Euphoria, Sadness, Gratitude, and Madness...

This past week has been a crazy one, and it has definitely had me on an emotional roller coaster! Here's a rundown of what's been happening...

Last Tuesday brought major euphoria into our home when Greg turned in his last assignment EVER for school! Seriously, I cannot believe this day is here. As I explained a few months ago, Greg has always hated school and I never in a million years thought I would be able to convince him to finish. So it was a pretty great day... until...

I got a call from Greg informing me that our good friend (who had helped Greg get his job at Qwest) had lost his job that day. I wish I could put into words how horrible I felt (and still feel) for our friend and his family. It just upsets me beyond words that so many people who are in no way responsible for this economic meltdown are the ones getting hammered for it. It just seems so unfair and wrong. This past week, my thoughts and prayers have centered around our friends because my heart just breaks for them everytime I think about it. We also just saw Greg's good friend (the Elder's Quorum President) lose his job as well. They ended up moving a couple weeks ago and are hoping their home doesn't get foreclosed on here. All of this put together has just had me in a very somber mood lately. I really thought Greg and I would be so thrilled when he was done with school (and we were, for a few hours I guess!), but ever since all of this has happened, it has had us wondering if Greg is next? This friend of ours was selling a whole lot more for Qwest than Greg ever has, so it just doesn't make sense why he would lose his job and not Greg. But as we've had these thoughts, we've also had the opportunity to realize just how thankful we are for what we have and we've noticed the Lord's hand in everything...

This year has been a hard one for us, and I know we both complain about it on almost a daily basis. But seeing dear friends lose jobs and struggle during these hard times has really made us take a hard look at our lives, and realize that we need to stop complaining so much and just be grateful for what we have! Even though we definitely have regrets about Greg leaving T-Mobile and trying out a new career path, we are still so grateful that Greg even HAS a job right now. We are so grateful that we still have a home and a healthy family. And above all, we are so thankful to have the Lord in our lives. I have no clue how people can be atheists and not commit suicide. Having that constant hope and help in my life is just about the only thing that has gotten me through these hard times. Looking back, it is amazing for me to think about this past summer and see just how much the Lord has helped us through. We had been pulling money from savings every month since January just to get by (since A World of Tile had lied to Greg about his pay), and by July, our money was almost gone. I just remember this pit in the bottom of my stomach wondering what in the world we were going to do. I considered going to work somewhere, but when I prayed about that, I got a strong feeling that that was not what I was supposed to do. But then I thought, "Well, how in the world are we going to continue to pay our bills?" I wasn't given any answers to that, but I just felt like things would work themselves out. And sure enough, we have had numerous opportunities come up within the past few months that have helped us make enough money to get by without me having to go back to work. In fact, to this day, we actually have more money in savings then we did back in the summer. I am just really thankful to the Lord for everything he's given us. It has been one heck of a year, but I would never change it because I think it was the only way the Lord knew he could humble us and make us realize that his hand is in everything. I just hope we never forget the lessons we've learned this past year, because they've been invaluable.

The rest of last week, of course, was filled with fear and uncertainty about Greg's job. Everytime my phone rang and I saw that it was Greg, I would just get this knot in my stomach. Fortunately though, we made it through the rest of the week without a job loss (and as of 1:00 today, Greg confirmed to me again that he is still employed! Phew! :) ) We decided we needed to do something fun to get our minds off of everything, so on Saturday, we decided to throw a very spur-of-the-moment neighborhood birthday party for the boys. Though it was definitely filled with moment of chaos and madness, it went much better than I had planned and I think the kids all had a great time. Ty and Gavin got spoiled with presents, Mom got her fill of social time with the other moms, and Dad got some quiet time in the bedroom! :) So I think everybody was pretty happy in the end.

Well, I'm sorry that was such a long post. I could have written so much more because it has just been a really crazy week and I have so much on my mind, but I will spare you all the boredom! :) So stay tuned for the upcoming birthdays of Gavin and Ty, as well as a completely humilating (at least that's what I'm hoping for!) graduation party for Greg! :) -Ash