Grains of GratitudeThis has been a great week around the B family! Exciting things are happening!
This week I’m grateful for . . . .
. . . . A job for Chance. Michael arranged for Chance to have an interview at the company where he works. Chance went for his interview at 8:00 on Monday and was hired and started work immediately! Michael works for a company that does computer work with a lot of the school systems in the state and Chance has been pulling cable all week! He’s enjoying the job and has been able to work with Michael most days. On Monday he worked with a crew in Macomb (somewhere in OK). That got him going for the week and I’m thankful that he’s enjoying it. He starts school – his senior year – in about three weeks so will only be working until then. If things work out well, he may be able to go back to work with the same company once he graduates. He loves computers and is really good with them. He wants to study computers, programming and graphics so hopefully, he will be able to work while still getting the training he desires.
. . . . Michael and Elizabeth! They have opened their home to Chance, allowing him to stay with them through the week so that he can ride back and forth with Michael. It’s great to know that they’re always there for us – ready, willing and anxious to help out!
. . . . A raise for Jody! Jody had his performance evaluation this past week. It was a great evaluation (never doubted it) and he was given one of the best raises he’s received since he started working there about 15 years ago. He was also given some new duties that are more supervisory, which will be a plus for him – less manual labor and more management!
. . . . A somewhat unexpected windfall! Jody and I are still in “recovery mode” from the year I stayed home – unemployed – and cared for my Mom. We both still know it was the best thing to do, but we knew going into it that there would be consequences to that decision. Not only are we still recovering but also after buying a car in April we have not yet been able to get the payments straightened out with the loan company. In both June and July there were two payments – automatic transactions – taken from our bank account instead of one. Now, I’m sure that might not be a big deal to some people but to Jody and me – it’s a VERY BIG deal! As I said, we’re still trying to recover from a year with only one paycheck coming in to take care of expenses. So, hopefully we now have that matter straightened out – after a couple of hours on the phone with the loan company!
The windfall comes into place in this way: Both my parents had shares in mineral rights on several different pieces of land. They didn’t own the land, only a portion of the mineral rights. So for as many years as I can remember, checks were paid to my parents for those mineral rights where oil had been struck. The checks were not anything that put us into monetary wealth, but they were income nevertheless. When my parents died, of course those rights were given to us, their children. Now instead of the number of shares being paid to one (couple), the dividends now had to divided between six of us! Anyway to make a long story short and to get to my point, Jody and I sold our shares this week – to one of my brothers – and in this way we have more money that we will be able to put towards some of those “Recovery” items!
. . . . My granddaughter, Addy. Addy calls Jody and I regularly just to talk and keep us updated on her life! I absolutely loves that she calls us. She called me Thursday evening and invited me to come on Friday afternoon to her swimming lessons. She has now completed her second session and on the last day, the kids can have spectators to show off what they’ve learned. This is my second time to go – 1st session and 2nd session – and I’ve enjoyed seeing what she’s learned in each session. She started out the first session hesitant, not even liking to get her face in the water and just really not too sure about any of it. She now loves to “bob” anywhere there’s water and she was thrilled to show me on Friday that she can jump into the 5 foot end of the pool (my heart jumps into my throat each time she jumps into the water) and then make it to the side by herself! I know realistically the instructor is right there and all the parents are right there, but when I see her jump into that water knowing she can’t touch the bottom, I have to admit that it scares me a little – okay a LOT! She’s doing very well and the instructors of both sessions were quite thrilled with her progress!
. . . . The beauty of God’s world! My friend Debbie and I, for lunch on Friday walked over to the student union where they have a Chick Filet! I love Chick Filet and it was great discovering that there is one so close to our offices. It’s about three blocks from the office, so we walked over there, ordered food then walked back to a spot about halfway between the student union and Children’s Hospital where we work, and sat enjoying our lunch under a shade umbrella. There is a small area set up with tables and chairs all around a beautiful waterfall. There was a guy working on the water when we first got there, but he finished up and got it going pretty quick. Trees, flowers and all kinds of greenery surround the area and the cool spray from the waterfall was great and cooled off the area. We’ve decided that we are going to take our lunch over there to eat often during the week.
That’s a bit of what I’m thankful for this past week. What are you thankful for today?
This week I’m grateful for . . . .
. . . . A job for Chance. Michael arranged for Chance to have an interview at the company where he works. Chance went for his interview at 8:00 on Monday and was hired and started work immediately! Michael works for a company that does computer work with a lot of the school systems in the state and Chance has been pulling cable all week! He’s enjoying the job and has been able to work with Michael most days. On Monday he worked with a crew in Macomb (somewhere in OK). That got him going for the week and I’m thankful that he’s enjoying it. He starts school – his senior year – in about three weeks so will only be working until then. If things work out well, he may be able to go back to work with the same company once he graduates. He loves computers and is really good with them. He wants to study computers, programming and graphics so hopefully, he will be able to work while still getting the training he desires.
. . . . Michael and Elizabeth! They have opened their home to Chance, allowing him to stay with them through the week so that he can ride back and forth with Michael. It’s great to know that they’re always there for us – ready, willing and anxious to help out!
. . . . A raise for Jody! Jody had his performance evaluation this past week. It was a great evaluation (never doubted it) and he was given one of the best raises he’s received since he started working there about 15 years ago. He was also given some new duties that are more supervisory, which will be a plus for him – less manual labor and more management!
. . . . A somewhat unexpected windfall! Jody and I are still in “recovery mode” from the year I stayed home – unemployed – and cared for my Mom. We both still know it was the best thing to do, but we knew going into it that there would be consequences to that decision. Not only are we still recovering but also after buying a car in April we have not yet been able to get the payments straightened out with the loan company. In both June and July there were two payments – automatic transactions – taken from our bank account instead of one. Now, I’m sure that might not be a big deal to some people but to Jody and me – it’s a VERY BIG deal! As I said, we’re still trying to recover from a year with only one paycheck coming in to take care of expenses. So, hopefully we now have that matter straightened out – after a couple of hours on the phone with the loan company!
The windfall comes into place in this way: Both my parents had shares in mineral rights on several different pieces of land. They didn’t own the land, only a portion of the mineral rights. So for as many years as I can remember, checks were paid to my parents for those mineral rights where oil had been struck. The checks were not anything that put us into monetary wealth, but they were income nevertheless. When my parents died, of course those rights were given to us, their children. Now instead of the number of shares being paid to one (couple), the dividends now had to divided between six of us! Anyway to make a long story short and to get to my point, Jody and I sold our shares this week – to one of my brothers – and in this way we have more money that we will be able to put towards some of those “Recovery” items!
. . . . My granddaughter, Addy. Addy calls Jody and I regularly just to talk and keep us updated on her life! I absolutely loves that she calls us. She called me Thursday evening and invited me to come on Friday afternoon to her swimming lessons. She has now completed her second session and on the last day, the kids can have spectators to show off what they’ve learned. This is my second time to go – 1st session and 2nd session – and I’ve enjoyed seeing what she’s learned in each session. She started out the first session hesitant, not even liking to get her face in the water and just really not too sure about any of it. She now loves to “bob” anywhere there’s water and she was thrilled to show me on Friday that she can jump into the 5 foot end of the pool (my heart jumps into my throat each time she jumps into the water) and then make it to the side by herself! I know realistically the instructor is right there and all the parents are right there, but when I see her jump into that water knowing she can’t touch the bottom, I have to admit that it scares me a little – okay a LOT! She’s doing very well and the instructors of both sessions were quite thrilled with her progress!
. . . . The beauty of God’s world! My friend Debbie and I, for lunch on Friday walked over to the student union where they have a Chick Filet! I love Chick Filet and it was great discovering that there is one so close to our offices. It’s about three blocks from the office, so we walked over there, ordered food then walked back to a spot about halfway between the student union and Children’s Hospital where we work, and sat enjoying our lunch under a shade umbrella. There is a small area set up with tables and chairs all around a beautiful waterfall. There was a guy working on the water when we first got there, but he finished up and got it going pretty quick. Trees, flowers and all kinds of greenery surround the area and the cool spray from the waterfall was great and cooled off the area. We’ve decided that we are going to take our lunch over there to eat often during the week.
That’s a bit of what I’m thankful for this past week. What are you thankful for today?
Man...now I REALLY want some of their chicken!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood post! Isn't it Chick-Fil-A, though? :)
ReplyDeleteAnother beautiful post..You are certainly blessed
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ann! It sounds like things are really going well for you guys.
ReplyDelete