My Husband, the Graduate

I still can hardly believe that this diploma is REAL and belongs to my husband!  We have waited SO LONG for this day to be here -- and I am pleased to announce, that my husband HAS his BA degree in hand!  

Many of you know that he was scheduled to graduate the same year as me (May 2006) from Cedarville University, but dropped out after our breakup during the fall of our Senior year. I think you could say he "lost his educational way," didn’t have a desire to finish, and decided to join the Ohio Army National Guard.

After completing his basic and AIT training (and after a LOT of wooing me since we had such a horrible breakup) we married on May 26, 2007 -- about 18 months after our initial breakup. I was working at a small software company in Columbus, and Nate was, well, an un-employed guardsman. So, he moved in with me into my 300 sq foot apartment. Yes, you read that correctly: 300 sq feet for 2 people. It was TINY! We basically lived in a bedroom that had a (mini) stove and refrigerator. That is all a newly wed couple needs, right? :) My lease was up in August, so it really only "had" to be for about two months.

Nate wanted to finish his degree -- so the logical thing was to move back towards Cedarville and I would commute to Columbus until I could find a local position. However, my company awesomely allowed me to work-from-home four days a week -- I only had to drive to work on Mondays. When I landed a great paying (25% pay increase) job at Kodak, we opted for Nate to not work at all, and JUST go to school to finish. Oh, and we randomly bought our house -- which happened while looking at it to rent -- and realizing that owning it would be almost the same cost since we could rent 1/2 of it out.

However, there were a lot of personal issues that wouldn’t surface until MUCH later in our relationship, and unfortunately, Nate didn’t finish as planned. We agreed he would try again the following fall when the classes he needed were available, and in the meantime, he took a temporary job at Lowes and also working for a local contractor. It was the contracting job where he learned (while working on a multi-million dollar home) that he really enjoyed working with his hands.

Then came our accidental blessing, Grayson. I had JUST accepted a full time position with Kodak (I had contracted for a few months prior), and so our insurance hadn’t kicked in yet. We prayed -- fervently -- for what we should do. I had always wanted to stay home with our kids, but I also had thought we would wait 5-6 years after we wed before starting our family...we hadn’t even celebrated our one year reunion. With students loans upwards of $35,000, and a new 30 year mortgage on a $149,000 house (and with Nate not yet being able to finish his BA at CU) I knew staying at home was not going to be an option -- at least not for a while.

But God was good -- and he supplied Nate with an ADOS job with the Army National Guard -- it gave us all the perks of active duty (insurance, pay, vacation, etc) without actually requiring a move. It was only supposed to be temporary...but temporary turned into about four years of working for the state of Ohio. During those four years, there were countless attempts to finish his degree, but each time a roadblock was in front of us: Hurricane Katrina -- a mini deployment down south so he had to pull out of class; a clerical error via his advisor -- so more classes that needed to be completed; a Nathan D. Smith mixup -- in which a 3rd party school shamelessly gave him a failing grade from another student -- we still haven’t sorted that out -- finally gave up and moved on; military re-payment issues; the list goes on. It was awful...stressful...stretching. He was FINALLY enrolled in his last three classes, when he received word of a 12-18 month deployment to Afghanistan.

One. More. Hiccup.

I am ashamed to say that at this point, I semi gave up hope that it wouldn’t happen. There is a statute of limitations (of sort) on finishing a degree...and Nate was approaching his 10 year mark. If he didn’t "make a plan" with CU, there would be further consequences.

However, something flipped a switch -- and I won’t go into it -- but he was MO-TI-VATED! He promised he was still going to finish while overseas. Oh, my. I honestly thought it was a pipe dream, but boy, did he prove me wrong! Not only did he finish, but he gave himself pneumonia wearing himself out -- poor guy -- and finished with an A in two of the three classes. There was a lot of drama surrounding this -- which I won’t bore you with the details, but lets just say God had grace and mercy on him and he finished those last three classes!

That was in December, 2012 -- and he spent the next couple months both in Afghanistan, and also after returning home, trying to get everything transferred from Liberty University (where he took the final three courses) to Cedarville. Finally...finally...after a last minute zero credit class that he had to finish in February and also after getting his resume approved by career services, he is DONE! Wow! So proud. I think the fact that he proved me wrong and finished while in a war zone says something amazing about this guy. I still can’t believe it. Even while we were driving to Cedarville to pick up his diploma (another story about why they couldn’t mail it -- oh, the drama) I was pinching myself thinking it was a dream. But the dream is here -- the dream is reality. I am so incredibly proud and happy that he is FINALLY done!

I know our story isn’t yet finished -- the Lord obviously had a reason why he wanted Nate to cram four years of college into 10-1/2, so we are open to the challenge. We are excited about the next chapter in our lives -- which we hope will include a solid non-military job for Nate. Please pray with us as we embark on this journey.

Oh, and know a party is in the works -- and you ALL are invited!  

I John 5:`4

"This is with confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."