Tag Team

After a year and a half of searching, I am so excited to announce that both Craig and I have jobs!! (Well, I haven't been searching that long. Craig has.) I have applied for tons of jobs with the school district over the last few years, and have been offered a few. The jobs never ended up working out, either because of the schedule, the pay, or better job offers. But when I started looking for work I knew that would be a good place to start. I told Craig about it too, and soon we had each applied for over 30 jobs. As the beginning of the school year approached, I began to receive phone call after phone call requesting that I be interviewed for lunch lady, janitor, and in-school suspension positions. In the last 3 days, I have had 8 interviews. It was exhausting. After an interview for a janitorial job at a high school, I told Craig about it. I was thinking it would be a perfect job for him rather than me, with the afternoon/evening schedule and the fact that it's a full-time position. So I sent him over to see if he could get an interview on the spot. They went ahead and talked to him about it, and afterward he felt pretty confident that they liked him, although they couldn't give him an answer without first speaking to the principal. Later that evening, Bob (one of the guys who interviewed me) gave me a call and asked if I would be upset if they hired my husband instead of me. He told me that they liked me as well though, and wanted to offer me a substitute position filling in when someone was sick or when Craig had to miss work to DJ. So as it turns out, we were both hired! We tag teamed the interview and now we're going to tag team the job. It was meant to be.

Craig also has another part-time job in the mornings at Digis, a local internet company. He hasn't started yet but he has been hired. I have had two interviews at Crazy 8 (a children's clothing store in the mall), and just got a phone call for a third. If they offer me the job, I will definitely take it! Who wouldn't want to work at a fun place and get a great discount at a store you already shop at?

For the first time in a very long time, I am finally feeling optimistic about our future. When you go through huge trials for such a long time, it's easy to brush off the encouraging words from loved ones like, "Everything happens on the Lord's time," and "You won't be given more than you can overcome." We have been paying our tithing, constantly looking for jobs, and trying so hard to have the faith required to get us through this. But it was getting to the point that just having faith wasn't going to pay our rent or our power bill or put gas in the car. He tested us to our breaking point, and there were so many times that I wondered how our family was going to survive another day. Which is another situation that proves what a good team Craig and I can be. When one of us didn't have the faith to go on, the other was able to have enough faith for the both of us. We got each other through it, and I don't think very many couples that have been married such a short time would be able to survive. We are stronger for it. And now we have so many job offers we don't know what to do with them all. I turned down another job on Tuesday, and even though Craig already has two jobs, he had an interview this morning for another one. I hate to admit when other people are right, but I must say that everything people kept saying to us was true. It's so incredibly frustrating when you don't think you will be able to take care of your children the way they deserve. And yes, I have had to cut back a lot on the things I have wanted to give them - allowing them to play fall soccer, take them shopping for new school clothes, and going out as a family for dinner or a movie. We just haven't had the money. But ten years from now, they won't remember that we weren't able to do all that. Kids don't know whether they're poor. And now I can be a better mom because I have been through something so hard and I'm coming out the other side stronger and happier. And that is something that they will remember.