About a month and a half ago, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a lot of testing and waiting, Mama will be having a double mastectomy as the first step in her breast cancer treatment tomorrow.
Lee and I ask that you pray for our family and for all of the medical professionals that will be operating on Mama tomorrow.
Learning to live in a post college world while managing a new marriage, a new life being a stay at home wife, a year old puppy, and loved ones that are far away.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
The Unknown
Lee and I are currently living in a state of limbo and have no idea what the future is going to hold for us. It's been a crazy few months since we found out that PNC displaced Lee. Displacement wasn't the only thing that happened. My father-in-law had his hip replaced and there have been many complications along with that. Lee's uncle also passed away.
In the 4 months since we found out that Lee was displaced we've been through so much. In that time, Lee has applied for several jobs.....everywhere from Pittsburgh to metro DC to the other side of the state to South Carolina. He sent out so many resumes without any response. However, within the last month, we both finally feel that there's something good going to happen. Lee has two potential job options right this second. I'm not going to say where they are right now but we both have our favorite. We're thankful that it's the same favorite. Right now, what's killing us is the wait.......we have to wait to hear if either one of these jobs wants to hire Lee (Yes, it's at that point. See why the wait is killing us?!). It's basically down to another move right now or a move in a few months when we can take our time. I'm honestly not up for another move right now. We have so much going on with family right now that we don't want to deal with, it's influenced where we want to be.
Please pray for us. We need all the love and support that we can get right now. The unknown is weighing very heavy on us right now. We ask that you help us release the burden to the Risen Christ and that we'll be guided to where we really need to be.
In the 4 months since we found out that Lee was displaced we've been through so much. In that time, Lee has applied for several jobs.....everywhere from Pittsburgh to metro DC to the other side of the state to South Carolina. He sent out so many resumes without any response. However, within the last month, we both finally feel that there's something good going to happen. Lee has two potential job options right this second. I'm not going to say where they are right now but we both have our favorite. We're thankful that it's the same favorite. Right now, what's killing us is the wait.......we have to wait to hear if either one of these jobs wants to hire Lee (Yes, it's at that point. See why the wait is killing us?!). It's basically down to another move right now or a move in a few months when we can take our time. I'm honestly not up for another move right now. We have so much going on with family right now that we don't want to deal with, it's influenced where we want to be.
Please pray for us. We need all the love and support that we can get right now. The unknown is weighing very heavy on us right now. We ask that you help us release the burden to the Risen Christ and that we'll be guided to where we really need to be.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Atom Bomb
Last Wednesday was a day of waiting for news. Lee was going to be in a meeting with PNC as to the future of his employment after the merger of PNC Bank and RBC Bank. It was also the day that my father in law went in for testing to determine when he'd have a hip replacement. We got the news that we were expecting in terms of my father in law. That's not the case with Lee.
Lee's meeting with PNC wasn't a solo meeting. PNC met with Lee's entire mortgage division to tell them the future of their employment. It also had nothing to do with their skill level or their work ethic. All it had to do with was whether or not PNC already had people like them within the bank. Lee wasn't worried at all or at least didn't appear worried. He thought that PNC would take them along for the merger. We knew that we might have to be relocated to maybe Raleigh or even Pittsburgh because of the merger. So the time of the meeting came and Lee went into the meeting. I was at home in our apartment. I asked Lee to send me a simple yes or no as to the status of his employment as soon as he knew. Then my phone let me know I had a BlackBerry Message. It was one word. No. Lee had been displaced as well as his entire division by PNC.
My heart just sank. I had a feeling before the meeting that this would be the word that I would see. I just knew it. I don't know how I knew it but I did. Then all of the questions started to flow into my mind. How could they not take my husband? How could the bank that I've been dealing with since I was 17 just steamroll my husband like that? How could they do this to us? How could they just drop an atom bomb on all of our hopes and dreams for the next year?
Lee came home about 2 hours after the meeting. He was so upset. I've never seen him that upset before. I had to be strong for Lee. I knew that if I showed him right away that I was heartbroken by this news that it would make him feel so much worse. I hugged him and told him that everything would be alright. We sat down and I listened to how the meeting went. My heart broken watching him cry. Lee finally worked himself back up to going back to work because the work day wasn't done yet. As he walked out the door he apologized for me to come all the way from Memphis just to be unemployed with him. And then the door closed. I cried as soon as the door closed. I knew that there was a little drama with that statement but it just made me want to cry. I made sure I got all of the crying out of my system before Lee came home so I didn't make him feel like he let me down or that I was disappointed in him in any way.
Almost a week later, I'm very angry and upset still. How could MY bank do this to us? I cry almost every day about it. I've experienced my dad being out of permanent work for over 5 years and the financial struggles that can happen because of that. It's not exactly something that I want to be dealing with and I don't want to have this kind of heartache so early in my marriage to Lee. I cry because I feel like all of our dreams are on hold now. In my mind, these aren't dreams that we can afford to put on hold. These are dreams that we need to accomplish now. However, that's just not the plan God has for us. Lee says that he knows that God has a plan for us but he wishes that it would be just a little clearer to him right now. I AGREE! I'm not very positive about how everything is going to turn out based off of previous experience. I'm not holding out hope for things to be alright. Lee has another meeting this week to see if PNC can put him somewhere else within the company which also might require a move. If not, as of March, Lee will be out of a job.
I ask that you pray for Lee and myself as we deal with this news and try to figure out God's plan for our lives and marriage. It's still a very hard pill to swallow and not where we saw our lives heading so early in our marriage.
Lee's meeting with PNC wasn't a solo meeting. PNC met with Lee's entire mortgage division to tell them the future of their employment. It also had nothing to do with their skill level or their work ethic. All it had to do with was whether or not PNC already had people like them within the bank. Lee wasn't worried at all or at least didn't appear worried. He thought that PNC would take them along for the merger. We knew that we might have to be relocated to maybe Raleigh or even Pittsburgh because of the merger. So the time of the meeting came and Lee went into the meeting. I was at home in our apartment. I asked Lee to send me a simple yes or no as to the status of his employment as soon as he knew. Then my phone let me know I had a BlackBerry Message. It was one word. No. Lee had been displaced as well as his entire division by PNC.
My heart just sank. I had a feeling before the meeting that this would be the word that I would see. I just knew it. I don't know how I knew it but I did. Then all of the questions started to flow into my mind. How could they not take my husband? How could the bank that I've been dealing with since I was 17 just steamroll my husband like that? How could they do this to us? How could they just drop an atom bomb on all of our hopes and dreams for the next year?
Lee came home about 2 hours after the meeting. He was so upset. I've never seen him that upset before. I had to be strong for Lee. I knew that if I showed him right away that I was heartbroken by this news that it would make him feel so much worse. I hugged him and told him that everything would be alright. We sat down and I listened to how the meeting went. My heart broken watching him cry. Lee finally worked himself back up to going back to work because the work day wasn't done yet. As he walked out the door he apologized for me to come all the way from Memphis just to be unemployed with him. And then the door closed. I cried as soon as the door closed. I knew that there was a little drama with that statement but it just made me want to cry. I made sure I got all of the crying out of my system before Lee came home so I didn't make him feel like he let me down or that I was disappointed in him in any way.
Almost a week later, I'm very angry and upset still. How could MY bank do this to us? I cry almost every day about it. I've experienced my dad being out of permanent work for over 5 years and the financial struggles that can happen because of that. It's not exactly something that I want to be dealing with and I don't want to have this kind of heartache so early in my marriage to Lee. I cry because I feel like all of our dreams are on hold now. In my mind, these aren't dreams that we can afford to put on hold. These are dreams that we need to accomplish now. However, that's just not the plan God has for us. Lee says that he knows that God has a plan for us but he wishes that it would be just a little clearer to him right now. I AGREE! I'm not very positive about how everything is going to turn out based off of previous experience. I'm not holding out hope for things to be alright. Lee has another meeting this week to see if PNC can put him somewhere else within the company which also might require a move. If not, as of March, Lee will be out of a job.
I ask that you pray for Lee and myself as we deal with this news and try to figure out God's plan for our lives and marriage. It's still a very hard pill to swallow and not where we saw our lives heading so early in our marriage.