I don't know that I ever posted about our decision to stay in the military, so here goes! We decided to stay in the military. There are lots of reasons that we made this decision:
+Jeremy is changing his MOS, which means he will be taking a non combative job.
+He goes before the board on August 28th for his promotion to Sergeant.
+While in Iraq, he is putting his packet in for Officer Candidate School, which means that sometime next year he will be an officer. His commander really thinks that he is officer material, so he is signing off on some stuff so that he can go ahead and apply. Once he is an officer, he will enjoy his job more(and it is a huge jump in his base pay and our housing).
+Medical benefits are the best...we wanted to have our kids while he is in the military (so far so good!)
+The opportunities to travel and live in different places.
+I can stay home with the kids until they start school, by then I'll have my Master's and will be able to do whatever (probably counsel or teach.) Actually I'm halfway through with the Master's now so I should be finished way before the kids start school....and the military is now assisting with spouse tuition!
+If and when Jeremy decides to get out of the army, he will have a much better chance of finding a good government job.
+He can retire at 45 if he stays in, 50 if he stays within the government.
+Lastly, it is what Jeremy wants to do. He wants to at least give another post and position a chance. I asked him if he had not married me, would he stay in? His answer was "Yes, But now it is about what you want too". Honestly, I love being an army wife. I love having the opportunity to put Jeremy and family first and not a job. The deployment has been really hard, but our relationship has only gotten stronger. We get to talk a lot, and when all you have is communication, you can really grow even closer. I feel like I am tough enough to handle being an army wife and he is tough enough to be a soldier, a hero to his family :). It is kind of neat to not have a 10 year plan. I like not knowing what is in store for us, where we are going, who we will meet. It is scary, but really....do things really work out the way we planned them anyway?
Now for the downside of things that TRUST ME, we hate...
-Moving away from family
++But, we will be stateside so we will be in driving distance from everyone, And once he is an officer, we can request places in Arkansas. We may not get it at first but we can try!
-Possibility of deploying again
++But, deployments are being shortened and we get a new president so things will be different.
-Jeremy will have to go to Officer Candidate School out of state for 3 months
++But, I will be able to stay put in Arkansas until he is finished. And OCS isn't as bad as it used to be. They have lots of freedom and privileges, especially since he is prior enlisted.
We spent a very long time talking all of these things over. The economy is so up and down, and jobs are pretty hard to find in Arkansas especially. He wants to use his degree in a church, with the youth or children wherever we wind up. That just can't be a primary job for him because it doesn't pay much typically. We don't want to leave, but we feel like at this time it is the best thing for our family's future. He signed for another 4 years from June (which technically only added 3 years to his time. He had a year left when he signed and the new contract overrules the old one). We should find out where our new post is in December. The military is so complicated though, because our orders will say one place but after OCS we will probably go to another. The first set of orders will be for Jeremy's position in supply (what he was planning on doing if he didn't go to OCS). So really, I guess the first orders don't matter. If things go the way we "think" they will, we will probably move to our new post around next November. Confused yet? Welcome to my world!
If you skipped over all of that I don't blame you!
On Saturday night, Jana and Andrew came over and spent some time with us. We went to eat dinner and when we came back, my poor little Chloe had been stung on the mouth by something. I don't know what got her, but something did! These are after we gave her Benadryl. Still pink and about halfway swollen :(
This week has gone by fast. On Monday I went to Hot Springs with a bunch of my friends for a bachelorette party. It was fun! I came home that night though. We all had nicknames on the backs of our shirts, mine said Mama to Be! I didn't get a picture of it.
I worked Tuesday and Wednesday. I really enjoy the extra cash and exercise, but I get so dizzy while I am working. It scares me because I will walk over to a table with drinks and it will sometimes look like the table moves or something. I just don't want to pass out...and although I have never passed out before...I surely feel like I am close to it here lately. Also, I cramp here and there when I get to walking a lot, and that is an uncomfortable and scary feeling. My appointment is next Thursday at 1:30 and I am still very anxious. I will be almost 9 weeks. The ultrasound is scheduled for the next week because the tech is on vacation (Is there not more than one tech? Apparently not...but there should be...or he should borrow one from one of the other 20 clinics in that building). I have heard great things about Dr. Taylor though, and I am confident that we picked a good one.
Tonight we went up to see a family member of ours, Debbie Camp. She as well as her close and extended family really needs your prayers. She has a brain tumor and was on the list for a liver transplant. It is a very hard time for everyone.
This weekend is Brooke's Shower at Cajun's Wharf at 5:00 on Saturday. She is so ready to have that baby!
So I guess it is time to start documenting my growing belly. I know all people are different, so I'm kind of worried that I'm going to be huge. I can already tell a difference(I know it isn't the actual baby it is everything else in there growing getting ready). So here I am at a little over 7 weeks..and I took this myself because no one was here.
No comments:
Post a Comment