New Plans?

Well, this is the Army after all :) And maybe we (or at least I) were getting a little too comfortable with our "plan".

 So, after Sean being on leave for 2 weeks, he goes back into the office yesterday and finds out that's he's on assignment! This means new orders in the next 6 months. Yikes! Totally didn't see that one coming!! But guess where they're to? FORT LEWIS!!! My first thought was, "YES!!! Annabelle will be so little and we'll be closer to family by next spring" you know, what a blessing!? Then, my second thought heavily outweighed the first, "What about WOCS and Flight School?". I would absolutely love to be closer to family by next year, but what I would love even more is for Sean to be able to advance forward in his career how he desires and begin doing something that he loves, not being thrown into the "real Army" in a tactical brigade, doing something he doesn't have any desire to do.
Oh, and we're assuming that as soon as we get to Lewis he will be training and deploying, so that definitely doesn't sound appealing (especially when he would most assuredly be in the states for at least a year with WOCS and Flight School).

I'm writing all of this to get it out to my closest family and friends, but also to remember. We talked about where do we go from here now...and I have a bad tendency to only remember portions of these conversations, so I ask him the same questions repeatedly.

The first step now is for him to get his packet together quickly and turn it in. This is a huge step and I think it may make him kind of nervous, so please keep him in your prayers as he gets it all together, studies and tests. Then, hopefully he will get selected and they will give him a class date. If he doesn't get selected this time around, he can wait and try again. With the timing of the selections, that would mean we would probably still end up PCSing to Ft. Lewis sometime next spring or early summer and then he would try and resubmit his packet. If he does get selected the first time, he should get a class date, and we would avoid PCSing to Ft. Lewis (since he could get selected once we get there and we'd have to move back down to this area for school), and then we would just be waiting here for his class to begin.

This is kind of where all the questions come up in our minds...

We weren't expecting this. Even if Sean had a better idea that he was up for new orders that I did, I really doubt that he had Ft. Lewis in mind. So, maybe it's suppose to happen this way? Maybe we are suppose to PCS there and he ends up enjoying doing his job (or whatever new job he randomly gets selected to do) so much that he ends up wanting a career in that field? Or maybe (this was his idea) he gets there, deploys and then realizes he really doesn't want to make a career out of the Army? Then he could get out, go to school and look for a job doing whatever his degree gives him (maybe he could go to a civilian flight school?).

But then again, maybe this is sort of just a temptation? Like I said, being close to family, and stationed somewhere that I already have close friends would be pretty nice! We've been in the South for 4 years, and that's a long time away from family, especially having our first baby coming soon (first grandbaby in the family!). Sean could easily forget about trying to get into Flight, go with this new assignment and we'd have the experience of living close to our family for a bit (or for good if he decided to get out!).

Maybe this is actually God telling Sean he needs to get started on his Flight stuff or else He'll send him in a different direction! Ya know?! Who knows!!

Obviously, if Sean is meant to be a pilot, he will get his packet together in time, get selected, and excel in school. But if he's not meant to fly, I think it may be kind of hard for him to transition into accepting that, and then he'll have to decide on a whole new career and big choices like that are never easy to make. But then something like this comes up and it just seems like such an unexpected crossroad that it's hard to know what to do.

I don't know....it's just a lot to take in! I feel like we both really need to trust God on this one and try to listen to Him guide us. That's not so easy all of the time. Especially when we haven't really been practicing our trust or faith in Him. No time to start like the present, right?

I feel like, for me, this is just an opportunity to support my husband and try to encourage him to do what he thinks is best for him, his career and our family. I'm not one of those wives who is going to tell him where to go or what I want to do, because this isn't just about me. But I don't want to leave him alone in the decision either, so I will be praying for God to guide my thoughts and words.

All I know is next year is going to be CRAZY! :)