Continued from yesterday
When I got on the phone with Jenni, I confirmed that our concerns about “The Company” were for real. We had known for some time that “The Company” might not make it. There is always inherent risk when working for a start up. Loosing my job was not a huge surprise. How suddenly and without warning it hit us was a shock.
Jenni was pretty calm with the news, but she did ask the obvious question. “What do we do now”? Of course I had a great answer that was full of faith and very re-assuring. Something like, “I don’t know”!
Honestly, I was not too worried at first. I did fully believe that God would take care of us financially. My most immediate fear was not knowing if our final payroll would be covered by the upcoming payday.
A couple days later we traveled up to La Grande to spend Labor Day Weekend with my parents. My parents have been incredibly supportive through all we have experienced recently. They are completely loving, forgiving and supportive. Staying with them has become our safe-haven where we can recharge and relax. As the weekend progressed, I began to feel the pressure of our financial responsibilities mounting. My lack of faith began to reveal itself. Ever been there?
The best part of the weekend besides hanging out with the family was helping my Dad with his building project. He is putting the finishing touches on commercial building remodel. Jenni and I both spent a lot of time painting and cleaning and whatever else was needed. It was nice to do something productive and give back a little of what my parents have given to us.
Before we knew it the time to head home had arrived. I was torn about going home. As much as we love spending time in La Grande with my folks, we love just being home with our kids but that also meant facing our situation head on. At least I had received confirmation that my final paycheck would be available for me to pick up the next day. I am sure it was a small miracle for our operations team to get that handled for us.
During our time in La Grande, we did agree to a five day trip to Texas to meet a pastor and have Jenni lead worship at their weekend services. This was a conversation that had been going on for a couple of months that we never thought would materialize. Once my schedule cleared up, we decided we should give it more serious consideration.
For us to leave our families, our friends and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest is hard to imagine. It feels like when Abram was called to leave his home land and all his family and travel to a place God would show Him. Maybe not quite so dramatic but still a big leap of faith. Stay tuned for more on this after the first week of October.
Our drive home was long and difficult, Chance who is five now was complaining of a stomach ache the entire trip. It’s about four and half hours normally but on busy weekends there can be delays and we hit one. Almost completely stopped traffic for about 40 minutes leading up to a lane closure. Alas, we made it in 6 hours crying child and all.
More tomorrow…
You have a gift for storytelling…I’m completely sucked in and want to know more about what happens.
And also if Chance yakked in the car or not. 😉