Crazyville

That is all I can say about the past few days/weeks.

I won't go into all the boring details of life around here.

I will say that it has all been for our good!

The second week off from work for Dan proved to be Providential.

He realized quickly that he still needed to recover from the surgery as it is easy to over-do things. During that time he was able to get a FULL medical release from his doctor and return to work after only having two weeks off. He still had to take it easy.

During that 2nd week off, Dan got a call from PGE.

He's been trying to get hired by them for years. He sent yet another application to them a couple months ago. They finally called and said they were interested in him, when could he come in for a test? Well, he wasn't working at the moment so he went in and tested to see if he knew his stuff. The VERY NEXT DAY they called him again, he passed the test and they wanted to set up an interview. He interviewed a couple days later and we just heard yesterday that

THEY WANT TO HIRE HIM!!

We see all of this as God's perfect timing.

First, what seemed like a bummer of having to take time off, was really so Dan could rest longer, he was able to test with PGE and eventually interview, and we learned some wonderful financial and faith lessons.

The timing of this job is perfect because the one he is currently on will be ending soon. The Lord has provided work all along for Dan and so he would have had more work if God wanted him to, but this is a great time for the transition. He won't be leaving anyone high and dry to move into the PGE job.

Our God is so Good!

He should be starting in a couple weeks after PGE does paperwork.

(I forgot to mention that Dan's job with PGE will be as a Dam Maintenance Electrician on the Clackamas River out in Estacada. He loves that kind of work.)

She Laughs At The Future

Does God promise an easy and happy life?

NO!

~~~~~

After my first reactions of doubt, fear and a little trembling,

I can only laugh!

After a nice relaxing week of recovery,

Dan was looking forward to getting back to work on Monday.

Dan won't be returning to work on Monday as planned.

In fact, he might not be returning until March 5th if even that!

He is recovering well and so that is not the issue.

The issue is that his work will not allow him back without a FULL doctor's work release.

The Dr. had originally faxed a work release to return on Monday doing light duty. That means no pulling, tugging, pushing or lifting heavy loads over 20 pounds. It originally included climbing ladders but the Dr. revised it because Dan and he had talked about being safe and not undoing the surgery. Dan is an electrician, which can be a heavy labor job. The current project he is working on has a lot of work that he can do for the next few weeks that is not labor intensive but he would be on the ladder a lot.

His company won't take him back at this point because they don't want to be held liable for any injury to the surgery site. (They won't hesitate to get a guy back on light duty as soon as possible when he's had an on-the-job injury because the company's insurance won't pay for the guy to be off work for too long and will make their premiums go up.) Dan's issue was an elective surgery so they don't want to deal with him at this point.

If he is off work for the next few weeks, who's to say they will even hold on to him after that?

We won't know for sure until next week.

Did we plan on Dan taking a month off from work, unpaid?

No.

Is this going to be a huge financial struggle?

Yes.

Do we put our trust in employment or income?

No.

We put our trust in God alone.

My false security in Dan always having a job was shaken today.

~~Good!~~

There are so many worse things that could be going on.

It's all about perspective.

Mainly, I know God has a plan.

I know that this is for our good and His glory.

What's going to happen?

Only He knows!

I will cling to Him because I know He will provide all our needs.

We have acted in obedience to Him.

He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

Ps. 25:9

Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

Ps. 37:4-5

I will bless the Lord at all times;

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Ps. 34:1,8

~~~~~

Do you see why I am laughing?

I am laughing because I can't wait to see what God is going to do!!

I am laughing because my God is in control and I trust Him!!

I am laughing because I have peace that goes beyond all understanding!!

I am laughing...

because...

even though life is uncertain...

I...have...JOY!

There and Back Again

I can't believe we've been there and are back already!

The trip was fast.

The way it all worked out,

We left on Thursday,

Surgery on Friday,

Home on Saturday!

(This is a view from our hotel of San Antonio at night.)

We saw the Alamo and enjoyed the beautiful River Walk.

(It happened to be cold and rainy the first day there.)

Did I mention BBQ?

You've never had real BBQ until you've had Texan BBQ!

Texan's are very proud of their portion sizes of food and drink, too.

We certainly didn't starve while we were there!

It was great!

And guns!

Everyone seemed to have one strapped to their leg!

(Okay, not everyone, but I saw more guns in the open on people in one day than I've seen in my whole lifetime! I must not get out much!)

I think the t-shirt I saw that said 'Texan's don't dial 911' and had a picture of a gun on it, was not far from the truth! Pretty crazy for an Oregon Northerner who lives where the SWAT team is called in and the schools are put in lock down when a second grader pulls out a rubber band gun.

(No exaggeration! It happened just last week!)

Something else interesting about our short stay in Texas was the people.

They are SO nice!

I had not experienced Southern anything before and that's the first thing we noticed.

People went out of their way to be polite and helpful and initiate conversation!

I don't want to knock my fellow Oregonians, but I think we could learn a few things from our Southern neighbors.

Eye contact and a friendly 'hello' go a long way!

The last night we were there, the state wide cheerleading camp came to town so there were little cheerleaders all over the place! It looked like 1st through 8th grade. We were told that the high schoolers had already been through the week before. Our hotel had rented 190 rooms out to them and that was just one of many hotels. So the place was crawling with them!

Texas was a nice place to visit but it was SO refreshing to come back to my green native home.

I also missed my children.

They missed us too!

The surgery went well and Dan did great!

I'm proud of that guy!.

It was a little over two hours long and I got to watch the whole thing and ask questions.

It's quite fascinating how God has made our bodies!

Today we enjoyed home church, praising God for an uneventful trip, a good surgery and a delightful reunion with our family.

Dan is taking this week off from work so he doesn't over do it.

He gets sore easily right now so I'm glad he'll be home.

~~~~~~~~

I read this scripture today and it sums up this whole adventure so far.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

Ps. 37:4,5

Thanks for the many prayers, y'all!

WE'RE GOING!

I just realized that my last post was lost.

We are leaving this week for the surgery!

The children will stay with some dear friends of ours and then we will be on a plane first thing Thursday morning for San Antonio. The surgery is Friday and we'll come home Saturday.

We found that it is way less expensive to go down south than to have it done locally.

There are a couple doctors who do reversals as a ministry and so a lot of the regular costs are cut out.

Dan will take the following week off from work because he can't lift more than 10 pounds that first week. Then he just has to take it easy at work for the week after. After that? Well...the Lord will decide what happens next. We leave it all to Him!

We are SO excited!

I don't know if we'll get to see much while we are down there. We'll be staying right by the Alamo and the Riverwalk so I'm sure we'll enjoy our time somewhat. Dan nor I have ever been to Texas.

Thank you for all your prayers!