Hard decisions

We’ve been in the States for a week now and are faced with lots of hard decisions. My aunt and uncle have been super nice about letting us stay with them, and we’re slowly settling in. We’ve got cell phones now and just got a computer the other day. We’ve just found a great car that fits our budget (though we haven’t finished the transaction yet), and now we’re making decisions about work.

I suppose the easiest thing to do would be to not blog about it until we’ve made our decisions, since that way I won’t have to go back and forth. But now you all can experience the yo-yo life I’ve been going through for the past few months.

Originally, when we planned to come to the U.S., we thought David would do his medical licensing exams and start applying to residency programs this fall, to begin next spring or summer (2010).

There were complications with that, and delays, so we thought our next best option would be to look for work and take another year to do David’s examination process. We’d both have to work, especially if we stayed in California, and David would start applying for residency programs to begin in mid-2011.

But if we’re going to take that long to do the exams and residency application, David thought maybe he should do a 12-month accelerated BSN so that he’d have a ready-to-go career as a nurse in case something went wrong to delay his residency entrance. The problem with that is its cost. But we figured we could  manage it somehow with loans and grants.

…Except that when we sent David’s transcript in to a service to be evaluated for the BSN program, we were told that it must be sent to his school for verification (probably because of his lost diploma). That will set his BSN applications back several weeks, if not longer. By that time, the programs will probably all be full for the fall semester. There goes that idea.

So now David has visited an army recruiting office and is dialoguing with them about enlistment. It’s not our first choice by any means. In fact, I’m very dubious about it. He can’t be an officer because he’s not a U.S. citizen, so even though he has a bachelor’s degree, he can only serve at the bottom of the totem pole. Yuck. On the other hand, it would be a stable job with benefits in a gloomy economy… but would require his being away for two months of basic training, plus specialty training, not to mention any tours overseas. Hmm, this doesn’t sound great to me.

But since he hasn’t gotten his green card yet, technically, I have a few weeks to find him an alternative job. I’m desperate—beyond desperate. I’m panicking. If I can’t find anything for him, or a full-time job for me that could at least help keep us afloat, we’re doomed to the military life. I have to believe that since God is merciful and gracious and loving, He has something better for us in mind than the army. But my hope is failing… failing…