Back to Survival Mode; Where We Are as a Family

I feel like I have talked a lot about our last year being in survival mode.

Well, and honestly the two years before that, as Kody was in school.

I really thought we were out of it. It felt like we were out of it. I talked about it in “God Speaks to Me at What Feels Like an Unconventional Time,” how we spent weeks just trying to survive and learn lessons. When Kody was offered a job, we knew the tough parts were going to subside.

Kody lost that job.

And now we are back to square one.

Kody was offered a position at the VA here in town and it was a great opportunity for him. He was excited and looking forward to trying something new. It was not only going to come with an income to provide for our family, and benefits, but the stability we so desperately needed. We haven’t had anything steady since leaving the USMC almost three years ago.

We were just looking for the next chapter of our life to begin and something routine.

As any higher up position and government job, the hiring process takes a while. There was a lot of paperwork, background checks, clearance, etc. he had to go through. This process started at the end of summer as I mentioned in that blog, with a tentative start date that continuously got push from October to end of December.

During this process he had his two part time jobs. By the end of the December, and a signed contract stating a start date, he quit the other jobs. As anyone would to be respectful and not just drop them the day before starting a new job.

The holidays came and went with no contact.

The new tentative start date became first week of January, and then the third. We sat patiently waiting. Kody even went to the job for an impromptu tour by the guy who was retiring and trying to hand Kody his job.

Everyone at the VA in town expected Kody to start too, but it was being held up by an overseeing department located in Sacramento. It was literally out of everyones hands as much as they tried to fight for him to get it moving.

When the new administration came in, is when all hiring was frozen at the VA.

They rescinded the job offer due to this mandate. Kody was devastated. We all were.

It’s frustrating because if they had just moved a bit faster he would have been in prior to all this. He had a start date. Why they kept pushing back, we won’t know.

So, we’re back to square one. It’s heartbreaking and not very motivating, but we know we will get through this patch as we have many times in the past.

We got through the grieving process of starting our new life of stability. We know it is not forever. We know something is in the works that will be better for us in the end. We just have to be patient, faithful, and hopeful.

Because in the end, this has given us opportunity to spend more time together as a family. And given Kody the space to get his masters in the meantime.