Future plans

This week was rather difficult and I spent a lot of it feeling depressed or in a fog. We made the decision to stay with the Marine Corps, so on Tuesday Jon requested orders for two more years. You can read the details on Jon's blog at http://jarhedjon.blogspot.com/.

The job search process was not easy for me. I felt a strong sense that I needed to "stay out of it" and allow Jon to do the search his way. He sought professional advice and used various online services to find jobs that would fit his abilities and interests. There were some options that would require a move and we decided not to go that direction. There was what seemed to be a perfect civilian job that would have allowed Jon to continue to relate to the Marine Corps from the "safety" of a job that would not deploy him. However, that company is still in the middle of their contract negotiations with the Marine Corps and so were unable to offer Jon a job prior to May 15, the date when ongoing orders with the MC needed to be requested.

So I am sad. It is very likely that Jon will deploy to Iraq with the MEF (Marine Expeditionary Force) in January 2008 for another year. Knowing what lies ahead does not make it any easier to anticipate. Knowing how Joshua has responded since Jon returned home makes me feel uneasy about how he will react to another deployment. None of this is fun, but I do feel that Jon did the best job search he could. He is, after all, a Marine and enjoys the job he has. That is very important to both of us, so I am trusting that this is the way the Lord is leading our lives right now. It gives me a sense of peace, although I am still struggling.

Fortunately I have had a fun "escape" this week. We have been hoping to take a road trip this summer, but were waiting to see what happened with Jon's job situation. Now we know and so now I can plan. I have spent hours online and with my AAA maps planning our trip. I won't go into all the details, but we hope to leave the week after school is out -- June 27 and head east along Route 66. Yes, Joshua is excited to follow the route from the movie "Cars." We will take a few days to get through Arizona and New Mexico. Then we'll leave Route 66 in Amarillo and head for Dallas and other parts of Texas to visit friends and family. We plan to get as far east as Crossville, Tennessee, to spend a few days with Jon's folks. Then we'll head north to see family in Indiana. We'll pick up Route 66 again outside of Chicago and visit friends all the way to St. Louis. Once again we'll get off the route and head west on I-70. After seeing friends in Colorado, we'll spend the final 5 days of our trip camping in the various National and State parks of Utah. I am hoping to introduce Jon and Joshua to The Narrows, which I was able to hike two years ago. We want to take Joshua to Hoover Dam and camp on Lake Meade. We anticipate getting home the end of July. If you live anywhere along this route, and I have not contacted you yet, please let us know if you'd like us to drop by and we'll see what we can do. I'm looking forward to a wonderful family adventure this summer.

Thank you all for your prayers.

One final heads-up for those of you in Southern Orange County. We have finally been able to plan our Thank You event for you all. I will send out an evite to those of you whose e-mails I have, so if you don't get one, please let me know. We plan to have a beach party down at San Onofre Recreational Beach on Camp Pendleton on Saturday, June 2nd. We will provide lunch, but people are welcome to come hang out any time all day, just let us know when you will be coming so we have enough food.

Sheryl