So a few weeks ago (Friday, September 30, to be exact), I was upstairs vaccuming and looked out the window and saw Ben's truck in the driveway. It was 2:00 & his parents were coming in town that afternoon, so I was really excited that he was able to leave work early and spend the afternoon with us.
But the early arrival at home wasn't exactly his doing. As he put it, he was given 14 weeks paid vacation.
Yep, thats right, he was laid off.
Milliken & Company laid off their entire corporate engineering department. Ben had an inkling this was coming, but spared me the stress of the unknown until it was official. Thankfully, he got a pretty hefty severance along with a personal recommendation and referral from the Director of Corporate Engineering.
Initially, it seemed like horrible timing for such a devastating event to occur, with me recently quitting my job to stay home plus a new baby. However, that timing couldn't have been any better. A year ago, we did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (FPU) at church and prior to me quitting my job, we had stashed away 6-months emergency funds in savings. We had been reluctant to do FPU because we didn't have any debt issues or financial problems, but our small group encouraged us to take the course in order to be better managers of what God has given us. And now, 18 months later, we see how God had his hand in it all along. Crisis diverted.
Also, its so neat having time extra time as a family. For the past 6 months, Ben's been working 50+ hour weeks, leaving before we get up and sometimes not getting home until after Jackson's in bed. Don't get me wrong, Ben's been beating the bush applying for jobs (and he's already had 3 interviews), but we get some precious time to hang out & enjoy this special time with our little family. Not to mention we can tag team the parenting when we have the daily tantrums, crying fits and meltdowns -- which always seem to be a chain reaction.
So, hopefully, I'll have a praise report in the near future to pass along good news about Ben's employment status.
2 comments:
Wow, I'm a true believer that everything happens for a reason and Ben will get a much better job very soon. Saying prayers for you guys!
Hey Missy! I have been enjoying looking at all the pictures of Weston and your cute family! I wish I were as good with the blogging as you are! Anyway just randomly checked yours tonight and wanted to say I am so sorry to hear about Ben's job... though I'm sure something great will come along for him! We are taking FPU right now at our church and I love it, though not everything really applies to us so far.. so reading this is a good reminder of why we need to be prepared, especially once you have kids! I will be praying for you guys and in the mean time I hope you can enjoy this precious time in life to have Daddy home! xoxo
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