- Through God's provision, we made all of our mortgage payments and none were late!
- The above was accomplished with a significant degree of generosity from family and friends through whom we received financial gifts.
- A fair hunk of change that I was able to generate (with God's blessing of course) through selling stuff (mostly that I got for free) on ebay and doing some IT work as an independent contractor.
- We were able to hold to a consistent level of Biblical giving to support and advance the Kingdom of God.
- We received a reliable 2nd vehicle free of charge. The timing was a real blessing.
- We also received other gifts through friends (Lisa got a huge pile of really nice clothes that we wouldn't have been able to afford from one of her girlfriends) and a website called FreeCycle (I got a push mower and then graduated to a power mower and then to a really nice power mower).
- Our mortgage company covered our property tax through the escrow account even though we hadn't paid in enough, and they didn't up our next statement amounts to make up for it (which we couldn't afford at this time).
- The opportunity to take time off from working to go to school that was created from the unfortunate demise of the IT company I had been working for.
- Our wonderful marriage that testifies to the blessings from working to become a godly, desirable mate, rather than focusing on finding the ideal mate.
- My Dad's successful battle against a malignant tumor.
- Spiritual growth and some healing in key relationships as the result of our 'personal programs' and service in Celebrate Recovery.
- We have also grown spiritually and gained wisdom through our adventures in home-ownership. Even though we submitted our plans to God and asked for his guidance, we didn't really use the common sense that he gave us: We hadn't fully eliminated our other debts. We didn't take advantage of the cheap rent we were paying to save up a down payment. We really didn't consider that the (then) present situation which made the lenders willing to approve us could easily change, putting us in a tough spot. We miscalculated the impact living 35 miles away from our church, work, family and friends would have on our life. In spite of all that, God graciously supplied all of our needs and enabled us to be involved to a sufficient degree in our important relationships and not be overwhelmed with the logistics. This was no small miracle if you consider the following: 3 months after we bought our house, I lost my job. Unemployment has paid me less than 1/2 of what I was making. After we moved to Greenfield, gasoline prices jumped way up causing our gasoline expenses to go to about $400/month! The commute consumed about 1.3 hours a day (I used to walk to work sometimes and Lisa's drive was 10 minutes on a bad day!).
- Finally, (not that this list is complete by any means) we are grateful for all of you, our family members, church family and friends. We are truly blessed more than we can express to have all of you in our lives.
So, for this coming year, my goals are to pursue closer relationships with my Savior, my family and my friends; to become more effective in my service to God; and to start using my new certifications in IT to embark on a new career adventure.
Regarding that last goal, the last month or so of this year has been a test of faith which for the most part I think I've been able to give honor to God through. A number of promising opportunities have eluded me for one reason or another. Most recently, I suffered a real disappointment when I was offered a position that would have potentially been both lucrative and interesting working for a IT contractor at the Defense Language Institute. The initial offer came in the afternoon of the day I failed my last exam for my MCSA certification. (I'm scheduled to take it again on January 12th.) The offer was later rescinded when I failed to pass the criminal history portion of the background check. That was a tough blow that made me reel a bit. But I'm so grateful for my wonderful wife who helped me to put things in perspective and remember that in God's economy, true riches are deceptive and the best path is not always the obvious one.
Right now I'm waiting to see if I was selected for an Educational Computer Technician position with the Alisal School District that I passed the practical examination for with flying colors and interviewed for earlier this week in an interesting forum in which 3 interviewers interview 3 candidates in a round-robin session. The practical exam was really interesting. Half way through the series of steps that I was to perform on 2 laptops (a PC and a Mac) I couldn't get the next task to work. After watching me struggle with it for a couple minutes (it was a timed exercise) the IT Director asked me what I was having a problem with and indicated that nothing should have been that difficult. I was thinking that I had gone brain-dead and was forgetting something really obvious. But, as I began to troubleshoot the situation, it became obvious to me that there was a major misconfiguration in their network. Nevertheless, still waivering in my confidence somewhat, I mentioned to him my analysis and turned it over to him to take a look. Sure enough, not by design, the test had been inadvertently sabotaged by an outside contractor that had made some changes while doing some sort of upgrade or something. I made big points by 'going above and beyond' as he put it by troubleshooting their network.
The other position I'm waiting to hear back on is a temp-to-hire gig with the local hospital. I had a telephone interview yesterday and now I'm waiting to hear whether they want to schedule an in person interview after they look at my complete work history (I only included the IT relevant jobs on my resume) and check out my references.
In the mean time an unexpected opportunity arose that could prove to be a real blessing. A IT outsourcing company's recruiter found my resume on the internet and emailed me the day before yesterday. I emailed back and yesterday on the phone she explained the position to me and I was hired on the spot yesterday to do warranty repairs for DELL, Gateway, and Lexmark! http://www.smartech-csi.com/. I have a territory that covers a 30-40 mile radius around Greenfield. They email the work orders to me and I arrange the appointments directly with the clients mostly at my convenience. It's a flat rate of $38 if it's up to 30 miles from home, $42 up to 40 miles, and $50 over that. The most complex task might be a motherboard replacement or repairing a laptop, but none of the work should take more than an hour, not counting travel time. The cool thing is that I can promote my own services as long as it's not work covered under the customer's warranty. My first assignments were already waiting for me when I signed up: one right here in Greenfield, and the other at the Ft. Hunter-Ligget Army base in Jolon. Pretty cool, eh?
OK, I'm burned story telling now. Time to move on to other activities...like studying and job searching!
Love,
Wayne & Lisa
