Uphill Battle

When Erik started looking for a job he had a lot of interviews, but no one ever called him back. After a while this was getting very frustrating, and we were starting to wonder what we would do when he got out of the Coast Guard. Then, sometime towards the end of February, Erik came home and told me that he had an interview with Houston Police Department. I remember feeling the spirit so strong that tears welled up in my eyes. I knew that this was the answer to our prayers. Erik felt the same so we proceeded to pack up and move to Houston. Once there, we started looking for a house as Erik went on to pass all of his preliminary tests and have a second interview. We found a house and got everything ready to close. HPD initially told Erik that they were going to push to get him into the March class, so we came home early from a trip to D.C. to get things moving. Then, things started to fall apart. The background check which was only supposed to take a few days (since Erik has a secret clearance from the military) ended up taking 4 weeks. Because of this the closing date on our house was moved from March 28, to April 7, and then suspended until we got a final offer from HPD. Finally, we got word that the background check was finished, and were told that someone would contact Erik to set up a psych evaluation and a medical appointment. We got these set up for a few days later, and then were called back to push them back a week. Finally those were taken care of and we were told that we'd be notified of the results in three to five days. A week later, Erik got the call saying that he'd passed everything and that they were just waiting for the Chief to sign off on the papers. We were also told that the Chief has never not signed a paper (so Erik was to go to orientation and get things ready to begin the May 12th class). At this point, we got things rolling on our house, and were told that things were good to go, and we could close the following week. Well, that closing date was supposed to be 9:00 tomorrow morning, as of right now, it's been moved back to Friday morning. Added to this frustration is the fact that Erik is supposed to start class on Monday, yet the Chief hasn't signed off on his papers (granted there are about 20 people in the class that didn't have their papers signed as of orientation this past Tuesday). I still remember the feelings I had when Erik mentioned HPD, and I know that those feelings came from our Heavenly Father, but it seems as though we've been fighting an uphill battle ever since we came to Houston. Don't get me wrong, I have greatly enjoyed being able to spend so much time with Erik over the past 2 1/2 months, but being jobless and living with his parents for so long has definitely put a strain in our lives. All of this has also taken its toll on Jordyn, she wakes up more frequently at night, she's a lot grumpier, and she has been getting sick more frequently. Erik's parent's have been great, letting us stay with them for so long, but there are four adults, on very busy baby, an inside cat and an inside dog all living in a small 2 bedroom home. It is so crowded that Jordyn's crib is in the office/den that also functions as our closet. At times, the only thing that has kept me going on this path was the feeling that I had that day in February. The spirit had witnessed to me that this is what we needed to do, and I can not deny those feelings. This truly has been a test of faith for me. It has taught me to rely more heavily on Erik and on our Heavenly Father. I'm not going to lie, I will be very grateful when this experience is over, and I wouldn't want to go through it again, however, I see the benefits that is has brought to our lives. Now that it seems like we're on the downward slope, I can say that I am truly grateful for the uphill battle.