appointments. This has been an incredible blessing to us as it is extremely difficult for me to take off work. Being a high school teacher, it is more trouble to be out of work than not. With lesson plans and paperwork and figuring out how to get my other two children home from school, it is just not possible for me to leave work every week for Lily's physical therapy appointments. In addition, I have a very limited number of sick days which always seem to run out quickly when you have three children. Soon, my husband and I will have to switch responsibilities. We have considered having me quit my job to take care of Lily or instead hiring a constant baby sitter. I may keep my job and just take time off whenever I need to and thereby forfeit a good bit of my income. And to be honest, none of these options are good and certainly not sustainable for long. We have no idea what we are going to do.

What has all this meant for my family and me over the last several months? We have spent most nights without my husband. The kids miss their dad and I miss talking to my husband. While my husband's workload has doubled, so has mine. I swim just as fast as I can to stay ahead around here, but I just get further behind. The dishes pile up quickly. Garbage cans stay full. Laundry never ends. Carpets are littered. Furniture is dusty. And I just let it go. I can't do it all and I don't try. I do the best I can with my limited time and energy. Unfortunately, my blog, which the Lord has placed such a passion for in the beginning, has now been placed far down on the priority list. The priorities are food on the table, kids staying bathed, homework gets done, and always church. If not for our church, First Baptist of Jacksonville, there would be little fun in our lives. What a blessing that our church is FUN!! We enjoy worshiping and serving. I get the chance to sing in the church choir. My husband works the powerpoints for all the services. Lorelei enjoys service and helping in the nursery. And Lucas and Lily love their life groups and church teachers. At church, our struggles disappear and we are simply blessed to be in the house of the Lord.

On top of his regular full-time job as a Marine, part time job working at Lowe's, Lily's weekly taxi driver, and college studies, my husband has also been diligently completing job applications and sending out resumes. He estimates he has sent out about 30 resumes, attended one job fair, publicized himself on Monster.com, and utilized the services of a military job search agent with only one company calling him about a job. One. I do believe this is a true picture of the jobless rate here in our country.

This week we will hear back from the company that has interviewed him for a job. It is in Connecticut. And we are originally from Alabama and currently live in North Carolina. I have to be honest, I do not want to head north. I am a southern girl through and through. I don't do cold and snow. We would love to move back to Alabama, or at least further south, to be near our family who all live in Dixie. But we realize we must provide for our family and that we really have little control over our future. The Lord, I am certain, already has plans for us and we will hear His plans for us in a few days. We are constantly praying for the Lord's will in everything and not our own. And even though I don't want to go to Connecticut, I am praying the Lord will change my heart if this is to be our future.

We are confident the Lord will provide for us. The Lord promises in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."