If You Write It Down... You Will Make It Happen

11 months ago when I got pregnant Jim and I talked about it and knew that we really wanted to make a change. I wanted to stay home with the kids and we wanted a bigger home. (We are literally busting at the seams in this townhouse. I'm not kidding our basement just became our storage unit!) We went about life and Jim started a job search. He would scour the job boards and sent out over 200 resumes. He was offered one job here in Alexandria which would have just kept us in the same situation so he declined that. That seemed like hope and that more job opportunities would be coming- but they didn’t. The months went by and Jim kept looking and looking. And looking and looking and looking. And looking.

Maybe Jim was looking for the wrong job we thought? Jim has always had a passion to help people and all of the office jobs weren’t really doing it for him. He really wanted to do something military related or become a police officer. So in June we knew time was running up and we needed to do something. We put up some butcher paper and pulled out the markers. We had read that if you write down your goals you are more likely to make them happen in a short time. So we wrote our mission down.

*Jim find a job with benefits
*Abbie stay at home
*Abbie find work from home opportunity
*Move to a lower cost of living area

Then we wrote down all the ways we could think of to do it. We came up with three options and evaluated which one would work best for us and we went into action. It wasn’t easy- Jim had one obstacle after the other when he was trying to get his applications for different police jobs notarized. But he got it done and we made our plans to hit Charlotte and Raleigh to apply in person. Jim started to ask for help! (Something I've learned he hates to do.) Both of our parents were using all of their networking to help Jim find a job. Next thing we know my Aunt Beverly is calling because she used to date the secretary’s brother at the Gastonia Police Office and got his resume personally handed to HR. Aunt Cheryl had a lead for a Real Estate Advertising Coordinator with the local newspaper. And the Federal Government was asking Jim to complete personality tests. It was amazing.

We just kept saying we will make it happen one way or another. We started packing and put the house on the market. We decided to live off the proceeds of the house if we had to. And then it happened. Out of the blue a job that Jim had applied for a very long time ago came available again. It had a new hiring manager and within two days Jim had an offer! It gets us to Raleigh (an area that meets our health needs, Whole Foods, and housing costs AND not too far from NOVA.) Jim will be working for a government contractor helping them recruit students into the ROTC program at St. Augustine’s College. He gets to wear a uniform ,do PT in the morning, and gets the opportunity to teach but doesn’t have the increased risk of being deployed!! (Abbie side note: whooooooooo hoooooooooooooo!)

So thankfully the wheels were already in motion for getting the house on the market. The POD was delivered and poor Jim had to pack it in the heat wave. We now have our temporary housing set up so we can take the time to explore Raleigh before purchasing and it gives us time to sell this place. It’s so exciting and a little sad at the same time. I told my team at work I would be leaving them the end of Sept. and that was really hard to let go of. As much as I want to stay home with my M&M’s (My Monihan Men) I like the paycheck, the appreciation and the adult conversation! Jim told his boss he was leaving so it is official. We move this coming Thursday!!

I think we are both in a little bit of denial that we will be leaving our family and friends. We believe home is where you hang your hat but it will be really hard to not be able to just see our family or friends without having to make big weekend plans.

So for the moment our cell phones will remain the same but our address will be:
3140 Hidden Pond Drive
Apt. # 103
Raleigh, NC 27613

Jim is getting rid of his HomesWithJim email on September 1st, so our emails will be abztha@yahoo.com and jemonihan@yahoo.com.