Employment Update

Nathan is still looking for a job.  We have several, actually, but none of them come with a salary. :) We want the kind that does.  And benefits too.  Things are looking hopeful, there has been more interest in him lately, and some big construction projects have been awarded in our area, so we'll see.  I hope it comes soon, as we are weary of the situation and battle the depression demons and insecurity more than anything.  In all of this, we still have been greatly blessed.  This round of unemployment has taught us a lot about being on the receiving end of charity.  We have found so many loving people around us and we have been humbled at their goodness. We are thankful for prayers in our behalf, money left at our home and food from friends.  We are grateful for the things that we need appearing at yard sales or in bags of hand me down clothes.  I am glad for visits at just the right times or phone calls to listen and support us.  We feel eternally blessed by our families and friends.

Nathan is plowing through his master's program too.  That has been a stretch to go back to school, and I think he is brave.  He is also very excited about all of the things he is learning.  We hope it will be an investment in the future.

I am pooped.  I feel most days like the coyote on the roadrunner show as he falls off cliffs trailing little puffs of smoke or gets flattened by stray steam rollers.  The stress has affected my sleep, my waistline, my house, my interactions with the children and my marriage.  I wish it all over with.  But I know that all change, even good change, comes with stress.  There are debts to pay this time and the process of digging out of this mess will be long, no matter what.  We are changed by it all. I hope we will do good things with the change in perspective--that it makes us more loving and charitable too. There are direct debts of gratitude that I'm not sure we will ever be able to pay, but maybe sometime we can help someone else.