Hired!

I am now officially employed by Home Depot Canada. What I'll be doing, I don't really know. I was hired to work in paint but the store manager then asked where else I would be interested in working in case they decide to move me around the store.

I'm all excited to learn about paint though so I hope I at least get to be there for a while! I have 2 upstairs rooms and the entire downstairs needing painted. My deck need stained and I'm really wanting to know how to do it myself! Since the whole waiting for dh to help me figure it out has lasted three years already. :D I'm gonna do it myself!

Tonight I get to go shopping and spend money, on steel toe shoes (Oh joy! Note the sarcasm. lol) . The cash is already in my purse, in the envelope designated "clothing" there's also cash in the tithe and groceries envelope! :D Yep, it's true. We are finally getting to actually do a cash budget with cash. The bills are paid thanks to God's provision and we have what we need to cover the next two weeks. :D

I'm loving how cool God is. How well he knows me. I'm ashamed of my response to not getting the hotel job and how I didn't react in a godly manner. I was mad and I let it show. I knew God was in control but I still thought the hiring manager there made a mistake. (blushing) In truth God knew what I need, what our family needs and knew what would fill that need over and above what I wanted-cash, and gave us the possibility of added health coverage as well in a matter of months.

Now given, that's not a given! I need to work 20 hours a week for 3 months to qualify. Guess what my next prayer request is? :D

In other positive news we also actually have an Emergency Fund started! ***YAY!*** Can you hear me cheering over there? This is the first time in my life I have done this and I love how it feels.

So it's been a good week. This morning the girls and I gave back a bit by working with the other home schooling families and collecting food for the food bank. Then we came home and passed out more fliers about the food drive the girls are participating in at church. Tomorrow we'll drive around and collect the donations then take them to the church.

God is good, all the time.

That's Just The Way It Goes

It's been a month since Tim and I decided to get active about paying off our debt. It amazes me how slowly things move even when you really want them to hurry. The important things I mean. Like appointments at the bank. It takes days, weeks even to get in, get things processed and then receive the information you need. Then there are days and weeks of praying, thinking and just plain old waiting. Have you noticed I'm not a patient person by nature? This is torture. I want to get going already! Get that emergency fund funded.

Instead I am sitting here feeling frustrated a bit because we're really no further ahead than we were a month ago. Ahhhh, but then, we're not further behind either. And that my friend, is progress in and of itself. :) So I continue to tell myself that stepping forward, choosing each day to not spend or spend wisely is making the debt free life that much closer.

Christmas is coming, it's swooping in with little regard to the bank balance. Panic is hovering over my head when I think about what needs to be purchased, wrapped and under the tree. . . .Whoa. . .did I just say NEEDS?! Well, let's reason this out. . . .what I desperately want to be under the tree. I love giving gifts to my children and Christmas is my favorite time of year. I'm fighting hard to reconcile want with need.

My children need nothing. I want to give them things. Like a soft fuzzy blanket for G's bed. She's still sleeping under just a hand knit afghan. She is perfectly content, but mommy is concerned that it's not warm enough when she's wearing a nightgown instead of blanket sleeper.

Or a Bible for B. Truth told, she's very happy with the ones she has. We even just found a KJV in large print, kids version for her at Goodwill for fifty cents. That makes her Bible work so much easier since Mommy didn't know the Bible curriculum was in KJV. As of yesterday she was begging to do more Bible so she could be in her Bible more. Isn't that awesome! :D

Then there's S. She had so much fun, along with B. at their friends home playing with K'Nex. I want very much to get a box for them to play with, or two. They spent a couple hours building things. She's even asking if today we can sort out toys to sell. . . I need to figure out why she wants to sell other than that Mommy keeps saying they have too many.

See, that's the truth. We have too much stuff. So our house feels crowded. Yet I hold tight to the stuff out of fear and pride. Stupid pride. I'm going to get a couple of big boxes and start filling away!!! :D That thought makes me grin.

But back to the money stuff. I interviewed two weeks ago for a position at a hotel. It would've been ideal. Good pay, nice benefits, not much hard labor at all. But I didn't want it, so I didn't do a great job at the interview, even after praying before going in. Then I didn't get it and boy was I upset. (Insert blushing smiley here.) What an ungrateful brat I can be. And I wonder where G gets it?!? It's all me, baby! So I pouted for a bit but still put my resume in several places, including Walmart which I sincerely have no desire to ever work at. . .but um, money is money. So I will do it if need be.

Walmart never even called me back. LOL This past Saturday and Sunday I worked at Home Depot for a Christmas Light Exchange program. It was FUN! The people at HD were fun. I had already checked and they weren't hiring. I'd heard rumors that they are a good company to work for so I was a bit disappointed. Then over the intercom came an announcement that they were hiring for part and full time positions.

So I scurried over and filled out an application while on break from the job. . .yep, filled out the application while working a different job. But the job was a 2 day thing, so no worries. I turned in my application with a resume only to find out they had filled 4 positions the weekend before. The store manager took my app & resume anyway. What can you do? Nothin' so I just smiled and moved on.

Wednesday I got a phone call from Ray from Home Depot, could I come in for an interview Thurs? Um, yeah! :D So I did the interview and he asked if I could stay for a second interview. I did. She said she'll be checking my references and getting back to me to book a third and final interview for Mon. or Tues. of next week. :D YAY! I know this doesn't mean I've got the job but can I tell you why I'm so excited? Excited about working with paint and stain and hardware?

Because, if I work 20 hours a week for 3 months our entire family qualifies for Health Care benefits! Including dental. OH my stars. That rocks my world.

So enter in a whole separate bundle of worries. How will we manage when Tim's at the boat show in Jan for the weekend? What about when summer comes and he's not home regularly at 5??? ACKKK!

This is me once again turning these troubles over to God. Why do I worry before there's even a problem?? LOL That's just the way it goes.