Thankful

In April, my husband’s company announced they were closing his location. He worked for a trucking company that had been struggling for a year or so and the cost of diesel and the tightening credit market forced them to attempt to cut overhead in hopes of saving the company. Six weeks later, the corporation closed every location and filed for Chapter 11. Steve left 2 weeks after the April announcement. I was nervous about it, but he assured me he was doing the right thing. As it turns out, he was. If he had stayed, he would have been left with no severance & no benefits. That was the first of many instances of seeing God’s hand guiding this entire situation.

Steve was contacted by 5 different companies within 2 days of the announcement his terminal was shutting down. He interviewed with everyone and though he was more than qualified for all the jobs, he never got an offer. (His previous salary and his level of experience worked against him more than once.) So, the day after getting the “Thanks, but no thanks” call from yet another company, I looked at Steve over lunch at Chick-fil-a and asked what he wanted to do now. His reply startled me – he wanted to call a tool truck driver he knew from his last job and see if there were any tool routes available. I was nervous – we’d never owned a business although Steve had wanted to for years. I wasn’t sure if we’d even qualify for the necessary financing, given our current situation. But, I told him to go ahead and make the call. I mean, really – what are the odds that there’s even a route available, right?? You guessed it – there was a route in our town coming available in about 6 weeks. We began the process of getting approved for a franchise and our prayer was, “God, we’re going to move forward on this because we feel this is where You’re leading us. If it’s not what we’re supposed to do, please just close the door.”

The door never closed and last Monday, Steve began his new career driving a tool truck. He has a route for every day of the week and a huge truck full of tools. I’ve been nervous about money all along. But one thing that I learned through this whole ordeal is that I’d been putting my faith in Steve’s paycheck – not in God. I was okay with everything in my life as long as that check hit our account every Friday. This whole thing has forced me to wake up and realize/remember that everything I have in my life comes from God. That He is the one to rely on and as long as I do that, He will take care of me.

And that lesson was brought home today – today we have to make several payments for the business – loan payments, truck lease, etc. When I stopped at the bank to make a deposit, I asked for the balance in the business account. When I looked at it, I was a little nervous. We were short what we needed to make those payments. (We have a credit line we can draw on, but the interest rate isn’t great so we’re trying to avoid that. I really HATE debt.) As I drove to run errands for work, I thought/prayed, “If I could just get about $1000.00 we’d be okay. We could pay everything and have small cushion for next week.” Less than one minute later, I got a text from Steve telling me the exact amount we needed – it was $1000.00 less than he had originally told me! All I could do was look up and say “Wow – you are so cool God! I love how You just did that!”

I’m so glad we listened when He told us to take this leap of faith. I’m sure there will be bumps in the road, but I rest in the certainty that God has my back.

Jammie Girls

I have the most amazing group of friends – we call ourselves the Jammie Girls.  More on the name later…Leigh, Dawn & Julie are my best friends.  We are all very different women but we love each other like sisters.  We met at church and through the years have seen each other through divorce, childbirth, job losses, moving…just about everything you can think of.  

About a year or so ago, I told Leigh that I really needed an accountability group.  I wasn’t doing the things I needed to do in my spiritual walk and I wanted someone to talk to about things in my life.  Working for the church, I can’t talk to just anyone.  My life isn’t terribly complicated, but there are times when I argue with my husband or I’m wrestling with a tough decision and I need advice. These are the women I always turn to. They are trustworthy – they keep my secrets and I keep theirs.

The other girls were all for it – they needed it, too.  When we got together over coffee (for them, a smoothie for me – I hate coffee) to decide when, where and how often to get together, we realized that with work schedules, husbands and kids, 9pm on Thursday nights would be the only time we could all get together.  And at that first meeting, Leigh showed up in her jammies…need I say more???  

I am so thankful for all of them – for the truth they speak into my life, for the prayerful support they give me, for the times they pick up my kids & the times we just laugh together.  I wouldn’t want to do life without them.

Hello world!

So, this is my blog. I think my first post should be about…ME!  J  Seriously, here’s who I am and what I do…

Above all else – I am a Christian who strives to live every day in a way that honors Jesus.  I am amazed at Christ’s love for me – that he was tortured and murdered so that I could spend eternity in heaven with Him.  Sometimes I forget and take His sacrifice for granted.  But He is forver faithful and is always there when I ask. 

I’ve been married for over 17 years to the man God made especially for me.  I truly believe that – because it’s only through God’s grace that we’ve stayed together.  Steve is a great man – he loves me and our children above all else and is my perfect partner.  Any less of a man would have washed his hands of me a long time ago.  Steve and I met as children, we don’t remember when.  I can honestly say I don’t remember a time that I didn’t know him.  We began dating in high school and got married 5 years later, at the ripe old age of 21.   My husband, Steve, just started his own business – that deal a whole post in itself, maybe 2.  He is incredibly talented…he sings, plays drums and other percussion instruments, he shoots and edits video, runs sound and many, many more things that make him the wonderful man he is.  You’ll be hearing a lot about him…

We have 2 great kids:  Stephen is 13 and in 8^th grade.  He loves video games, especially on the Wii and is learning to play guitar.  He has played soccer since he was in Kindergarten and that is definitely “his” sport.  Emma is 8 years old and is in 3^rd grade.  She is so much like me that it’s scary.  She also plays soccer and is learning the play piano. 

I have a great job as the Church Administrator at Rocky River Community Church (www.rockyriverchurch.com)  What does a Church Administrator do?  Well, pretty much whatever needs to be done.  In any given week, I put together the bulletin and inserts for Sunday, I send out an email newsletter, This Week @ Rocky River, I email first and second time guests from the previous Sunday, get all the bills to our treasurer to pay (very important!!), work with our pastoral staff on whatever they need, answer the phone, run errands…you get the idea.  I’m the only female on staff with 3 guys – so my nickname is Frat Mom – but that’s okay.  They are great guys who are very good to me. 

I’m the youngest child in my family.  I have sister, Beth and brother, Paul.  They both still live in our hometown in WV, as do my Mom and my in-laws.   I have a ton of nieces and nephews, too.  My parents were married for 36 years when my Dad died in 1996.  He was a tremendous man and I miss him every single day. 

So, that’s a little of who I am…really that just scratches the surface.  There’s much, much more to who I am.  And I’ll be posting about me, my life, my faith journey & other stuff.  Enjoy…