Blessings

Back in February, Jay was laid off from work.  He had worked for this company for 11 years...it's the job that drew us to this wonderful town we've come to love so much. He was cut loose and escorted out of the building with about 25 other people.  No severance package. No thank you. Nada.    Suddenly, we were faced with countless unknowns.  Would we stay?  Would we go?  Would we lose everything? Each month that passed, (and there were NINE of them), found us wondering and worrying.
 
I'm not going to lie...it was hell.  Seriously.  We fought, we cried, we were angry, confused and depressed. And we were scared.  There is no way to sugar coat unemployment and the toil it takes on a family and a marriage.  It's a humbling and degrading experience. The money stops coming in, but the bills and financial commitments do NOT. He and the kids lost their health insurance, and even though I could not afford to put them on mine, we didn't qualify for ANY other state help in that aspect.  He applied for countless jobs and was rejected time and time again.    We went through all of his state unemployment and then started on his federal unemployment.  I have learned more about the "system" than I EVER cared to know, and quite frankly, I am very disappointed in it.   But despite all of this, we prayed.  All. The. Time.  Our friends prayed.  Our family prayed.  Our pastor and staff prayed in their morning meetings.  And God was listening and waiting to blow my mind.

In the 9 months where we only had my little salary and his unemployment, we didn't miss a single bill. It doesn't really feel like we went without a thing.  Friends stepped up in ways I never imagined I would need them too.  Some gave us money. Some gave us food. One paid for 6 months worth of Weight Watchers for me to keep going. Jacob's Boy Scout Troop gave him a scholarship so he could go to Tre Ritos and the other adult leaders paid for Jay to go, too. They have also awarded Jacob another scholarship to attend Philmont in June!  My parents paid for Jacob to attend both out of state band trips, and they sent money for Michaela's cosmetology tuition. Michaela also received a scholarship for that program. My girlfriends  paid for a scrapbook trip we all had planned LAST November.  One friend gave Michaela money just to go shopping with.  Jay's parents sent money "just in case we needed it". Both sets of our parents paid for M's prom dress and shoes. Friends treated me to several lunches/dinners just so I would feel "normal".  My hairdresser refused my tips.  And just this morning, she told me that someone I know, who wanted to remain anonymous, paid for my next hair appointment! I've lost count of all the hugs and encouraging words and emails from everyone we are in contact with. But I will NEVER forget them.  And finally, God blessed Jay with a new job in a Christian environment that has SO much more to offer him than his old job did. We are excited to see what the future with this company holds for him. I truly believe it will be amazing!

 With each thing that happened, my kids learned that God REALLY does provide, one way or another. Their faith has grown like never before, and mine has had a healthy boost! If those are the reasons we went through this, then every single second was worth it.  So don't you EVER think for one SECOND  that God isn't taking care of you.  Because He is. And He want's to blow YOUR mind, too.

There will never be enough words to thank everyone for everything they have done for us.  But just know this: we love you all more than you could possibly imagine and we are praying for you, too!
Love
Mel

My little pond

I built a little pond in my back yard this summer. I spruced it up and added more rock and fresh flowers  this past weekend, now that the weather is cooling down.  It's been so freakishly HOT this summer that it was neglected for a couple of months.  I got the idea from a project in Bible School at my church.  My friend and I created an indoor pond using a small blue plastic swimming pool we bought at Wally World for about $5.  They we added fake flowers, as well as some real ones, and filled it with water.  My dad gave me a small pump and we used that to create a waterfall.  The effect was so charming, I decided to re-create it in my backyard at home, using real flowers in place of the fake ones.  I love sitting out in my swing and listening to the waterfall while I drink my coffee.  I used potted plants around the back of the pool and I can change these out seasonally, or when the OK hot summer kills them.  All in all, I like the way it turned out.  What a nice way to spend a quiet weekend morning with my coffee!

The Woman in Black

I took Darling Daughter and her Boyfriend to see The Woman in Black last night, because the 3 of us love, love, LOVE scary movies.  We weren't disappointed.  In fact, we did a lot of jumping in our seats, cringing, eye covering and clinging to each other. ( well, DD and BF were clinging)  It stars Daniel Radcliff, (yes, Harry Potter) who travels to a town for his law firm to close up the estate of a deceased client.  The house is, of course, empty and the town mysteriously doesn't want him to stay. Leaving isn't an option for him, so he heads out to the house.  He isn't there long when he starts hearing noises and seeing "things".  Children in the village  have a habit of dying horrifying deaths if anyone sees The Woman in Black, because she then appears to the children and forces them to their death. Daniels character tries to solve the mystery of the Woman in hopes to spare the remaining children of the village and to save his own 4 year old son, who is on his way with the nanny to meet him.  This is a good, old fashioned haunted house  movie,full of creaky doors and dark corners with things that jump out and make you scream. (And there are creepy dolls, always guaranteed to be spooky.)  It scared the pants off of the three of us and broke my heart in the process.  <-----And that's all I'm going to say about THAT.
 I give it a 10 on the Melscale.  Rated PG-13

Designer Tabletop

Several years ago, my mother gave me a lovely brown table with a small, side drawer.  The drawer was packed with pictures of her and her parents from when she was a little girl.  I'm a scrapbooker and the pictures hiding in the drawer were eating away at me!  So I decided to do a little something different with them, instead of sticking them in a scrapbook.  I took them out of the drawer, trimmed some of them, and modge-podged them to that table top.  There are 3 layers of the modge podge on right now, and when it's good and dry, I will seal it with a clear coat of some kind. It turned out better than I had expected and now I'm left with a gorgeous, personalized table that is still functional.  I wasn't worried about tagging the pictures because I stuck with pictures of my mother and grandparents.  There are a couple of very old pictures included, but I don't know who those people are.  You could scan the pictures before you apply them to the table, but that's not the way I decided to go.  I did leave some of the borders on the pictures where my grandmother had written the date they were taken.  I love that I have that personal touch of hers!