Giving Notice

While the holidays still seem far away, Josh and I made a big decision regarding my work a few days ago and we were not sure how it would all turn out.

As many of you know, my job requires that I request time off 2-3 months in advance- this has been hard in light of Josh's more unpredictable schedule. October 1st marked the last day I could request time off for the month of December. Josh and I have been very conflicted about what to do for the holidays, as there is a great possibility we could be moving around the holidays again. Although we are not 100 percent sure of what we will be doing next, it is very possible that we will be getting orders to move somewhere else after Josh finishes this phase of flight training (in approximately 6-7 weeks).

6-7 weeks from now is the very beginning of December- if we waited this long to decide what I would do regarding my work schedule, I would likely need to work most of the month of December and it would be very difficult to visit with family for the holidays or make preparations to move. My workplace requires me to provide 30 days notice prior to leaving if I ever want to work for Ascension health again (which is the largest not-for-profit health care organization nationwide, so there is a chance I may want to work for them again wherever we move).

Have I lost anyone yet? Yes, this is a complicated chain of events :)

Anyways, we decided it would be best for me to talk to my boss yesterday regarding the great possibility that we will not be in Pensacola anymore from mid-December on and maybe it would be best not to put me on the work schedule for December. I was very nervous about this decision because there is also a possibility that we will be in Pensacola much longer, but I still felt I had to have the conversation with my boss and see what the best course of action would be.

Our meeting couldn't have gone better! The result of our conversation?
a. my official stop date to be on the permanent work schedule will be December 16th (meaning that we will have plenty of time to travel and spend time with family over the holidays OR potentially have time to move)
b. if it turns out we are not leaving the Pensacola area before or after the holidays and we return to Pensacola after having a few weeks off, my boss is happy for me to let her know at the beginning of every week how much or how little I want to work (meaning I could potentially work full time, part time, or not at all on a week by week PRN basis until we are sure we are leaving). Her words were: "we will always need another OT, so if you work full-time for 6 months after this "official" stop date I would be thrilled!"
c. my boss has encouraged me to apply for other positions within ascension health if there are opportunities where we move (this would allow me to keep my little bit of seniority, my pay rate, and facility specific education credits). One of the places we may move is looking to hire an OT part-time, so as we learn more, I may apply for this or other positions!
d. my boss also had many encouraging words regarding my performance at work and said that although she is sad that we may be moving more imminently she never regrets her decision to hire me.

God has truly provided for our needs and we praise him for this wonderful opportunity!

If you've read this far I am impressed. We thank you for your prayers and support in all that we do :)