The Good and The Bad

As with all seasons of life, there are good times and bad times, happy moments and sad moments.
Since I haven't given many updates lately, I thought I would lay it out this way: the good and the bad.


The Good:

- Health has returned to our family--Hooray!
- We are back to BSF and Wednesday night church this week.
- We have fresh snow on the ground for the kids to play in.
- January is already 1/2 over (my least favorite month).
- Brady is playing basketball. He has practice on Thursdays and games on Saturdays, if you ever       wanted to come down and watch.
- Brady, Logan, and Marshall are all taking swimming lessons on Saturday mornings.
- Brady is in his final class for swimming lessons and will hopefully pass the first time.
- Brady will be participating in his school's Science Fair next month.
- Our van finally took a trip through the car wash!
- There are some small signs that Brady may finally be getting a front tooth.
- Logan can read Berenstain Bears books all by himself now.
- There was a bald eagle in our backyard on Christmas (everyone that was here got to see it).
- I am finally wearing my new purple sweater and it's super awesome!
- Marshall is 2 letters away from completing his lower case letters. We'll soon be starting math.


The Bad:

- The deer haven't been visiting our backyard much this year.
- It's the middle of winter.
- Our public library is undergoing renovations and is currently located on the second floor of the Farmington City Hall (it's not fun to haul a huge bag of books up and down 2 flights of stairs).
- I am still wearing 2 pairs of socks to keep my feet warm.
- Chocolate is still not an acceptable lunch.
- I signed up to work an extra shift this month.
- I hardly ever see my neighbors, since we're always hiding out in our houses this time of year.
- Peter was laid off at work on January 6.

Since the loss of Peter's job is obviously the biggest thing on either of my lists, I wanted to expand on it a tiny bit more.
Peter found out back in November that there were going to be some major layoffs at his company, but he was confident at the time that his job was secure. A few weeks after that, and many rumors later, he began to feel less sure of the security of his job.
By the time December came, he felt certain that his position would be eliminated and transferred to the new company, from India, who was taking over. At this time, many of Peter's dearest coworkers were quickly leaving the company to find new jobs elsewhere. During the second week of December, the rumors were verified and Peter knew for certain that he would be losing his job soon.
On January 6, the official letters were sent out--"this is really happening".
This is what we know:
Peter will continue to have a job with Thomson Reuters until March 7, if he chooses to stay.
He is eligible to receive severance pay until July.
Peter has already spoken with one company about potential job opportunities, and he has been given many leads as to where to apply and who is hiring from close friends and past coworkers.
I feel confident that this is a part of God's plan for our family and I am certain that He will lead Peter to the right job at the right time---BUT, it's still a little stressful.

Peter has done an amazing job of supporting our family financially and I have no doubts that he will continue to do so.
We'd love some prayers or words of encouragement, if you'd like to pass them along.
These next few months will be challenging and possibly life changing for our family.
I'll keep you posted as we head down this path.