and so it rained ...

So Tyler and I have been without work for a while now ... (I don't remember if this is all on my blog or not, so here's your recap.) He finished school in May. I was working from about the end of June till August 18th. Then the bill collectors caught up with that business ... suffice it to say - I was suddenly without work. Tyler and I have been trying and trying and trying to find work ... but God has not provided us with jobs yet ... even menial work seems to escape us. We have become accustomed to hearing the words "overqualified" and/or "underexperienced." It has really been frustrating on some levels - however not on all ...

You see - God has never abandoned us ... and we know that people are praying for us ... we can feel that. It has been one of the coolest experiences in my life to sit back and watch God provide. There was a stretch of time, 10 days to be exact, during which someone fed us a meal each day. For a week and a half we didn't have to come up with food for all of our meals. There was also an occaision where a friend gave us $50 and told us to go grocery shopping. It seemed like everything we needed was on sale that day. We got all of our "needs" and most of our "wants" for $47.95. And so we went ... living a blessed life ... and loving it. I'd like to say that I was able to just blindly trust that everything would be cared for ... but that was soooooooo hard for me. Through all of this, EVERY time we made money for work, we tithed on it. That was also hard for me sometimes. There were Sundays I thought, "we could be paying a bill with this" ... and yet we faithfully put the check into the offering plate ...

Just a couple of weeks ago I realized how far behind we were on some things ... We have credit card debt - because we need gas in our cars to get to interviews and because (for a while - until about 6 weeks ago) we'd been charging our groceries (then we pretty much stopped grocery shopping). Again, in my normal pattern, I began to worry and doubt that God would provide. Wednesday we were at friends' house and we were sharing our situation. I said that there were times I felt like praying for money to rain down from the sky. There were times I couldn't see any other way to solve our financial state. We took all of the money that we had (including several anniversary gift checks) and payed rent and 2 other very small bills that were due by the 5th of the month. We had $5 left - and I was sick at the fact that it was just one more week till more bills were due. The only income we knew about was $63 coming from my "Nanny Rachel" gig. This was Thursday.

Tyler and I spent Thursday running off and mailing resumes and cover letters for anything for which we thought we were remotely qualified. We also spent a good 3 and a half hours driving around town (and Carey) filling out applications. We didn't eat all day. (Later I learned that Tyler had some fake cheese-its while I was at work. We split a bag of popcorn when I got home at about 6pm.) I had to be at school to pick up Sophie at 2:30. I just made it. I did get paid and that was a relief, and a reminder that it wasn't enough to cover everything. I called my mom on my way home from work to ask her to help me with some sign language. (I was signing at church on Saturday - reflections on that in a later post this week.) I asked if I could call her later that evening (around 9) for reminders on the couple of signs I couldn't remember. I ended up not talking to her that night ... group went till about 10. It was nice. We had a meal (and boy were Tyler and I hungry!) and sat on the porch and chatted. The guys went inside around 8:30 for kickoff and the women sat outside ... well ... that's all in an earlier post ...

Friday, my mom called. I was worried becuase it was the middle of the day ... my mom's a teacher ... she doesn't call during the day ... she's busy. I answered the phone with something to the effect of, "It's the middle of the day. Are you okay? ... Is everything else okay?" She was fine. She called to see if we were free that night. She had some business to deal with in the area and wondered if she could sleep at our place. She's always welcome ... so she said she'd leave after school. Knowing my mom ... the "business" probably included a trip to Elder-Beerman for shoes, our local lighting store to oogle that chandelier she wants for her bedroom, a visit with her mom in Lima, taking us to dinner, and maybe to Wal-Mart for groceries. I mentioned something about it to Tyler and he agreed with me on her probable list ... So mom got to Findlay around 7 ... not bad for not leaving school till almost 5 ... We went to Olive Garden. Tyler and I were so thrilled. We saw that it was pasta bowl month and figured that we'd miss out completely on it this time around ... :) ... yummy ... (note here - sun-dried tomato parmesan sauce good ... spinach alfredo sauce not so much ...) At dinner we chatted and had a really good time (even though the kitchen was SUPER slow). Mom suddenly announced that we were on to the business portion of the evening. She offered to pay our bills for the rest of the month, fill our cupboards, fill our gas tanks, change our cars' oil, and do whatever else she could to help out - knowing how stressful and hard it is to not know when the next income is coming. Tyler and I were silent for a moment ... he spoke first saying that would be great and much appreciated. I turned to Tyler and asked him if this was as close as it was going to get to money raining down from the sky. After dinner we ran home to make a real grocery list (something other than "everything"). It took us 2 carts to get all of our groceries out to the car. Our cupboards and fridge are full. We have fresh fruit and veggies. We have bread, eggs, and milk again.

Saturday we went to brunch at Golden Corral. We took both of our cars and filled them with gas. (Which they both despirately needed.) We took Tyler's car for an oil change (mine is yet to come). Mom had to head home around 2 ... she had a ton yet to do at home last weekend. Aside from the help, it was good to see mom again. We see her a lot ... but for some reason, family is always a pick-me-up when I've been down.

Remember ... God always answers prayers. He NEVER abandons His people. Satan would like us to believe that God doesn't care, but Satan is a liar. And just for some recent proof ... Friday in a little appartmet in Findlay, Ohio, blessings (and a little money) rained down from the sky. It poured.