queline & company: 40 Weeks Old

So, wouldn't ya know it. This mama's phone is officially stuffed to the brim with photos of baby boy David. It's at MAX CAPACITY, guys. Alert: This is serious business here, guys. I repeat, this is not a drill!

For some sadistic reason, my phone has a key to unlock the memory chip or whatever the heck holds all my phone's pictures and junk. Clearly, I'm no tech wizard. I just want to take limitless amounts of photos and videos with no consequences. None of this, "Storage is running out. Delete files soon!" warnings and alerts. No "Buy more storage!" notifications from Google Cloud. I need these photos and videos. I can't bare to delete any of them, not even the blurry ones!

Part of me knows how insane I sound right now but the other part has gone full-blown, protective mommy status and I can't bare to lose one single piece of my child's babyhood. Each picture represents a memory and I'm a hoarder when it comes to those. I don't want to forget anything about this experience.

The downside is, I didn't have enough storage space to my usual 123, 456+ new photos this week. Ooooh, the twisted reality of an overfull 128gb cell phone. Yeah, 128 gigs is still not enough for this picture-happy mama.

News Update: Trevor has found the key and is removing the little chip thing (probably a technical term, I'm sure) and so we're back. Well, next week, we'll be back.

Thursday, 30 August 2018: Trevor Retakes ASVAB

A few updates are necessary here.

Word finally came through for Trevor's active duty application and sadly, he was denied for direct duty as there are currently no open slots for Power Production Technicians. Hearing this news shocked us. Filing a direct to duty application was supposed to be the fastest, easiest way to switch from guard to AD.

But the recruiter, while sharing the news over the phone, continued on. Due to Trevor's record, his standing in the Air Force and a few of his accolades (top graduate at tech school, high PT test scores and several letters of recommendations from his superior officers), the Air Force command did something Trevor's recruiter had never seen before. They extended an offer to allow him to cross-train into active duty. Essentially saying, pick a job. Any job. We'll retrain you.

Only caveat: The new job has to be open as well.

But this is a big deal for us, actually! He had planned to attempt cross-training in 2-3 years, in fact it would have been our preferred method of switching into full-time Air Force. For those who are unfamiliar, airmen have to apply and be accepted for cross-training, which enables them to leave their current military occupation to enter into a new field, but since the recruiter warned against it we opted to the "quicker" route. But obviously, things didn't go as planned.

We're stoked to have heard back from the AF. Every bit of communication helps me to feel that we're making progress. I'm proud of Trevor for his hard work in developing a good reputation within the military to the point which the Air Force wants him - even though they don't have room for him quite yet.

That's the other thing. We realized why he was denied for direct duty. September is the end of the fiscal year for the military so the budget is spoken for. Power Production Tech jobs are usually easy to snag. Technically speaking, he could reapply for direct duty after October 1st and be likely to get it. But now we're setting sights on new opportunities for our family. Perhaps God is providing a way for us to be together more. Perhaps he'll deploy less with this new AFSC. Perhaps things are looking up?

For my praying friends, please keep us in mind and pray for Trevor to receive orders for his top job picks. We've scoured through the options, but he's most excited for either:

Physical medicine tech (physical therapy assistant, in civilian terms)
x-ray technician or
ophthalmic tech

In order to cross-train, Trevor will have to go back to school for a bit. Two of these positions will allow David & I accompany him during his training. Depending on the duration of school days, the military might pay for us to move out to Texas with him. If the number of school says is over 20 weeks they'll likely agree to; however, his #1 top pick is around 19 weeks worth of training all-in-all. Just shy of the mark which allows us to be together. At this point, I'm pretty set on moving wherever he goes - no matter if it's paid for or not.

But I'm getting ahead of things. Just keep us in your prayers, if you would! As always, we seriously appreciate it!

So while Trevor ASVAB'd it up, David and I laid out a blanket and lounged on the finely manicured military lawn adjacent to the entrance of the building - perhaps breaking a regulation or two (good thing we're civilians!). At the end of testing day, the results were in. Trevor scored insanely higher than need be and is qualified for any job the military offers. We're grateful this portion of the process is complete and now we wait to hear back on this new submission.

I'm crossing my fingers his application will be read promptly after the new fiscal year, while a plethora of fresh job slots open up. Otherwise, he might receive another denial.

The positions he's after are hard to come by. In fact, approximately 10 open up per year - for the entire Air Force. And that number dwindles for prior-service folks like Trevor. We're praying if this is God's will for our lives, He'll provide the right job for Trev. And that's all we can say about that.

Saturday, 1 September 2018

Sunday, 2 September 2018

High five's for Auntie Anna! ✋

We'll be house sitting for my in-laws next week and so I'm gearing up to teach myself how to knit. Or crochet. My mom gave me her hand-me-downs for both hobbies so I'll take my pick in the moment. Either way, I picked out some pretty yarn from Joann's to get the inspiration juices flowing.