Random Stuff

Well, there are several things I wanted to blog about, but didn't really want to do a bunch of different posts, so this post is going to consist of a few different topics.

First of all, thanks to all of you for your prayers for my family and friends (Carol, who lost her husband Bob, my Aunt Kathy, who became critically ill while on vacation, and my sister's friend Kathrina (who lost her husband Kenny, and is now a widow and mother of a small baby), as well as Daniel (the boy who was born a micro-preemie and had surgery to help relieve seizures), and Nate, Tricia, and Gwyneth (the family with the CF wife and micro-preemie baby). And of course, thanks for all of your prayers regarding Ande and his job situation!!

Carol is doing as well as can be expected. My husband has stopped to visit her a few times, but she's not ready for our whole "gang" to come over yet. With time, I think that will pass. Continue to pray for healing for her broken heart.

Kathy is still in the hospital under sedation. The last I heard, she has not gotten any better, but she's not gotten worse, either. My Uncle Steve could use prayer, too. My Aunt Kathy is his whole world. Continue to pray for her healing, as well as a conversion of her faith (she is Wiccan).

Kathrina and her baby are staying with her parents. The church she currently attends, as well as the church she and Kenny used to attend (where my sister met her), has pledged to help Kathrina financially through this situation. My sister said her church had a great memorial service for Kenny, and that Kathrina was really blessed by it. Continue to pray for her in dealing with her loss.

Daniel is unfortunately still struggling with seizures, and his family could use prayers in seeking medical treatment that can help him.

Nate, Tricia, and baby Gwyneth are still doing remarkably well. Tricia was placed on the waiting list to receive a set of new lungs. Nate continues to deal with having his wife and child in the hospital with grace and humor. Please pray for Tricia, as well as her donor's family, for Gwyneth (for continued growth - she's really doing great!), and for Nate, that he is able to find time to rest and renew himself through all of this.

Ande is struggling with his new job a little (it's mostly outside work, and it's COLD here in Michigan!). He really likes the people he works for/with, and is looking forward to the warmer weather. Pray for his attitude to remain positive (and for warmer weather!).

Next, my mother in law forwarded an email to me, and I would like to share yet another prayer request. This is for my sister in law's sister, Julie (great name, BTW!). Julie is a very sweet girl, who unfortunately has made a few pretty bad choices in life. A few years ago, she married a guy against the advice of her entire family. This guy is very controlling, and abusive towards her (both physically and mentally). Right now, I believe Julie is with her parents after a very ugly incident with her husband. Please pray for Julie, as well as Chris and Wes (her mom & dad), for protection and healing. Her husband, from what I've heard, is a real piece of work. Please pray that he would get out of Julie's life without there having to be any police intervention.

Now, onto a totally unrelated topic...

My oldest daughter, Bug, took dance lessons from the ages of 5-10. Last year she decided to stop dancing because she was unable to participate in other activities that she wanted to do because of timing conflicts. There are a few other reasons, as well, but I just don't feel like going into all of that right now. These are two of my favorite pictures of her...

Anyway, last week, we were at a local restaurant and we saw her dance teacher. I asked Bug if she had gone over to say "HI" to her, and she said she hadn't. I encouraged her to go after we were finished eating. Now, Bug went to the same dance school, and was in the same class of girls, for 4 years. It's been about 8 months since she's gone there. Her teacher had no idea who she was. Not only that, but she TOLD Bug that she didn't recognize her. I had no idea that happened - Bug told me that she told her "hi", but that was it. Then a few days later, Bug was talking about how she was glad that she didn't go to dance anymore, and when I asked her why, she told me that story, as well as one from when she missed a week, and the teacher never even knew she was gone. Mind you, there were only 12 girls in that class.

You know, that really makes me mad. Thousands of dollars were spent (not by me, thank goodness) to send Bug to this dance school. She wasn't a star or anything, but she tried hard, and she did whatever they asked her to do. It absolutely breaks my heart that this girl's memories from dance include the fact that her teacher doesn't even remember her.

Maybe it's because I have spent much of my life being "invisible". Most of the people I went to school with have no idea who I am. I ran into someone a couple of years ago that I had been "friends" with, and she had no recollection of me. It makes me a little sad, to think that no one remembers my name. I mean, I can see not recognizing me because I do look different than when I was in school. But when my name comes up and they still don't know me? Oh well. Maybe I'm just too sensitive.

The whole point I am going to eventually get to is that when a child approaches you, and calls you by name, the least one could do as an adult is JUST FAKE LIKE YOU KNOW THEM! It wouldn't have taken but a moment for her teacher to say, "Hi Honey, how are you?" Then Bug would have felt good, and the teacher wouldn't have been stuck trying to match a name with a face.

Now that I'm thinking about dance....it brings me to another thing - the other dance parents. Never in my life have I seen such a "clique-y" group of people. Two summers ago, Bug's dance team was invited to Myrtle Beach for a National competition. Pretty big deal, right? So for months prior to the competition, I worked different fundraisers to ensure that Bug could go. We couldn't afford to stay in the same hotel with the other girls, but our hotel was only about a 3 minute walk from theirs. I gave the other moms my cell phone number so that Bug could be included if all the other girls were getting together for something. I even called a few of the other moms while we were there to try to arrange something. NOT ONE PARENT CALLED ME BACK. Not because the other girls didn't do stuff together, they just didn't call. Now, frankly, I was annoyed by it, but whatever. Bug, on the other hand, got a serious first taste of being left out. I think that was the beginning of the end of Bug's enjoyment of dance. (We did have a good time, anyway, spending some mommy-daughter time together) Here's a great picture of Bug next to a statue of the world's tallest man (Robert Wadlow).

Again, maybe I'm just too sensitive. But it really ticks me off when someone does something that hurts my kids.

Wow, I didn't expect to write all that!! Sorry for being so long-winded in this post!

One last thing - Ande just called and asked how I felt about him giving his "two-weeks notice" at the homeless shelter he works at on the weekend. I'm thrilled, because I miss having him here on the weekend (it's been almost a year), and we'll be able to go to church together again. I don't think we'll feel a huge difference financially, either, because even if he only works 8 hours of overtime in a week (just over an hour a day for 5 days), he'll make up for the lost income from the shelter. Doing this will also give him more time to work on his amps for the New York Amp Show in May. He wants to get 5 or so amps built to take with him. Pretty hard to do when you work 60+ hours a week!

He's still debating it a little, but I am pretty sure he'll give his notice today.

God's timing is never off...

Well, so I think most people who read my blog know that Ande was laid off from his full time job back in August. That was such a huge hit to us - not only to Ande's self-esteem, but of course to our budget and pretty much our way of life. Fortunately he has been able to receive unemployment for the last 6 months, and has been able to pick up extra hours occasionally at the homeless shelter where he works on Saturdays and Sundays. Of course, our budget was still very stretched, and it was only because of Ande's parents that we have been able to keep our house payments paid on time and be able to pay our other bills, too. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

Over the last 6 months, we have not ceased to be amazed by the kindness and generosity of our friends, family, neighbors, as well as virtual strangers. Any time we've had a need arise, it has been provided for, sometimes without that need having ever been spoken aloud. I have written a few posts about such times, but almost feel like I'm bragging because the amount of times that we have been blessed by others is SO many, and the things we have been blessed with, be it money, time, physical work, or items we were in need of, has been so much. And yet here I sit, just bursting with excitement over yet another occasion where God is supplying our needs.

Part of Ande's old job (the one he was laid off from) was to go to places of business that used his company's service to do maintenance and repair work, plus training and in some cases sales. He had a customer that was local to where we live, and since Ande was the only technician who lived in this part of our state, he was the natural choice when it came to "who to send" to this particular customer. This customer, whom I'll call FAA for short, contacted Ande's former employer about something a few weeks ago, and asked for Ande. They were told he didn't work there anymore. Several of the employees from FAA know Ande's uncle though business dealings with him. So one of the employees contacted Ande's uncle to see what the story was. She then asked Ande's uncle to have Ande contact FAA for a possible job opening. Ande went and interviewed last Friday, and got the call today that they would like him to come in tomorrow to fill out some paperwork and then they want him to actually start work on Thursday!

Did I mention that Ande only has 2 weeks of unemployment left?

Yeah, so God's timing is still perfect, and HOW COOL IS IT THAT THIS JOB "FOUND" HIM - HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO LOOK! Sure, this job won't pay a lot, and it's not going to be a glamorous job - but it's work and it's close to home! Before, Ande was usually driving AT LEAST an hour or more ONE WAY to work EVERY DAY!

The other cool thing is that we received our income tax refund, and I was able to pay several of our bills (house, phone, sewer, electric/gas) ahead a little so that we can relax a little about our finances (and give my in-laws a bit of a break!). Plus, now that I know Ande will have income, I can hopefully continue to pay our bills ahead and have a little "cushion" in case of emergency.

More good news is that Ande has been invited to the New York Amp Show in May. This will be a great opportunity to get Kirby Custom Amplification amps into the public's hands. The NAMM show was pretty cool, but Ande said he really felt like a little fish in a big pond. And since the general public could not attend the show, he didn't really think his amp made the kind of impact it could make at a smaller scale show that IS open to the public. He's still glad he went, and I am, too. Otherwise he may not have received the personal invitation to the amp show. The host of the show actually CALLED OUR HOUSE to invite him!

So...if things are going well at home financially in May, we might get to take a weekend trip to this amp show as a family...but we'll wait and see about that. Right now I'm just looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us next....

Speaking of what God has in store....if you haven't been in a while, check out Nate and Tricia's story. I am still amazed at what God is doing in this family!