Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Yawn.... at the end of a long day

My husband has to return to the Chicago area again tomorrow so we were out running a few necessary errands today. It seemed everywhere we went, people were talking about layoffs. We found out our neighbor had been laid off since December! We thought he was working a different shift. CAT announced huge layoffs today which will greatly affect the Midwest.

Two women were talking while we were at the copy shop, both husbands had been laid off. As they said, there are so few manufacturing plants left in the area that there is no place to go when one loses a job. That's why my husband lost a few jobs. He was a Quality Assurance Engineer and his department was always one to be cut first in an economic downturn but he actually had a few places he worked that sold the plants and the manufacturing went to another country.

This entire situation with my husband's sister has been a lesson in patience and walking in love. Just when I think I've got this "walking in love" thing down, God allows difficult people in my life. My husband's sister has asperger's syndrome and has been one of those human "thorns in my flesh" since I first met her during our engagement. Sigh... it is so easy to show compassion to people we love and enjoy being with but it is when we walk in love towards those who have caused us to develop a twitch that God's love can shine through.

The constant travel has made me have to trust God for my husband's safety, too. I find it ironic that I have no fear of terrorism or something "big" happening to this country but bring it closer to home... as in a family member traveling... and the faith and trust muscles get a workout.

There are two separate events that make me know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all turns out well with this old world. One is holding a new born baby and the other is the birth of spring each year... miracles we so often take for granted... both signs that God hasn't given up on the human race.

I'm hoping tomorrow to get away to Panera with my Bible and a book. At the library sale, I found a copy of Linda Dillow's Calm My Anxious Heart. I can certainly use that book right now and I must have read her Creative Counterpoint three or four times years ago (Steph said she is reading it now).

I also plan to make a couple of recipes from Trisha Yearwood's Georgia Cooking In an Oklahoma Kitchen (LOVE IT!). If my energy holds up, there are a couple make ahead recipes in Barbara Smith's Food That Says Welcome; Simple Recipes to Spark the Spirit of Hospitality. I'm also going through The Amish Cook (a gift I also LOVE) and a small booklet of Amish recipes I bought while in Pennsylvania.

I think it's the change of season that has me with my nose in cookbooks. After a lovely season of soups and stews, I'm ready for something new... and inexpensive.

Oh, yes, I have been thinking of Easter. I need to have everything purchased ahead of time to make certain the Holiday arrives and if it is a month where we have no extra money, we still have a wonderful Holiday meal... and in this case a few small items for a teenage boy's Easter basket. :)

This year I'm definitely serving the sugar cream pie for dessert but I'll probably make a strawberry rhubarb pie, too (I mean... that just says SPRING). I have all the veggie items purchased and put away in the freezer and pantry. I'll wait to purchase the ham since they usually go on sale closer to Easter. If possible, I'll purchase one for the Easter meal and one for the freezer. Just thinking out loud...

5 comments:

~~Deby said...

oh Brenda, I am so ready for SPRING--it is exciting seeing little things sprouting up, knowing what is coming....
Yes, I know how hard it is to REALLY trust the Lord when a loved one is on the road, on a trip etc....
I think it is were the Lord really wants us to get out on that limb and hang on and just TRUST...easier said than done...spending more time in the WORD is sure the best way...and lots of prayer..

Sharon Goemaere said...

Brenda,
Thank you for being so real.I married into a family that has an autistic child(she's now 25)and it took me years to get used to her uniqueness as I had never ever dealt with this.I was 31 when I married.:-)God's grace helped me to adjust though and with His help I now am not uncomfortable around her.Love you Brenda~Sharon Goemaere

Anonymous said...

You know, I'm really beginning o believe it's all about where you live. So far no one we know has been layed off (knock on wood LOL). One of my friends even opened her own shop last week. The restaurants are full even in the middle of the week. Real estate is very slow but we had one house sell in my neighborhood last month so loan money must be opening up.

I really don't know what to think. A lot of the media focuses on the negative. Yet I see a totally different side. I'm cautiously optimistic! But it never hurts to be prepared...just in case.

Manuela

Rhonda said...

Hope things in your life get smoother soon!

My brother gave me Trisha's cookbook for Christmas and it is really nice and fun to read, her cheese straws are really good!

and about the bad economy, it is not affecting my town nearly as much either, but I do know a few people in other towns in my state that can't find jobs.
It's really sad.

Anonymous said...

Been reading here for awhile...linked from Jewels I think. You remark about Asperger's got my eye. I wish I had known about this many years ago...yea, my husband's only sibling, surely has this too and has been SO awful to deal with and has caused our little family a lot of harm. I found out what this was when a grandchild was diagnosed with it. In reading a great deal about it, I realize quite a few of our kin have it, in varying degrees. It appears mostly as the base line, being VERY self centered people. But the reading of these books on it has helped me a lot in the last few years. For one thing, it helps not to take so many things personally...and they do indeed feel like personal attacks, but sometimes it is just that the person is totally in their own world and totally incapable of seeing anything else! Blessings on you in your struggles. It helped a great deal to live many states away...not my plan, just how life has worked out..but something to be grateful for. Long distance DOES help in some cases!!