Staying in Lansing

As most of you know, Kari and I had been planning to leave Michigan for a while. We wanted to get closer to family in Texas while I began my internship and wrote my dissertation. Nothing in Texas worked out, so we were looking for anything that paid. (There was no way we could afford for me to have no salary.) As a last resort, I had been talking to the head of the Behavioral Science Department at Ingham Regional Medical Center here in Lansing. I say it was a last resort because it was an unpaid internship, and I really needed something that paid.

After interviewing with a number of different places, it looked like we would be moving to Lexington, KY, and I would take a job with an outpatient mental health clinic in rural Kentucky. Early last week, they called and offered the job to me. It paid decently, and the benefits were great. It was, though, working in rural Kentucky, and required a commute of an hour or so. Also, we weren’t that thrilled with living in Lexington. It’s not that Lexington is a bad town, we just weren’t that impressed when we were there for the interview. The main downside, however, was that it would not give me any kind of unique work experience. I can’t say that it would have made me that much more marketable in the future that I would have stood out among other candidates. Also, it was a full-time, permanent position, meaning that I would feel a certain amount of obligation to work there for a few years before looking for something else.

Meanwhile, I had still been talking to the Department Head at IRMC about possible funding for the internship she had available. About the same time that I was offered the job in Kentucky, she told me that she had secured a small amount of money from the MSU College of Human Medicine. It wasn’t as much as she had originally thought she might be able to get, but it was a start, and there was still other funding avenues left to pursue. So Kari and I began to look at our budget. In addition to Kari’s recent raise and the money from the College, we began to look for ways to bring down our personal expenses. From there, it appeared that things began to fit into place in such a way that I must attribute it to divine intervention. Knowing that we had to move because of the need for a bedroom for Regan we looked for other houses to rent in the area. We found a house much larger than our current house for the exact same rent. At the same time, we found out that a friend from church who provides childcare out of her house had two openings. Her rates turned out to be much less than what we had spent when Aidan was in childcare for two years. The best part about this, though, was that her house is a mere two blocks from the house we had found. Also, the house is within walking distance from the Medical Center. We soon realized that we actually could make it in Lansing. We also realized that we didn’t want to leave the area for Kentucky anyway.

So, we’re staying here. We will move to the new house in about a week, and I begin my internship in a couple of days. This internship will give me the opportunity to fulfill the internship requirement for my degree, work on my dissertation, get clinical ours towards licensure, and supervise junior therapists as I work towards Approved Supervisor status. Because of the money coming from the College of Human Medicine, I’ll also be required to help them write research grants, which will be extremely valuable experience. The experience of working with and being embedded in the medical community will also give me the kind of unique experience that should set me apart from other candidates when I begin looking for a permanent position when the internship ends next year. Most importantly, we can stay in a community and a church that we’ve grown to love for another year, and Kari can stay in a job that she enjoys and pays very well.

This means, however, that we’ll be thousands of miles away from our family for at least another year. While we wished we would be living closer to them, we understand that this is where we should be for now. Plus, that gives all of you bums who have promised to visit another year to do so. (Kyle and Amanda, we’re looking in your direction…)

So after August 15, this will be our new contact information:

Jason, Kari, Aidan, and Regan Martin
1931 Harding Ave.
Lansing, MI 48910
(517) 974-3322 (Jason’s cell)
(517) 614-0860 (Kari’s cell)
jasonact@gmail.com
kari.martin@leonagroup.com

NOTE: We will no longer live in East Lansing; we’re moving to Lansing. Also, we decided not to have a home telephone, so you should use our cell phone numbers (preferably after 9 PM ET or on weekends to avoid using too many peak minutes).