Steve's company has been laying off people for months. This month, they laid off 7. Yesterday, they let 2 go and one of those was Steve. The question I am getting is, "Does this have anything to do with the dog?" And my answer is, "I don't really know" and I might never know. Honestly, we figured this was coming sooner or later. There's not many employees left at the company and there was some drama last week which ended with the company losing their biggest client.
Steve and I both have an indescribable peace about this. We have prayed for years (no exaggeration) for God to give Steve a new job and the answer has always been "No". So now He has answered...just not in the way we'd hoped. I am reading the Chronological Bible again this year and I'm about a month behind (darn summer!). I'm desperately trying to catch up and am in Isaiah. This morning there were three verses that really stood out to me. I want to share them with you:
But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
2 When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Isaiah 43:1-3a
18 “But forget all that—
it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
19 For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
Isaiah 43:18-19
and finally...
11 This is what the Lord says—
the Holy One of Israel and your Creator:
“Do you question what I do for my children?
Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 I am the one who made the earth
and created people to live on it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
All the stars are at my command.
Isaiah 45:11-12
So, basically He said to me, "I got your back", "I'm about to do something AWESOME and hey, I'm already working this out to My glory" and most importantly, "Who are you to question what I'm doing?" I'm so thrilled when God shows up so obviously.
I've received many comments, calls, emails and offers of help. To those of you who want to know what Steve can/wants to do the answer is he has spent his entire career in the printing business, however, with the Green movement and so many folks going paperless, I'm not sure the smartest move is staying in the printing business. We are working on updating his resume (which was pretty updated already) so if you want it to pass along, just shoot me an email and I'll forward it to you complete with references etc. I'm happy to tell you a little about what he has done in the past, but right now, I want to share some pictures with you of our little trip to Parris Island...
We were due to fly out of Nashville at 5:11 on Wednesday, but our flight was delayed by almost 90 minutes. What that meant was that we would miss our connecting flight in Atlanta. We went ahead and changed our flight out of Atlanta. The earliest flight we could get out of Atlanta was 10:30pm. We got to the Atlanta airport right on time but then our flight out was delayed and so we didn't fly out of there until nearly midnight. We had almost an hour drive from Savannah to Beaufort in the rain. Finally we got to the hotel and in bed at 2am.
That wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that we had to be up at 4:00am in order to get to the base in time for the motivational run and catch our first glimpse of Chase in 3 months. We did pick him out of the platoon of like 70+ and watched as they ran. At about 9:30, they marched into the All Weather Facility and in about 30 minutes we had a joyous reunion! We were so excited to see him...especially Jenna...and he looked SO GOOD! We enjoyed a picnic lunch and a tour of the facility and then a second lunch (for Chase) before he had to go back at 2:30.
Friday morning we had to get there by 7am in order to get a spot for graduation. They usually make a big production of raising the flags, but it was canceled on Friday because of the MONSOON! I mean, it was raining so hard. And of course, all I had on were flip flops. And there, the area is so flat, water pools in PONDS that you could swim in. We had to sit in the very stuffy, crowded gym for 2 hours before they started. NOT FUN. But the wait was worth it. The men (no more boys) all looked so sharp in their dress uniforms. I mean...if you are single, I'd recommend going to a Marine graduation...plenty of fine looking men to choose from there!
Anyway, we did a quick stop at the MPX (the Marine Wal-Mart) and then took Chase to Applebees for lunch. That is where we had to part ways because we had a flight to catch and they (Chase with is mom and step-dad) were driving to the beach for a day or two.
What's next? He's home for now. Monday he leaves again for Camp Geiger (NC) for Marine Combat Training for about 4 weeks. From there, he will go straight to is job training (also in NC) for 3 months. He might be done in time for Christmas. Boy do I hope so. You don't realize how much you miss someone until you can't talk to or see them for 3 months! Chase came to eat lunch with me at work today and he was a hit. Everyone was talking about how good he looked in his uniform after. I should get his dress blues pictures tomorrow. When I do, I'll scan one and post it.
He did say that he kept EVERY letter and card he received and he got many that he didn't know who it was that was sending them. But he appreciated every one. And Steve and I appreciated each of you that sent something. I'm sure he'll be a little homesick while he's gone in the next few months but I think he'll have email access, so when I find out for sure I'll post his email address (with his permission) so you can send him encouraging notes there too.
Without further ado...
(and most of these were on Facebook, so if you are my friend there, they will be duplicates)...
1 comment:
Wow...he looks so grown up. I still remember the first time I met him. Not that same little kid. I know you guys are proud.
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