A New Job...

My dear husband is retiring from the Military this summer. He will officially be a Civilian starting in July. He had quite a bit of leave that he saved up for the end of his military career, and on top of that you can take some leave to 'job hunt', an it all added up. He hasn't been to his office job all month. He has had some things he's had to do, but not the day to day job with the military.
I didn't realize how stressful this idea of retirement had been for him for a while. Last year some time we both attended a week long class on retiring, and all the steps you need to take to make things go the way you want them to, and things like writing resumes, and other things. He expressed at that time how nervous he was about him being able to get another job. I of course see his value, and know how hard he works, etc... and never felt like he'd have any problems getting a job. This year as things got closer and closer, I realized how nervous DH was. He was a little doubtful of his self worth, and he had this whole big family to support and how would we ever make it if he couldn't get a job...
Well, he posted his resume on line, and h got so many phone calls and email contacts from people interested in him that he had to remove his resume as he was overwhelmed by all the interest. That boosted his self esteem a bit. In the end he had abt. 6 offers from various Companies and groups... Who knew that instead of having no offers we'd have such choices? We were, and are very grateful for how things have gone. In these economically difficult times, we are so pleased and grateful to have had offers, let alone several to be able to choose between.
We talked about what each company and position would offer for him professionally, and for our family short term as well as long term. There was so much to think about!!! What type of insurance coverage did each company have, should we just stick with our retiree insurance and get supplemental insurance from the one company that offered that... Do they have vision insurance - as we do have 6 of 8 family members who wear either glasses, contacts or both... What about vacation time? We've had 1 month of vacation/leave time a year for the past 20 years! and Sick leave wasn't counted against your leave... That is hard to give up... of course Salary was something that we discussed, and it honestly did have something to do with a couple of offers that we turned down, but it was definitely not THE deciding factor.
Well, today was the day...
He accepted an offer and had to let the other people who had been so helpful and really wanted him to come work for them as well, know that he was grateful for their offers, but no, we've decided on another company at this time, for a variety of reasons...
We are thankful tonight to Heavenly Father for watching over our little (in the over all grand scheme of the world and all it's peoples) family, and helping to make the path that we have been on over the past 20 years, as difficult as parts of it were at times, (the path was definitely led by our Heavenly Father as some of it we certainly would NOT have chosen for ourselves), such that it would all come together for our good and help to put us (DH) in the position to have so much choice. Also giving DH a boost in self esteem to realize that he has much value to others and he was sought after.
So... after officially signing on with his new company(he will begin work on 6 April - that is when he will be eligible to begin working for someone else (as he will be done with the military, and will then just be using accrued official leave), we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate.
We have a big family with lots of young one's so where would we go that would make everyone (well mostly everyone) happy??? Chuck E. Cheese seemed to fit the bill so we took the kids (minus Rebekah - she had a paper to complete to turn n tomorrow, before spring break, and she has begun showing signs of lactose intolerance, and just didn't feel up to dealing with the agonizing -for her- smells of Pizza with all the cheese, and having to fight eating it so that it didn't' give her a very upset tummy all night and tomorrow...) to dinner and bought them all tokens to play and have fun!!! They all enjoyed themselves (Hannah wasn't in the best mood when we first got there, and we ended the night with someones whole cup of lemonade spilling all over the bench - and the other sister who was sitting on that bench... filling her shoes with sticky liquid...not very happy making) and I didn't have to cook! (always a happy day!).

Anyway, that is our news of the day... BIG NEWS in our lives... BIG changes ahead! Bill has always been in the military - his dad is retired military, and his grandfather was retired military as well, so he comes from two generations of military men... He graduated from high school nearly 24 years ago, and two weeks later he was at West Point Military Academy. Military life is all he has ever known. We have been living somewhat of a civilian life by living off post out here in the community, so that part won't be as big of a change for us, than if we had been living on post and had to pack up and move as well...

But it is official, DH has a new job! Now to enjoy the rest of his leave, as well as get some things accomplished around the house, and yard, before he goes off to work.

I'm so proud of you honey!!! You are such a hard worker and it shows in your work ethic, and others notice as well. All those years and jobs you've done have payed off, and now you are on your way to a new career - until you retire again, and decide if you still feel like teaching school...
I love the person you are, and am so glad that somehow I found you, and am privileged to spend my life and all of eternity with you. I love you sweetheart!