On January 20th of this year, Dave became unemployed. Today, April 27th, Dave has started work at a new job. While we will be happy to have the full-time income again, the change is bittersweet. I'll miss him. While he was unemployed, I continued at my part-time job 2 days a week. That was mostly enough to keep our heads above water and I could pick up extra shifts here and there when needed. Losing a job is scary. If it had taken longer for Dave to find another job, I may have found myself working a lot more. We are thankful things worked out the way they did. It was a happy time here.
Dave worked on several projects around here that we already had most of the supplies for. He hauled large rocks from our field over to the side of the house. He used them to build stone steps at the side of our front porch and a rock border around the front and side gardens. They look beautiful! He poured a new concrete floor for the girls' playhouse in a new location, moved and rebuilt the playhouse. Our vegetable garden is all tilled and partially planted. The tractor project got some attention.
AND!
He spent lots of time with the girls. We spent so much time together as a family. I have SO enjoyed this time! It was so wonderful to see Dave's relationship with our daughters grow.
It was a glimpse of what our lives could be like without a "typical" work schedule. It is an inspiration to think about how we could have a vacation like this again, without defaulting on loans and without waiting for official retirement age - whatever that is.
-Jenny
2 comments:
Oh my goodness, Jenny, what a spring you've had! I'm glad Dave's time off wasn't too much of a hardship and you were able to make the most of it. And I'm glad he's got work again. A job is a precious thing right now. My dad lost his job a month ago, and my mom's found a new one (making 1/6th of what my dad made) after two years of not working. But it's something!
I was looking at the Good Vibrations conference and thinking of you last week! Are you planning to go to conferences this year? I've been thinking about it, but I don't know yet. Scott couldn't go to either of the unschooling conferences, so that makes it less appealing. We enjoyed the CHN conference, but it's a big chunk of change. We'll probably just camp this summer and save our money for my new kitchen. :) We got cabinets for free from friends! So we just have to save up for countertops, flooring and a new oven. Anyhow, I'm glad you're well!
Hi Amanda! We do plan on going to both unschooling conferences. We're all set for LIFE is Good in a few weeks. And we really want to go to Good Vibrations, since it's so much closer. I bought my early bird registration for that one. We were planning on going to CHN this summer, but a family wedding is happening Friday evening of that weekend in Ventura. It would be a lot of driving to go for just one night.
Oooh! Free Cabinets. How nice!
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