Wish us Luck

A year ago, our lives got thrown for a loop. Landon was dismissed from his Master's program in counseling for getting two C's and a B-. Ironically, he had the best grades he has ever had in his life, but they were not good enough for the graduate school. They let us reapply on a conditional basis, that he had to retake the classes he received the low grades in before continuing on with his program.

Getting that news was literally devastating to me. We had just been holding on for years until Landon finished school. He was one semester away, and now, we were being held up and slowed down. I didn't know if I could make it. While I still think it sucks and it was not the best news we have ever received, over the last year I have also come to appreciate some things about the lessons that we learned by going through this trial.

As I mentioned, we were just "holding on" until Landon finished school. Landon had kind of become a bear to live with because he was so stressed out with school. We also had no control on our finances. We were living off of student loans and didn't really know how to budget. Because of this set back we were forced to look closely at our finances, and have since changed our behaviors drastically. We have taken control of our finances and by so doing have taken control over many different aspects of our lives and have found peace.

A year ago, Landon reapplied for the program, was re-accepted and began retaking his classes. He had been doing one class at a time and we were still just putting our life on hold until he could finish school. This year, January again, did not bring with it the best of news in regards to Landon's schooling. We found out that Landon did not receive an acceptable grade in his class, and thus, had not complied to the conditions of his conditional re-acceptance. We sat and talked about it and prayed hard for a few days and decided that rather than fight it and again have to postpone our lives for his masters degree, we were going to cut our losses and move forward.

This decision was not an easy one to come to. It has taken a lot of humility to be so close to the goal and not reach it. At times it seems completely crazy to me that we decided to walk away from this degree, but we really feel like it is the right step for where we are in our lives. This is not a forever end to this ambition, he may one day choose to pick it back up and try again, but for now there are too many mental and physical roadblocks in the way. His quest for the masters degree would be futile without us making some changes in our lives. So, that is what we are doing.

Landon has worked for FedEx ground for almost 6 years now. It started as just a job to help us make our bills and then turned from a part-time package handler to a part-time manager with responsibilities and challenges that Landon really finds enjoyable. He is good at his job and enjoys the fast pace and problem-solving it requires. We have decided to pursue a career in transportation management. So, Landon has begun applying for full-time positions all over the country. We are hoping that we will be able to find something close to our families, but also understand that we might have to move outside of our comfort zone to find the job that will help us move forward.

We are excited about this new chapter in our lives. We are welcoming it with open arms, relieved to finally be moving forward and not keeping our lives in a stand-still waiting on school. Landon has been so much happier being out of school and loves feeling that he has more control over his destiny. Just like a year ago when we found out that our plans were not going to work the way we wanted them to, we are willing to accept whatever the Lord has planned for us. Having been through the last year and seeing all of the lessons we learned from that trial I am hoping that this change will bring with it many new lessons and ways for us to explore our lives and relationships. So, wish us luck as we go job hunting!