At the half-way point of our third year of marriage, I was given the wonderful blessing of a new job. I had been desperately wanting to leave the agency I was with (although not so desperate as to take anything available - my experiences with my first job in Kansas made me extremely picky with my second one).
I had applied for several positions with Kansas Children's Service League throughout my time in Wichita. I liked the company foremost because of its mission. It was the Kansas chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, and I had interned with the Kentucky chapter in college. That internship planted the seeds of passion in me to advocate for the best life possible for our children.
I never received a call back from KCSL until the summer of 2009. I applied for a new position that would be responsible for assisting with a Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention program. I was invited to interview for this job, and thankfully was able to ultimately accept the position.
While like the first job, my work with KCSL was nothing like I thought it would be, my new job surprised me in mostly wonderful (a few not as wonderful) ways, and had a sizable impact on my life.
I made some of my best "Kansas friends" at KCSL, and deepened both my passion and my knowledge of keeping children safe and strong. My job evolved into the opportunity to travel to every corner of the state and talk to people about keeping babies safe. And while I didn't always prefer getting up at 4 am to make a meeting 200 miles from home, I loved getting to visit all the quirky little Kansas towns, meet people in rural parts of the state that reminded me so much of the people I grew up with, and hopefully help a few parents and give a few babies a better start than they would have had otherwise.
Shortly after my job began at KCSL, Johnie and I became aware of the economic downturn our nation had taken. By that fall, we had friends being cut from companies trying to stay afloat. Cox, the company Johnie worked for, announced they would be reducing their workforce. We braced for bad news, and created an emergency budget plan just in case. But much to our relief, Johnie's job was spared.
It was also that fall when another highlight of my life in Kansas began. Quite innocently, one of our friends called us one day and invited us over to sing with a few other friends and Johnie's cousins. Even though I don't sing, I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to visit. And what began (from my perception), as just a few friends getting together one weekend, turned into a full-fledged a capella singing group.
Singing with "7" became a mainstay for Johnie. Sunday evenings were devoted to the group. And I enjoyed (and enjoy) being the self-proclaimed biggest fan and groupie. (Anyone else have three different "7" ring tones on their cell phone??? That's what I thought.)
Up until this point, Johnie had been working tirelessly in a side business. His dream was to be a full-time, self-employed computer programmer. After taking on some projects that turned into something much different than what he anticipated, he found himself in a situation where he was spending all of his free time at home on his business. I was feeling increasingly neglected and alone.
Shortly after a weekend of serious discussion about this, and a lesson at church (I honestly can't remember anything about it-just that it impacted Johnie greatly), Johnie made the decision to give up his business. To completely stop his efforts.
I was relieved and thankful to have time with my husband again, but I still wanted him to achieve his dream of becoming a full-time programmer. We talked it over that winter and decided that he should take advantage of his tuition reimbursement benefit at work, and begin seriously working on a programming degree.
Just a few weeks after we began our fourth year of marriage, Johnie began juggling a full-time workload and a full-time school load. And then a few weeks after that came the call that made my stomach drop.
Instead of recovering, the economy continued to decline. Companies continued laying off their workers. Johnie and I continued to worry about his job security. I was at my own job when I got the call from him. I could tell from the sound of his voice when he said "hello" that I was about to get some news. I didn't think it would be good.
"So, Paul called me into his office this morning."
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. We knew this might happen. We had planned for it. I silently prepared myself, "We'll be okay. We'll make it through this." Then, I asked for the news: "Yeah?"
"They're going to make me a programmer. I'm moving to the IT department!"
My whole body went weak. I was shocked. I shared what I thought the news was going to be, and Johnie agreed that he fully expected to hear that he was being laid off when he closed the door to his boss's office.
The promotion was a complete surprise and wonderful blessing to us. We celebrated and celebrated. And kept reminding ourselves it was really real.
And almost as quickly as the happiness came, it was overshadowed. Just a few weeks into his new position, there was an investigation into a situation in Johnie's new department that put his job into major jeopardy.
Seemingly overnight, our prayers of thankfulness turned into prayers of pleading that Johnie's name would be cleared.
After a couple weeks of tense and intimidating investigation, it was, and we were finally able to settle into yet another new era of our life together. It is still a time that we often talk about with amazement and humility, a time that I hope never loses the awe and (overall) joy it holds for us.
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