Back to Square Two

First of all, yesterday's post title was a pun, in case you missed it.

We thought Phillip had pretty much decided on a place to live in Tampa before three things happened in the last couple of days:

1. He learned on Friday that he did score high enough on the exam to be a Level A mechanic with Hartline; however, because he does not have any hands-on experience, management decided to bring him in at Level B. Level B is good, but A would have meant another $6,000/year.
2. I set about trying to help Phillip make a budget and be sure what he could afford in rent. I went online to the IRS tax tables to compute what Phillip's withholding taxes would be. Uncle Sam will be taking a whopping 28% of Phillip's paycheck. (He needs to get married. For lots of reasons.) I also found a State Farm agent in Tampa so that we could get an idea of what his car and renter's insurance would cost. The agent told me that different zip codes are rated differently based on loss ratio. I didn't get a final answer on the cost of insurance, but it raised a question in my mind about the safety of the areas where we had looked at apartments.
3. I had the bright idea (I wish this light bulb had sparked while we were still in Tampa) to look up some old friends who moved to Tampa a number of years ago. One of the marvelous things about belonging to the body of Christ is that the friendships are forever, even if relocation means you no longer live in close proximity. I picked up the phone, and talked to this couple as if they'd just moved last week. Their children are frozen in my mind's eye at about 5, 3, and newborn; they are now 16, 14, and 11. Yikes! Trey travels around Tampa for his job, and he was able to give us valuable insight into the preferred and not-so-preferred areas of town. Sure enough, the area where we'd looked was not so good. It looked fine during the day, but after dark is often another story altogether.

So, we're back to square two. Square One is having a job at all, so at least that part hasn't changed! We should have known that, like Atlanta, if a property is on the bus line, it's probably not going to be a place where you want to live (generally speaking). So, Phillip has somewhat reluctantly agreed that in order to live in a decent apartment in a relatively safe part of town, he's going to have to drive to work.

Phillip has to be back in Tampa on December 22nd for a physical and drug test. At that time, he'll visit a few places in the new area we've chosen, make a decision, and turn in an application. (Pray for discernment!) Then, it needs to be approved quickly (that week) so that he has a Florida address when he returns to Tampa permanently on December 29th. That's when he'll have to get a Florida driver's license and take the written part of the CDL test. As of this moment (things keep changing!) James and I will drive down the Uhaul on December 31st.

I told my Tampa friend this afternoon that my spiritual side is saying, "God has provided the job, and He will provide the right housing and everything else." My mom side is saying, "Aaaauuugghh!!"