Good Things

I just thought I'd record some "good things" here from recent days . . .

• My parents are coming to visit us a week from Friday and will be here for Thanksgiving. Given all that has happened in our lives over the last month and a half, it's going to be nice to have family here for the holiday. Too bad they'll miss all the beautiful fall foliage and last week's heat wave!
• Related to their visit, Mom and Dad offered to help us get a new bed for our bedroom for our Christmas gift this year. Let the record show that they do have an ulterior motive, of course: If we buy the mattress now, they'll get to sleep on it for the ten nights that they are with us! For a few months now, I've been wanting a new mattress but, naturally, now is not the time for a big purchase of a non-necessity. The old mattress was working fine; I just wanted something a little firmer. So Saturday, I went to Denver Mattress and bought a queen-size Doctors Choice Firm mattress and foundation. One thing that caught us off guard . . . even though the mattress isn't a pillow top or anything, both it and the foundation are much thicker than our old ones, so our bed is a lot higher than before, and our quilt doesn't quite cover everything anymore! And Jeannette has to pole vault into bed.
• Five weeks ago, I thought there were likely to be some good job possibilities that were imminent. I wasn't sure if they were the right options for us but it still was comforting to think I might have choices so quickly after losing my job. Well, so far nothing has come to fruition. The good news, I suppose, is that I'm still finding jobs to apply for. It's been a real reminder, though, of how convoluted and capricious a job search can be. When you're on the other side of the equation, you don't realize how these delays--oh, let's cancel the search committee meeting for today since everyone is so busy--create havoc in the candidate's mind.
• Our parent-teacher meetings went so well last week. It's always nice to hear good things about your kids.
• MelodyJoy's minor surgery last week went very smoothly, other than the cranky aftermath resulting from the anesthesia.
  
• Last Saturday, our small group from church got together. We try to meet twice a month. After our normal standing-around-talking-for-a-long-time start, we spent 50 minutes together praying for our nation and one another and praising God. It was a very good, very cool time, and especially meaningful to us because the focus of much of the prayer was on our family's situation and needs. These four couples have become very special to us in the last nine months.
• I realized last week that one of my fears is that, as this job search stretches out and I remain out of the profession, people will start to forget about me. That's human nature . . . we're all busy and get wrapped up in daily activities and forget yesterday's news. I know I do. God is so good, though. In the last few days, I've gotten encouragement that I'm not forgotten . . . a Facebook note from a friend at Colorado State saying that he had been talking with a colleague at the College Board about me, a friend at Cedarville calling just to find out what I'm looking for and asking for my resume, a call from a school in California the same day that I submitted an application.
• The clerk at Kohl's who gave me 30% off my purchase even though I had lost my coupon and the guy at Walmart who honored a competitor's special price on oil changes even though he wasn't supposed to.
• I'm blessed to have a wife and kids who are just being patient in all this uncertainty--despite their anxieties which sometimes bubble to the surface.
• Gas prices under $2 a gallon. Last night, I had to fill up the Durango, which was on E. Six weeks ago, that tank of gas would have cost me just about a hundred bucks.
  
• Throughout the time I've been typing this, I've been interrupted repeatedly (i.e., constantly) by a 3-year-old demanding "Get me, Daddy, get me!"