She trusts me...

Thirteen years ago this month, I married the love of my life.  She trusted me when she had no reason to.  I joined the US Air Force with the major goal of marrying my high school sweetheart.  She trusted me enough that she flew from Mobile, AL, to Minot, ND, to marry me.  It played out like this...

She graduated high school on May 25th, got on a plane and flew to me on May 26th, and we eloped on May 27th...no parents, no family, just two of my friends from basic training (we had to have witnesses...thanks again Jason and Kristina!!).

And here we are - 13 years later....I know that may not seem like a long time.  However, I think it is under today's standards with the 50% divorce rate - and that is for normal people; we were a military/police family!  But back to the trust thing:

She trusts me.  We agreed early on that she was going to stay home with the boys.  She trusted me to provide for our little family without her needing to find a job.  And even though I was sometimes unsure of how we were going to do somethings, we somehow managed (See the unwritten posts on "Awesome Family" and "God's Math").  But the bottom line is that she trusted me then and she trust me now.

It's been 82 days since I left home to plant our family tree across the nation.  I have done everything that I can at this point.  Now I wait...

All that being said, I want to say I trust her.  She is bringing with her the most precious cargo a father could want.  She is flying, across the country, with our sons.  This may not seem like a big deal to some, but none of them have ever flown...and she is doing it alone...

But...I trust her.  I owe her that.

I love you baby...I cannot wait to get you and the boys here next week!

Side note:  May 27th is our anniversary....Exactly 13 years later, I am picking her up from another airport, to start yet another chapter in our lives.  I love it!


~Brooks

"Marriage is to family what legs are to a table."

I moved...again!

I'm sorry (yet again) for the lack of posts...I moved into what will be our new family home and I have been without Internet and furniture! Life will be back to "normal" soon and I will be back to posting.

Thanks for your patience!

~Brooks

So I'm in Seattle...

So like I said in me last post:  I moved to Seattle.  It has been 62 days since I have touched, held, hugged, and kissed my family.  When I go here, I was homeless, unemployed, and alone.  I had a hotel room that was paid for for a week, a rental car for a week, and some cash to eat on.  But nothing in concrete - just "a wing and a prayer" as they say.  But I had a plan.  I always have a plan.  And if the first plan doesn't work out, I go on to the next, and then the next, and so on, until a plan works out.

My first week was filled with interviews, tests, background checks, and the like.  I was behind my personal schedule, but nothing that couldn't be made up.  And I knew that this was where my family was meant to be...I knew that time would tell if this was to pan out.  I also knew that I was part of two calendars:  mine and The Big Man's.

I knew I would get a permanent career but I didn't know when, so I had to find temporary employment.  But no one would hire me; I was "overqualified" is what I was told.  Three weeks went by and I was starting to second guess myself, as was my wife and friends back home.  But I was not going to give up that easily.  Enter Northwest Security Services...

On a whim, I answered a classified advertisement for a security officer postion that I had found online.  That was a Thursday.  I was at work, on post, on Friday. Then on Monday, they sent me to what woud be a permanent position for every day, Monday-Friday, 8-5.  I was also given an assignment for the weekend shifts...so that equals 7 days a week.

It turns out that this was the best thing that could happen to me at the time.  I met a lot of great people there.  They introduced me to other people that worked there.  Through the many connections, I met a young lady in Human Resources that took an interest in me bettering the life for my family.  Before the end of the second week, I had emailed her my resume and she had began giving me job descriptions at companies in the area.  One of those was at Symetra Financial.

I applied.  I got an interview.  Then I prayed.  It was a dream job.  Pay was great, benefits were outstanding, and I was no longer a bullet catcher.  Then I got a second interview a week later.  Then two days later, I got a third and final interview.  So I prayed some more.  And I asked everyone else to pray too.

Then I got the call....I got the job.  It was an amazing, surreal feeling to know that my deram of being financially secure enough to take care of my family was coming true.  But what was even crazier to me was that I learned something.  When you turn it over to Him, you ask Him for what you want, let it go and let Him work on it in his own time, you learn that God still delivers.  I don't care what anyone says: I did not do this on my own...He did it.

So now, as a father, I can tell my boys that there is nothing unmanly about prayer - despite what the general populace thinks.  The key is...ask, then turn it over to Him.  If it is His will - it will be.  But one must realize that is has to be HIS WILL.

What I've been doing

Boy do I have a story to tell you guys....

Sometimes it's hard being a father

My wife and I always said we would make decisions together, but that the final "big" decisions would all be left to me ( i.e., buying a house or car). Well, I made a decision recently to move us - from Mobile, AL, to Seattle, WA.

Of course we discussed it at length. We figured out the finances and got leads for jobs. I did as much as I could here. Now it's time to leave.

This is the hard part. We are going to spend some time apart. She'll have family near. It's not me, but it's family. I will be alone, a 40 hour ride from my nearest family. It's a bit scary.

But the benefits out way the risks. This will be the best thing for all of us and I am looking forward to the new challenges.

I started a separate blog to kind of chronicle the adventure (http://seattlebound2012.blogspot.com). If you're interested, please follow.

- Brooks

Ladies and Gentlemen.....

For fathers with sons:

So recently I have gained significant interest (and minimal knowledge) on the inner workings of being a gentleman.  No, not today's gentleman, with their attitude and depression issues, but a REAL gentleman.  How to dress, how to treat a lady, and most of all, how to act as a gentleman should.  Things that my father tried to tell me ("never let a door close in anyone's face" and "always carry two handkerchiefs: one in your back pocket for you; one in your front pocket for her").  I want to share one website that I have found very informative:

                                                   http://www.theartofmanliness.com

It is a great website to go to and just read.  It talks about everything from the boots to Brylcream, manners to mustaches.  I have registered my oldest son for daily emails and caught (wind of) him tonight using my aftershave (Old Spice, of course).  My middle son is next.  If they can read, they can learn to be a better man.

Unfortunately, I do not have a daughter to pass on advice to the fathers with them.  I, however, will find out some information and get back to you.  This I must research.  I can say, without a doubt, that men want ladies; women that they can be proud of, full of confidence and class.  I got that much.  But of course, if you are reading this, you already know that much too.

Delays, Delays, Delays

I apologize for the delay in any new posts.  I have been really swamped at home, work, and in school and have not had the time needed to write a post worth reading.  I will return soon!

~Brooks