Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Self Portrait Tuesday

There's a small group of bloggers who publish self-portraits on Tuesdays including Gerrie's daughters Stephanie and Lisa (who have super fantastic blogs). I thought I'd join in and show you my new jewelry.



I'm calling it my "job interview jewelry." Not because I'm re-entering the work force. (The horrors!) But, my husband is. He resigned from the US Navy and his last day of active duty will be September 30. This is an exciting, stressful and scary adventure -- and for enduring this excitement, stress and adventure, I decided Jeff needed to buy me some jewelry. He happily obliged. He also bought me sushi and a new scarf. (Of course he bought himself two suits, three shirts, three ties, two pair of shoes, two belts, one blazer, one pair of khaki pants and two pairs of socks. Plus he's bought lots of new athletic gear lately, but that isn't necessarily job-hunt related.)

Jeff has an interview on Thursday and Friday for a really promising position. It's not the direction we long thought we were headed in... but lots of patience, prayer and consideration have led us to this opportunity.

As we began this job hunt, we considered several factors which we thought were important to us.
  • the location of the job
  • proximity to family
  • money
  • long-term stability
  • number of hours/travel required
As it turns out, only one of these things is really really really important. It's the last one. What is important to us is that we are a family and we live daily with that as a priority. We intend to eat dinner as a family at the table as often as we can (paper plates or straight out of the pizza box is fine with me). We intend to spend both quality and quantity time with our children. (reading, coaching soccer, going to church, watching and discussing movies, making home-made birthday cakes...) We intend to be present for each other in all the everyday decisions -- the big stuff and the little stuff. I intend to support my husband and my kids in every way I can, knowing that he is doing the same.

The point is that this can be accomplished no matter where we live and without knowing exactly what the future holds. (And we can drive or fly to see family.)

We've always know this stuff. In fact, that's why we're job hunting in the first place. The Navy needed Jeff to do a one-year job in Bahrain as his next assignment. That's a "no dependents" job, meaning me and the kids stay here. Luckily, he was at a point in his career where he could make the decision to resign. And here we are. I am glad he will continue to make a positive impact and use his skills to serve our country as a reservist, but a "full time paying" job is still in order.

The one other factor that is pretty important -- but not on the above list -- is job satisfaction. And of course, money is a serious consideration, but I'm confident all that stuff will fall into place.

There you have it. That's a self portrait in pictures and words... my life at the moment.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best of luck to Jeff. You'll have to tell me all about them. I'll call you soon.

We miss you all so much since we've been home. Ben is quoted often and "I don't want it" in his sing-song voice is our new favorite saying.

I secretly hope that you'll move back to Coranado Island. Or anywhere else less than 3,000 miles away!

Joanna

lizzieb said...

I so know how important this is. My father was in the Navy and we went everywhere with him, except out to sea. The hardest parts were when he was out to sea for 9 months at a time. Other than that, we were a family everywhere. No matter where we lived, no matter where the grandparents lived, no matter where the aunts and uncles lived!

kath red said...

do you want me to add you to the list?

Logan said...

Congrats! Sounds like you two thought this one through thoroughly. So many people make the decision primarily for financial reasons, yet money is really the wrong reason to make a decision like this. When we decided it was time for me to quit working and stay home, many of our family members thought it was a huge mistake. They were so focused on the money issues, that they completely ignored the quality of life stuff. And after a year of staying home? We both wouldn't have it any other way.

Re: the new jewellry - I'm sensing a leafy them. The design is sooo You! It might be fun to enlarge the design and make it with fused fabric or embroidery stitches like in your Branching Out series.

Lisa said...

Good luck with the job hunt. I'm not looking forward to that for us, although we have a few more years until it happens. BTW, Bahrain was a pretty wonderful and fairly safe place to live, (we lived there for 2 years) but I completely understand about not wanting the separation. Our decision was the opposite, but the right thing for the kids. I'll be staying here for 3 more years so both kids can finish high school while he goes to Iraq and then the East Coast. sigh. It will be tough, but I love the kids' school, friends, etc and Pierre has only a few more years to go. Can't wait to hear where he ends up working.

Deb R said...

Wishing you best of luck that Jeff finds a great job in an area you both love.

Gorgeous jewelry!