#tbt

Last week I dabbed my eye when Ada tried on her graduation gown and looked all grown up. I remember when she was born. *snif*

Age three, welcoming her baby sister:

Age four, welcoming her baby brother:

Age eighteen; fifty-seven days til graduation:

Warmth

Whether because of our soul check-ins, or the excitement of a welcome layoff, or a couple of lunch dates with friends I had, or because I’ve finally perfected our school schedule for maximal mental health, or (very likely) a string of unseasonably very warm days, or some combination thereof…this Febru-March has been much more tolerable than most.

Although it’s too cold today to entice me outside to prune the shrubbery, which I really need to do because of the aforementioned unseasonably warm days, it feels more like spring than most mid-Marches.

Also too cold to entice me outside long enough to take pictures of our little peach tree, which is blossoming for the first time, or our explosions of cheerful daffodils. Therefore, please enjoy the following pictures which were all taken from the shelter of my home or my car.

spring soccer practice

Buck put himself in the stocks

Buck wearing green for St. Patrick’s Day. Sticky tab was a better choice than trying to put his green t-shirt back on, if we wanted to keep all our fingers.

Breathe the free air again

 

Jason hasn’t done a whole lot of breathing the free air since he got laid off. He’s more working to breathe any air around the congestion that knocked him into bed all week.

The rest of us caught the same cold for varying lengths of time, but it has definitely hit him the hardest, which I attribute to being so mentally and physically run down beforehand.

Here’s hoping he will soon be mentally and physically free.

Answers

It’s been a week.

On Tuesday I drove Caleb an hour each way to a BYO train event, wherein he got to run his own model train on the county railroad club’s layout. 

Along about the same time, I gave up praying that the abysmal conditions at Jason’s work would improve, and instead started praying that somehow we would no longer need this job.  

{In layman’s terms: cusp of AI revolution = bad time to be a software developer. Jason’s cycled through manager after manager, each more dissatisfied than the last with human-level output; not satisfied with him using AI, they want him to become AI, ie, a soulless machine capable of omniscience and astronomical, ever-increasing productivity.}

Wally, Lizzy’s pet-sitting client, who is not a soulless bundle of productivity

On Wednesday night Lizzy was overcome by extreme, unexplained abdominal pain on the way home from the girls’ Bible study, so after calling us, Ada turned around and drove instead to the ER, where we met them. Her sisterly duties discharged, Ada went home; but Jason and Liz and I didn’t get home until 2am after enduring hours of waiting under fluorescent lights for doctors to think of tests, order tests, perform tests, interpret tests, and then scratch their heads when the tests revealed no explanations. Which is a good thing; she doesn’t have any of the terrible-sounding things they looked for. They finally decided it was (possibly? maybe?) a stomach bug. Her pain had largely subsided long before the hospital visit was over, and the worst part of the past several days has been loss of appetite and way too many gushing nosebleeds, which we attribute to (possibly? maybe?) so much time in the dry hospital air.

On Thursday afternoon, Ada headed to our church’s women’s retreat to do work crew; I had opted not to participate and I was happy to be home with Lizzy, who had to give up her plans of also doing work crew due to mysterious and possibly contagious tummy distress. 

Just before quitting time on Thursday, Jason received an unexpected email. Thank you for your service in this company, etc etc. This has been a difficult decision. Growth, profitability, these changing times, blah blah blah.

In other words, my prayers were answered.

Jason (and his 4,000 colleagues) received a generous severance package that will allow us an expansive time to recuperate from a situation that has had his psyche completely tied up in knots. He can rest. He can breathe. We can sigh out the built-up stress in our atmosphere.

As the layoff was effective immediately, Friday was his first day free. He spent most of it signing paperwork, wiping his work devices (which he gets to keep), and reading up on his benefits.

Unfortunately, he came down with a head cold over the weekend. Ada said it’s like being sick on your first day of summer vacation. So our surreal week continues with Jason in bed…but not worrying about getting behind at work.

I’m so relieved. And so thankful to God who answers prayer and will lead us every day of the future.