Mike received a call last night that he will be laid off at the end of December. Ummm...didn't really see that one coming. He was in Presidents Club and in the top 3%in the nation for his company. But with the economy (blah, blah, blah) they are completely eliminating his region of employees.
To escape reality Mike and I have done something we've never before done as a married couple...work on a puzzle. A big 1000 piece puzzle that is challenging enough to take our minds off the issues at hand and let us just absorb the shock of the news. I am suprised at how gratifying and calming this puzzle thing is. Very therapudic, in fact.
Anyhow, we're less than two weeks out from Christmas. I am pretty bummed that this level of stress has now come into to our festive, joyous time of year. Yes, we are maintaining a good outlook and we are confident that in the end everything will work out, but in the midst of a mini crisis like a one income family losing its' income...its scary.
So while talking it through last night on the couch Mike and I looked at each other and said, "so I guess we should return the gifts we got for each other this year." The boys gifts will stay put under the tree, but I will be returning Mike's new watch (we went ahead and showed each other what we were going to give) and he will be returning the *sob, sob, whimper, whimper*, winter boots I have been wanting for 3 years now and he finally bought me.
~A little pity party is ok, right?~
We have certainly been through tough financial times before. The year Canaan was born we made only $13,000 as missionaries. After Ezra was born we had just returned from missions work and had so little money we couldn't afford to pay the gas bill to heat our water. But we are both resiliant, very ingenuitive, have great work ethic and high spirits. Most of all we have a deep faith in God and know that He has great plans for our lives. Its just kinda hard for us to see the forest for the trees in times like these.
This verse has been in my mind all day:
Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
I love the version from the Message Bible:
"Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds."
So for now, its back to the puzzle.