Living in flux & trying not to miss the goodness

In an exciting turn of events, Jason’s position was temporarily reinstated two weeks ago!

I expected to be thrilled by this, but instead it’s been a weird time of just feeling numb. The emotional whiplash of events and the continued character slaying of federal employees in the news has been exhausting. We are so happy that Jason can work and earn a salary while the courts and administration battle the legality out, but we’re guessing this is a short-lived reprieve and so the job search continues.

We have really tried not to miss the good moments — the everyday, sweet moments that have been a balm to our spirits. We definitely could not contain our joy at getting a small snow storm here in town! Such a fun morning to play in snow in our own yard!

A learning experience for me during this time has been how I mistakenly thought I could easily pick-up a part-time job … turns out, most employers aren’t interested in someone who hasn’t worked for pay in 12 years and who has a limited amount of open hours. Oh, the humbling – instead, we’ve been busy attacking house projects. The hall bathroom has been a major work in progress — getting rid of dirty carpet and wallpaper and starting over with a fresh, white space.

We’ve also tried to take advantage of our local area, with a trip Mount Shasta to enjoy some real snow (top photo) and then to the beautiful Burney Falls on a warm, sunny day — we feel blessed by all the beautiful recreation around us.

We have been incredibly thankful for the friends and family who have supported us in prayer and with notes of encouragement and in amazingly tangible ways during this hard time. From financial support, to toilet paper & kleenex, to gift cards, to frozen meat and ingredients for a hearty soup, to even a 6-pack of beer and a pair of rebuilt mountain bikes for Jason & Luke – amazing!!!! All of it has touched us in such a meaningful way and our gratitude is great.

We even got to go bowling for the first time in nearly four years to celebrate a local friend’s birthday —

Finally, this past Wednesday we got to celebrate a dozen years with Luke in our lives! Each year it feels even more unbelievable how OLD this guy is getting. He is such a conscientious and thoughtful young man, who has the gift of seeing what needs to be done…and doing it! An amazing skill for sure. He is such a gift in our lives —