We're Moving to Atlanta!
We have received (or shall I say EARNED) our next assignment in the Air Force: Atlanta, Georgia! Michael will be attending the Georgia Institute of Technology to get his PhD in International Affairs Science & Technology.
To this I have to say: GOD IS GOOD.
But it was NOT a straight or easy journey to get here. Allow me to tell you the full story:
Over 2 years ago Michael got an email about the Air Force Chief of Staff PhD Program. Every year they select 3 primary and 3 alternate Captains to go to the school of their choice and get an in-residence PhD… fully funded. This is the golden goose of opportunities if you know you want to pursue higher education. Michael was thrilled. The only problem was the application was due in just 3 months and he needed to study for and take the GRE and put together a huge application package. To say Michael hustled would be an understatement. On top of all of this we were pregnant with David, he was completing very difficult upgrade training in the C-130 and it was summertime in Germany which meant we had a bunch of trips planned.
Michael worked diligently and made sacrifices of time and energy to do the best he could. He took the GRE, submitted his application and we prayed HARD. Georgia Tech was on the list of schools you could apply to if you got the scholarship which just blew our minds. This school is in the heart of Atlanta, just a 30-40 minute drive from our family! I remember sharing this prayer request with the small group leaders at bible study, and when Karen prayed over us I will never forget her saying “Lord we lift up Michael and his application to the PhD program. We pray for your goodness, that you may be ordaining this as a way for them to live near family for a few years” - I felt the Holy Spirit just wash over me. The Lord clearly said: that is exactly what I am doing. Just trust in me.
I was in awe.
A few months later Michael got an email: he did not get selected. Not even as an alternate.
We were crushed. We felt so sure he had a good chance. And that God wanted to send us HOME- a luxury we did not think would be in the cards for Michael until he retires from the Air Force.
With head hanging low he approached his commander about extending our time in Germany by another year. This would allow him to apply again the next year, among other things. Without getting into all the nitty gritty Air Force details, if we moved the next summer he may not have been able to apply again because one of the requirements to be “released” to do something like this is a certain amount of time at your current duty station and commander permission. We again said some prayers and hoped for the best. BAM- one week later we had the extension! This was insane, usually extensions take MONTHS to go through, if at all! I will never forget the moment we found out: it was one week before David was born so my mom was in town. We sat in the car while Michael ran into the office to check his emails one day and came back out with a paper in his hand confirming the year extension. Then I had to look over my shoulder and say “oh yeah mom… we asked to stay in Germany another year… and it was just granted. I am so sorry I didn’t tell you about this. We just asked for it and with the baby coming soon and the unlikelihood it would happen we just hadn’t told our families yet.” To say they received it with mixed emotions is to put it lightly.
Fast forward half a year and Michael started studying for that stinking GRE again. He took it again and got better scores! He put together another package for the PhD program and again we prayed. This was his last shot. And if this did not pan out we would likely be headed to Little Rock for him to continue flying- which we were also very excited about!
A few months later he got an email: he was selected as an ALTERNATE! An alternate? What did that mean? Do they ever get to go? Should he still reply to schools? It means he didn’t get it, but he didn’t NOT get it. Sometimes they do go, sometimes they don’t. And yes you should still apply to schools… just in case. Cool. Clear as mud.
The next few months were a flurry of applications: recommendations, essays, transcripts, test scores… So not only did we not know if he would receive Air Force funding, we didn’t even know if he would get into any schools! Michael applied to 6 different schools in Boston, Chicago, Santa Monica, Seattle, Chapel Hill and of course Georgia Tech in Atlanta. At this point we should have been honing in on our next assignment and what it might look like. We were looking at those 6 locations plus the possible flying assignments Michael could get. The uncertainty was difficult to sit with. But again we turned to prayer and said simply: Lord let your will be done (and let us be on board with it!) Send us where you need us.
The first school admission Michael received was cause for SO much celebration! He called me breathless from Little Rock where he was completing Instructor Pilot school, “Marissa I got in! I got into a school!!!” Which one?!? University of Washington!!” (aka: NOT Georgia Tech- but still exciting!!) As the other school admissions rolled in (3 admissions, 1 waitlist, 1 decline) we started losing a little steam. Okay so he got into schools… but what about Georgia Tech… and what if the Air Force does not offer him funding?
The confusion continued as he stayed in touch with the famous Dr. W- the man who helps the scholarship recipients navigate school applications and the Air Force side of things. Michael would ask multiple questions in an email and sometimes get back very few answers. We just hoped Michael was doing everything he could to make this happen.
Then Michael got an email saying what we so intensely feared: “you did not get Air Force funding.”
Cue more frustration and more questions. But wait! There was still hope! Dr. W had a contact: a retired Air Force Four Star General who is an alumni of Georgia Tech. With Michael’s agreement he reached out to the General who helped lobby on Michael’s behalf to Georgia Tech. They were still deciding admission and also have a history for funding tuition for Air Force PhD candidates that they are interested in. With all our eggs in one basket- or more literally the General’s hands- we prayed fervently for Georgia Tech to come through! At this point because he did not have Air Force funding, this was our only hope. We laughed at the journey God had sent us on up until this point, and really hoped we could celebrate victory at the end of it. Knowing that no matter what we would celebrate His goodness and his plan for us- wherever that took us.
Then it came, the email Michael had been waiting for: YOU HAVE BEEN OFFERED ADMISSION TO GEORGIA TECH AND WE WOULD LIKE TO FULLY FUND YOUR TUITION!
We did a happy dance, popped some champagne and started dreaming! We called our families and told them the exciting news (except we had to start every conversation with “no we are not pregnant but we have some exciting news!”)
We spent the following weeks in a mix of celebration and hesitancy. While Georgia Tech was ready for Michael to walk onto campus there were still a MULTITUDE of Air Force hoops he had to jump through to make it official. We continued to worry something would fall through the cracks. Then COVID happened and we worried that we wouldn't be able to move there in time for him to start classes and they might pull his admission. But God is faithful and he held our hands through it all. We FINALLY have Air Force confirmation that this is really happening! And SOON! We are set to leave Germany early August and Michael will begin classes in late August. This is now starting to feel surreal, and not just because of our current global situation with COVID-19. We are leaving Germany! Where we have lived 2 times longer than any of our other duty assignments. We are leaving the house we brought our first child home to. Where we made deep friendships that will last a lifetime. We know the day is coming, but it still doesn’t feel real. Neither does the fact that in a creative twist, God has carefully ordained for us to move HOME. What a blessing. Atlanta here we COME!
