Monday, September 12, 2016

It's the Final Countdown


Three long years ago, we learned that Daniel was going to be relocated from working in Hollywood, Alabama to two hours north in Spring City, Tennessee. We knew it was coming, but it still turned our world upside down. We spent eight months living out of suitcases, in and out of hotels and vacation homes during the week, until finally settling into our current home on Signal Mountain.

We both felt strongly that we made the right choice in regard to the location of our new home, but we knew it would be a difficult journey – Daniel's new position promised long hours, with a 70-minute commute each way. We were told the job would last about a year, so we hoped and prayed for the best.

To say it's been a hard experience would be an understatement. Jack went through a phase where he didn't believe that Daniel lived at our house. Which was kind of true. For months on end, Daniel worked 6-7 days a week, and sometimes weeks at a time without a day off. The hours were long. The commute was long. I felt like a single mom. We experienced a miscarriage in the middle of this trying time, and did our best to hold it together. Thankfully Isaac was born into our family a year later, but Daniel continued to struggle with having to work so much. He loved what he was doing but the long hours definitely took a toll on all of us.

Every night we say bedtime prayers with Jack and we would all pray that Daniel would get a job closer to home. It was excruciating when Jack began to put a voice to the things we were all feeling... Why hasn't God answered our prayers? Why does daddy still work so far away? Why is daddy gone all the time? Why can't daddy be home with us more?

As adults, we have experience on our side. This isn't our first rodeo. We have prayed and waited through difficult things in the past. It's much harder to explain to a child that life is full of waiting.

Most people have heard our news by now, but we are still excited! Daniel FINALLY got a new job. I won't go into how many positions he applied for, it's too demoralizing. But our prayers have been answered.

Daniel is staying with his same company but moving to corporate headquarters to join the Dam Safety team. This will be a big change from Nuclear, but the benefits for our family are beyond what we had hoped for.

Daniel's company is notorious for being slow at hiring people (even internally), so we were shocked to learn less than two weeks after his interview that he had a job offer. The company was still slow in making the transition (he got the offer when we were on vacation last month), but Daniel is FINALLY finishing his last week of work at Watts Bar! 

I don't think we will know what to do with ourselves starting next week. A 40-ish hour work week, with a 20-minute commute? What does that even look like? How do people function with all of that extra time? We CANNOT wait to find out for ourselves!!!
 

3 comments:

  1. Cheree, I really relate to your experience as described here! Marcus was working/studying these kind of hours for the first 10 years of our marriage. I felt like a single mom when my boys were little and even during Lydia's first year, and it was such a huge relief when the 10 years came to an end and we moved to Chatt. In some ways, it feels like we really just started learning how to be a family four years ago, and there have been many blessings, but also some tough adjustments. I did not like it when I was doing everything alone, but I was very used to doing everything my way, and it took time to carve out space for the Daddy we hadn't had around. I will pray for a joyful and smooth transition for you and Daniel and the boys!

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    1. I can't imagine living like this for 10 years! It's encouraging to hear that you came through it. Our transition will certainly be interesting as we work to incorporate Daniel back into normal, daily life. Thank you for the thoughts and prayers, Rachel!

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