It's never easy...

That's pretty much the story of my life; it's never come easy. Poor Eric, I'd hate to be in his shoes right now. Just a week and a half ago he was hired for DeAtley. They did warn us it could be up to month before he could start. They have to look at each plant (crushing site) and see where to put him according to his qualifications. We even heard rumor of which plant he might be going to: plant 5 in Kooskia. No problem right? We can still draw unemployment for the time being. We are living just fine.
ATK calls him today to start back up with them. We had heard that they were hiring back the employees that they laid off this past January. It was by seniority only and we knew that Eric was on the low end of the totem pole. The thought crossed my mind this morning that it would put us in a crappy position if they called him and wanted to hire him back. I spoke (or thought) too soon. I got the text around 11ish for me to call him asap. Low and behold they had called him and asked him to come in and sign some stuff. I guess we are going to follow the ropes until DeAtley comes through on a start date. It's not what Eric wants to do, but if it draws a better income to house hold. He did say that he plans on telling them about DeAtley, and see what they have to say. But right now with this economy, we have to do what's best for the family. ATK has already put us out once, whose to say they won't do it again. DeAtley hasn't laid off at all in these troubled times, in fact they have picked up what the other crushing companies have lost due to closure. This summer should be hella busy for them.
So the question that's ran through my mind all day is WHY, WHY, WHY....?? Why can't it just come easy? It should be simple. But what lessons would we learn from God if it all came easy? Sometimes the best lessons come out of the hardest times. I just now wait for the answers to this test to see if we passed or failed. Time will only tell.

Torn

That's kind of the emotion around the house lately. Happy but sad, good news but bad news, yes but no. It's even trickled down to the kids
To start off, Eric got the job offer we were waiting for. We were hoping for DeAtley Crushing to come through and they did yesterday. Good news right...? They hired him on the spot, BUT the guy isn't sure what plant to put him on, since they have a good handful of crushing plants all over the 3 states and he isn't sure when Eric is going start.
Then there's the simple fact that he has a job, so I couldn't be more happy, but with DeAtley, they are a traveling company. That means that Eric won't be home. Some weekends he will travel home, and some weekends I'll pack up the kids to see him. See the dilemma? The pay is better then we anticipated, but it's not going to replace Eric. We have discussed this job in great lengths. Though it turned my stomach like the Seattle job, it doesn't make me want to throw up. I've prayed on this position and I feel God has lead us in this direction. I know that it isn't going to be easy, but if this is the Lords will, I know that he'll guide me every step.
The poor kids, mainly the older two for right now, they aren't so happy that dad's got a job. It broke my heart yesterday when Tarren came up to me with her eyes welled up.
Tarren, "Dad got a job"
Me, " I know, babe, isn't that great" trying to be excited
She just looked at me and shook her head and stomped off to her room. Under her breath you could hear her say "that means he won't be home anymore". I know it's gonna break Caiti Mae's heart when he leaves, for the last 2 months she's been home with him and those two are inseparable. Eric's gonna end up missing out on the kid's baseball game come up here real soon. I was thinking of putting Tarren in a dance studio with her cousins, he'll miss all that as well. I guess that'll be the price we all pay.

Nesting

Today I cleaned like a mad woman. It reminded me when I was "nesting" right before each of the kids were born. Just a feeling in the air that I need to get into the nooks and crannies. Honestly I think I was trying to settle my nerves. Those of you who knew about the Seattle position, we respectfully declined it today. It just didn't seem or feel right. We were trying to make it work, and every direction it just didn't add up. Though it was good money and they offered to certify Eric, it wasn't good for Seattle standard. We couldn't live on it. In these few short weeks that have past, Seattle was a hard issue for me to swallow, literally. When ever Eric brought it up, I threw up. I ended up not eating, just to avoid the urge, and that only caused dry heaving.. good times. But in the whole windows and doors scheme of things, a few more windows have opened for us. We are hoping to hear back from some places this coming week. One of which has got my nerves all riled up. Praying about which path to take, that's the one that make the most sense, and feels like the good Lord is pushing us towards. It'll only be another test of our marriage, but God willing we will make it thru this as well. The Lord has not once let go of my hand in this journey, and it has only built my faith stronger knowing that He has only the best for us, but not until it's His time and not one minute sooner. That's been the hard part for Eric. Having the patience. He being a man of little faith, I try to have enough for the both of us. I only pray that the Lord gives me the strength to get threw these next couple of days or maybe even weeks. We shall see. God Bless.

Introducing.....Silvia

Well here we go... taking a jump into the deep end of financial debt. Eric and I bought the newest car we've ever owned. A 2005 Ford Freestyle. We haven't had a car payment in 4 years and haven't financed a vehicle in almost 10 years. We were holding off trying to get our last 2 bills gone, but we got in an accident two days before Christmas with the good ol' Black Bronco, aka the Black Bitch. There was no damage sustained to our car, but the metal tin box did a number to the Kia mini van. The road conditions were bad, and the brakes didn't work to the capacity that they were suppose to. Eric was tired of not feeling "safe" on the road with her anymore, so we decided to call Dave Smith Motors in Kellogg and they hooked us up. We got a late start on Monday and headed up there at 1:30 in the afternoon. The winds were horrid, and the roads were good up until Worley. From there to Cd'A the roads weren't plowed. Of course I having anxiety attacks because we had to throw the beast into 4 wheel drive and how were we going to get back home with only a two wheel/front wheel drive CAR. When we finally got there, 3 1/2 hours later, everything went smoothly. They ended up giving us $1000 for our 1988 Bronco, can you believe it? Yea, we were surprised too. By 7 o'clock we were making our maiden voyage home. Luckily the plows had come out in the mean time and we had clear roads coming home. We arrived around 11pm. The kids can't seem to get enough of the car. It has a third row option, which will most likely be up at all times just to avoid any fighting for space. It has all the things that most people take advantage of: air conditioning, a cd player, power windows (that work), a heater (that works), power seats, tilt wheel steering, a blinker wand that doesn't' stick when you manipulate a turn. Needless to say we have gone with out for a while and we got an awesome car that now spoils us.