Change is a comin'!

Work for Norm was kind of slow around Christmas time. He was in-between projects and not knowing where he was working on a day to day basis. At that time it also rained and construction doesn't happen when it rains, so he sits home (he doesn't really sit - he works for me around the house - probably harder work than he's use to :)). He used some sick days on weeks that were very short to try and help us make it through. That pattern continued for a couple of months. Around that time, we found out that my job was in jeopardy (which I didn't expect - I was probably naive). We learned that my hours would be cut in half - effective one week out. I would continue at half of my hours for about 8 weeks after that, there would be no program in the summer, and that classes in the fall didn't look very promising. As my administrator said straight out "it doesn't look very good for you". Sheer panic! I found this out about 10 minutes before it was time for my class to start. I called Norm and I was a wreck, after talking to him I managed to pull it together enough to teach my class that night. The next morning I was in a grouchy mood - I was snapping at everyone and yelling at the kids. After barking at the kids for no good reason, I realized that I had to take a step back and re-align my thinking. I realized that this was happening whether I liked it or not and I had to deal with it in a positive way. My attitude would make the difference if this was a horrible situation or a livable one. I wanted this to be a situation that made us as a family stronger and better individually. I remembered back to when I was a kid and our family was struggling. I remembered some of the things that we did to make it through: we went to the mountains and gathered firewood and sold it (we lived in Utah in a small town), we 'caught' the wash water (we would stand poised over the washing machine with several 5 gallon buckets and when the water started to drain from the washer we would put the hose from the washer into the bucket and fill the bucket up with the wash water. This wash water was used to start the next batch of clothes, using less water), my mom (sorry mom if this it too much info) would wear nylons to church and if one leg got a run in, she would cut the bad leg of the nylons off and pair the remaining good leg with another one-leg pair of nylons so she had one good leg from each pair and two of the control-tops on. There were other things: we grew a garden (one year from our garden, we harvested over 700 pounds of potatoes), my mom ALWAYS (and still does) washes dishes by hand (even though she has a dishwasher). One of the ultimate things that I remember is the dollhouse. On the year that we were the poorest - my mom got us involved in making a dollhouse for my little sisters for Christmas. We took a strong big box and put a cardboard divider in the middle for a wall. One side was the bedroom and the other side was a living room. We spray painted the outside red and used a sharpie marker and a ruler to create bricks. On the inside we covered the walls in contact paper for wallpaper. We used fabric scraps to make a bedspread and curtains for the windows. All of this was done from things that we had around the house. Someone we knew had new carpet put in their house and we were able to get some scraps of carpet for the floors. We spent hours and hours on this dollhouse spread out over several weeks. My brothers and I would have to wait for the girls to take a nap and then we could get it out and work on it, or we'd have to be very sneaky and work on it while they were awake. I really looked forward to Christmas that year, not because of what I was getting - but because I was so excited to be giving. I KNEW that they were going to LOVE the dollhouse AND THEY DID! That was one of the BEST Christmases EVER!! The girls played with that doll house for countless hours, for YEARS! The dollhouse moved with us to California, but eventually was so worn that it had to be thrown away (it was just a box after all)!
All of these things went through my mind regarding our job situation. I again came to the realization that it was MY attitude and the way I approached the situation that would make the difference. I needed to be creative, upbeat, resourceful and involve the kids in making things work out. This could be an opportunity to learn and grow and become stronger and closer as a family.
Since that time, Norm's work situation has improved (although he is out of sick days). He is on a short-term prevailing wage project that is allowing us to get caught back up. We relied on our food storage during this difficult time and we are reminded how important it is to have food storage and do what the prophets have counseled. I am grateful for this experience because it has given us a different perspective. We need to get it together! We need to do better with our food storage and we need to make EVERY CENT count! We have had a fire lit under us to make some changes and get better prepared! I don't know HOW it will all work out, but I know that it WILL all work out!
I have about another week to go before my job ends and we are working hard to get ourselves in a better position - physically, financially, spiritually.