The Plus Side of Unemployment...

Jeff has been out of work since May.  It is a miracle that we are both still alive. :)

It's been nice having him around to help out with the kids I look after.  Depending on who I have, I may be able to have an appointment or pop out for a quick errand at nap time.  He'll get down on the floor and play trucks with the boys.  For some reason the boys are fascinated with the "big kid" in their midst.

The other plus is that Jeff has had time to do a home improvement project.  We have lived in this house for five years.  A three bedroom house with three kids may work for some families but not this one.  Since Lydia was born, she has shared a room with us, a room with her sister and then a room with her brother.  With Parker being 9 1/2 , it wouldn't be much longer that he would put up with his younger sister.  In August we put new basement windows in.  We discovered that our basement wasn't cold just from drafty windows but also from a lack of insulation.  A bedroom was built for Parker, walls were insulated, a heater put in and we are hoping to be able to use our basement much, much more this winter.  Here's the final result:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Silver Linings

 

This is week three of unemployment for Jeff.  Being "laid off" came as a pretty big surprise and his company didn't want to do it but they are short on projects for him to work on.  After we got over the initial shock, surprisingly we weren't all that worried about him finding a new job.   Despite the fact that we were supposed to get an awesome new health plan next month, we had made plans to get some major projects done and we really, really need a vacation.  We've been through soo many bumps in the past and everything has always worked out.  So what's the silver lining?  Jeff is making the most of his time off and taking care of things around the house that have been on the back burner for too long.  He's helping out with the kids I look after which means I can get out for a wolk with some and leave some home.  I can do things with the older ones that I ordinarily can't do. ( We went to a Superstore cooking class yesterday)  And he's able to put in some volunteer hours with the Family Resource Center and the school by giving them some tech support.  You would think things around here would be more more stressful but for now they are pretty relaxed.  We're dealing with unemployment with a sense of humor and the faith that all our needs will be provided for just like they always have.  There's always a new experience around the corner.

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at his Word and taking the next step. - Joni Erickson Tada -