This is my favorite song lately, because we have been so blessed. The past 2 years have been extremely hard financially for our business, which means also for our family. Last year really hit us hard, but this year topped it off. It just kept getting worse & worse. Our numbers last year were down about 70% and we kept saying it can't get any worse, but believe me it could and did. Down another 15% or so this year and we were battling to stay afloat. We discussed selling everything, because we really do have pretty good equity in our real estate, thanks to some really good years previous to the bad. We discussed and seriously looked at having Shawn get his CDL and going to live in North Dakota. Right now that is where the boom in oil is. They need drivers, driver, drivers and are paying them really well. We just didn't feel right about that, but knew it needed to stay as an option on the back burner. We talked about walking away from the business and going to find a job.
(By the way this is a sore spot for me. It really bothers me about people that refuse to take a job because it is beneath them. We joke about getting a job at McDonalds, but let me tell you if it meant keeping food on the table and a roof over our head, both of us would be there in a heart beat. Self reliance is what life should be about, in fact if more people would try that approach, I truly believe that our nation would not be in the spot it is right now.)
Anyway, back on track. We prayed, but probably not as much as we should have. It always seems like I pray the most when I am in trouble. This is just what I don't like when my kids are so nice to me, or help me out, because they want something. I bet Heavenly Father feels the same way about us; I wonder if he gets impatient with us.
Three weeks ago, we were done. No more work, no work bidding, no prospects. Again, we sat down and hashed it out. Where were we financially, what were we going to do, what could we do, what were our options. This is what we came up with. We would put the shop up for sale, because it has the most equity and makes the least amount of money. The big thing for us was family scripture study and prayer. I know, this is something we should have already been doing, but we weren't. We got the kids together and told them of our situation, then we made a plan. We would read the scriptures at night at 9:30 pm before everyone went to bed, then have family prayer after. We also encouraged each of the kids to say their personal prayers. I know this sounds really lame & means if we have to do this know it is not happening in our family, but the fact is, it is not. Oh, we (the kids & us) say our prayers off and on but not on a regular basis. So that was the plan and everyone was on board.
Here is where the blessings start pouring in, and I am telling you it was immediate. The following day I rented the bounce house. In the next 3 days I had rented the event center for two different events. During that same time landscape jobs started coming in. We had a job that we have been trying to get all summer come through, actually two of them, both of which called and said go ahead. Winco called and said we were going to be awarded the snow removal for the Winter, which was HUGE for us. That was one of our biggest stresses (what if we didn't get it). The hospital called to follow up on a payment they hadn't sent from back in May. We got several small landscape & sprinkler jobs and a couple bigger ones. We literally went in two weeks from having nothing to having almost enough work to keep us busy till Winter.
I know that by doing the simple things, doesn't always mean that the blessings are going to come in this way. I also know that Heavenly Father knows us and what we need. This may not be the end of the bad, but it is what we need as a family right now. It is proof to me, how much Heavenly Father loves us. He has a plan for us, it may not be the plan we want for ourselves right now, but it is what is best for us right now. I am so thankful for the little reprieve he has allowed us at this time. I am thankful for this experience that has renewed our strength and faith and especially allowed our children to see the rewards and blessings of doing what is right and following our Savior. Sometimes I still wonder if it is worth it when my kids are fighting or making faces at each other during scripture study. But, then I Count My Blessings and I can see what God has done. I am so thankful for my Savior and what he has done and continues on a daily basis to do for me. I am grateful for the scriptures that remind me that this is the true church. Even, more so as the kids struggle to read the language that Nephi writes in and we realize that there is no way that Joseph Smith could have written this book. I am grateful for the restored Gospel and being able to be a part of it.
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