It's been a little over 5 weeks now since Mike lost his job, 37 days in all to contemplate how to change our course towards whatever lies ahead of us. I've always likened times such as these to being laid upon God's mighty anvil as He reshapes us, sometimes rather painfully, and sends us forth on a new path. We have survived this unplanned ordeal but the truth would surely be this.
It's not the funnest thing a guy would ever want to do.
Being down to one paycheck has taught us many things and perhaps the most important to us at this time is the lesson of being thankful for what we already have and surely most thankful for the many things that we do not. I remember the weekend after Mike found out that he had just worked his final day, we took stock of what groceries we had on hand. Mike and I emptied out all of the cupboards in the pantry and kitchen, lining up an assortment of food as each of us mentally made notes of what we might need to pick up at the store in order to get by until the next payday came for us. It was not surprising to see that Mike and I had more than a plenty of food and it was obvious that we would not ever need to worry about starving. We did it in a very calm and logical manner. It was not like we were panicking about anything, rather we just wanted to plan accordingly. We have learned to make smarter decisions about whether or not to eat out, something that we did way too much of anyways. Both of us can eat much healthier simply by eating at home, saving money along the way.
This unexpected journey has also taught us the value of staying busy and keeping ourselves occupied with plenty of things to accomplish around the house. Between the times that Mike has been out looking for work or applying online for jobs, he's been diligently working in the back yard and finally getting some things accomplished that he'd been wanting to do for a long time. Luckily he had many of the materials needed to do things already on hand. For those materials that we didn't have, both of us made a conscious effort to think of any other way to accomplish the task without having to spend much money. Many times we just repurposed various items that have been stored in both sheds since we moved into our home in January of 2016. If we had to buy something we tried to get it at the best price possible. So far, so good. Mike could have chosen to sit around the house moping and worrying about everything. Instead he chose a healthier way of coping with the unknown and little by little, the backyard is coming together at last.
Perhaps the lesson that we needed to learn the most though is the one that teaches us to never give up. It hasn't been easy in fact some days are downright hard but the times on God's anvil never are easy. Hopefully the finished result, well at least finished until the next time on the anvil comes around, will be a better version of what life was meant to be for us. The universe must still be aligning itself as far as Mike's next job is concerned. Somewhere out there one person is moving on from a position that will some day go to Mike. In the meantime, there is only one thing we can do.
Patiently wait.
Mike is making a stone patio for the backyard and accomplishing a project he's been wanting to do for some time now. It's a lot of work but he didn't give up, even when it might have been easy to quit on it. It will look really nice when he finishes.
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