Back from the Trip: Furlough Board is Moving!

So we are back from our trip.  Our dear conductor was missed.  We thought of him often, and wished he could be with us- but the plans had been made before he was let go from the most recent railroad job- and we were traveling with my sister, and there was no room for him.  He kept busy by refinishing our staircase floor while we were gone.

Yesterday he checked the furlough board and found that almost 40 people have gone back to work!  This is good news.  The president of the company has said publicly that the railroad expects to bring every single furloughed person back to work eventually.  I hope that's not beaurocratic hot air.

Tomorrow is our son's birthday. He'll be ten.  We can't afford to buy him much, or have much of a party.  I am making a cake from a mix, as I always do, and I will invite his best friend for dinner and cake.  I had hoped to get him a guinea pig, but we can't afford that now.  I am hoping a white rat or a rabbit will fill the pet void for him.

Someone said yesterday that there are jobs on the Gulf Coast, cleaning up the spill.  She said that they were paying $18 to $31 per hour.  We got excited, because we spent a number of years on the Gulf Coast, and we love that area, and would be thrilled to have temporary work there, working close to old friends.  We homeschool, so I could pick up the kids and we could go down there to be near the hubby.  We could stay a few months in our camper at campgrounds, homeschooling, visiting friends, taking the kids to see the historic sites there, and providing a home away from home for the husband.  Then I found out that the jobs are paying $8 per hour, and you have to be a Gulf Coast resident to be hired.

But my husband and his furloughed friends are speculating that they might get called back by November 2010.  Gosh that would be great.

Here's to avoiding bitterness, staying positive, keeping the dream alive, and loving our kids while they are still young, and giving them a rich childhood, even though we can't presently afford gymnasitics, and camp, and all of those other things that they ask for. 

We are very blessed, however.  Our kids have NEVER ever complained about budgetary restraints.  We have wonderful, unselfish kids.   Thanks be to God.