Easter

Brandon had his second grade music concert. This year's theme was Earth day. They did several songs in which they combined sign language and singing and they also did some square dancing. I am not sure where that fits into the Earth theme but it was cute. Brandon was partnered up with a boy twice his size but he didn't seem to mind. They also did recycle projects where they made projects totally out of recycled materials and showed them off that night. Brandon's robot was made from water bottles for the legs, a cardboard box for the body, a juice bottle for the head, TP rolls for the arms, paper mache to hold it all together, pop bottle tops for decoration, and used foil. He was very proud.

I took Jessie to GG's to see the Easter bunny. She was afraid to sit on the bunny's lap so I had to sit with her. GG also sat with Jessie and the bunny but my picture didn't come out very good. If I get a better one I will send it.

The night before we decorated Easter eggs. I think the kids got more on their hands than on the eggs. They had a great time though. Then on Easter morning we had the egg hunt. The kids know we hide the eggs but they think the Easter bunny hides the baskets and magic keeps them invisible until it is time to hunt. We had to do the hunt inside this year because of the weather. Then we had the family lunch with everyone. We do lunch instead of dinner because Chris and Rachel have to go to Rachel's mom's for dinner, but we have a big meal with ham and the works. Brandon got this little balloon pump with balloons in his Easter basket you pump them up and then let them go and they dance on the ceiling and make obnoxious noises. Everyone (big and little kids) played with those for quite a while and it got rather crazy but fun. And that was Easter. It was a good day.

Job

Scott didn't get the Oregon job because of the bankruptcy. I am glad we don't have to move but we are back to square one. The government sure doesn't make it easy to get jobs when everything requires good credit to work. There was a custodian job that wanted five years experience and prefered a bachelor's degree. How can anyone find jobs with these kinds of criteria? Anyway I wanted to thank everyone for their support and prayers, especially Rebecca and Uncle Jim for your responses. I know that everyone has their own problems also and I am grateful that we have a close family that we can share our problems with. There are so many people that have no one to turn to and I am thankful that I am not one of them. Keep the prayers coming, we need all the help we can get, and I will pray for all of you too. Brandon says that we need to get rich so we can help others since we know what it is like, from his lips to God's ears.

Since Jessie's birthday we have had one bad thing after another. Fearless (our dog) has had a mass on his chest for awhile and it finally started causing too much trouble for him and we had no choice but to take him back to the vet. It was cancerous, which is what we suspected even though the other vet we took him to earlier said no. We had the choice to put him down or do surgery to remove the tumor and hope for the best. Because we couldn't face trying to explain to the kids how we couldn't afford to try and save him, especially when I tell the kids that money, or the lack of it, doesn't matter and God will take care of us, we opted for the surgery. Mom got us on a care credit plan that the vet suggested so we can make monthly payments. He got through the surgery and is doing pretty well. The cancer doesn't appear to have spread for now. Shane (our other dog) is eleven going on 12 this year so we could potentially lose both dogs around the same time. We have had to file bancrupty because we can't get jobs, the business is pretty much done for and we are going to lose the fire truck to the bank since the government is so messed up and they aren't hiring contractors for fires. Most all the contractors are in the same boat we are. We got approved for the home modification loan but the finalization has been put on hold and we could potentially lose it because of the bancruptcy. And now the only job Scott has been offered is in Portland, Oregon. It doesn't pay very well considering the cost of living up there and I doubt with the bancruptcy so new we could even sell this house and get a loan for a new one there. We have until Monday to make a decision but the only way we could do it is for Scott to go there for a year and work and then we join him. I am not willing to move there until he is sure the job would work out. I have seen too many people move, the job doesn't work out, and they are stuck. I also just plain don't want to move. I wish I had the adventure gene that some of our family possess but I don't and neither do the kids. We don't take change well. They said they would help with relocation and rental until we could sell here and find a place but that would mean more moving and transition. Oregon isn't even close enough to travel back and forth easily. It is about a two day drive. I can't see how this job is the answer to our prayers but we are also running out of time. His unemployment and our tax refund are running out. I know that God has a plan for us but I can't help wondering if his plan is for us to lose everything. I am trying to stay positive, especially for the kids, but you can only be positive for so long when every time you turn around it is more bad news. About the only thing good that I can think of is Chris had a good birthday and none of us have too bad of health. Jessie got to be babysat by GG while we went to the bancruptcy hearing and she and GG had a good time together. The ladies at the Villa love hearing grandma's stories about the princess and this will give them something to talk about for awhile. GG is doing well and I never thought I would be able to leave my daughter with her almost 96 year old GG to be babysat even for a little while. So there is some good. Sorry to be so negative but I just needed to get things off my chest. Hopefully I'll have a more cheerful blog later.