.....was the day I posted that I'd been laid off from my job where I'd worked w/my husband for ten years. It's where Bart and I met and 2 years after working together, we married and for the next 8 years, rode to work together every day. A few days after that post last year, I posted about how I was feeling as I processed the losses.....loss of income, loss of "security", loss of time with my husband everyday that we both thoroughly enjoyed. And I told you how thankful I was for you.
You see, as I went thru that really tough time, 402 of you took the time to reach out to ME that day, by leaving encouraging comments and I can't even tell you how much that meant to me. There was no blog-candy. No giveaway. Just me, telling you that I was struggling that day and you -- a lot of you -- giving me "hugs" and encouraging me, telling me your stories and sharing scriptures that help you thru difficult times. I can tell you that even though things were so hard just then, those comments were like salve on a wound. They helped me and I'm very grateful to you.
So....here we are a year later and I've decided that perhaps I should give you a little update. You know....sort of a State of the Union Address from the McVey Ranch. :) (We don't really live on a ranch. It's just fun to say.)
A year later, I......
- am designing from home full time. We made the decision to make this my new job and I can't tell you what a joy it is to be able to work from home every day! There are so many things that I'm able to do now as a designer that I never would have had time to do if I still worked full time at another job.
- am amazed at how much work there is to do! It seems that my design to-do list doesn't ever get any shorter because there's always another Countdown or product release coming or another magazine call or another deadline for one product or another. There is always something that needs to be done!
- am more in love with my husband than ever. He certainly could have "pushed" me into getting another office job somewhere, but he didn't. He is my biggest fan. He encourages me to follow my dreams and achieve goals that without him, I never would have even thought to reach for. We decided together, as a team, that I would design from home, and I can never thank him enough for encouraging me in that. He never makes me feel bad that I "get" to stay home and work while he "has" to go to work. Lord knows, I certainly feel a bit bad about that on my own -- I wish he could do something he totally loves every day like me -- but regardless, he never makes me feel bad. He is thoughtful and considerate, caring and generous, sweet and funny, super smart and a hottie....but we won't go there. Hee. He is my biggest blessing and I love him with all my heart.
- am much better rested! Turns out, I was never, ever getting enough sleep before and now that I don't get up at 4:45am for work every day, I'm much less cranky! Ha.
- work out 5 days a week. I take the weekends off, but Monday thru Friday I do a bit of weights workout w/my arms for 10 min. or so a day, I usually do 100 crunches and I spend an hour a day on the elliptical.
- eat much healthier all week long. (All bets are off when we eat out on the weekends, but hey....5 days of mostly healthy eating isn't too bad, right?)
- have lost 25 lbs. It's amazing how getting enough sleep, working out, and eating right can make such a big difference!
- read every day whether over breakfast and/or lunch, or just on the elliptical. (Love that motivation of an hour of reading a good book each day, if I just get my hiney on the elliptical!) :)
- am grateful for God's provision and grateful that He knew last year, exactly what things would look like this year. This is no surprise to Him.
- am HAPPY.
Last year, things seemed pretty bleak. The future was uncertain and life felt a little scary. But you know what? Our future is always uncertain, if you think about it! That's where trust in God comes in to play. If we always had everything under control all the time, we wouldn't really need God, would we? These little shake-ups in our life are a great opportunity for us to remember that God is in control. Nothing is happening in our lives that He's not already aware of. Nothing slips past Him. So we might as well put our hope and our trust in Him to take care of us.
Does this mean that things will always be easy? Uh.....definitely not! Ha. Does this mean that we'll never have anything to worry about? No! It just means that when the storms of life come our way, we know that we have a shelter from that storm.....by trusting in God, we know that whatever comes our way, He won't turn His back on us. Ultimately, He'll work the situation out.
We can't see the big picture, but He can. Last year, I certainly couldn't see how my lay-off could turn out to be a good thing. I knew He was ultimately in control, but I couldn't see all of the positives that would be taking place as a result of that lay-off. All I could see was my own hurt. But I'm so thrilled to be here a year later, telling you that God knows our hearts. He knows our hurts. He knows that I told you that my dream had been to design from home full time and you know what??? He made my dream a reality! Does that mean that everything is hunky-dory all the time? Certainly not. I'll be the first to admit that I still miss the income from my old job! HA. But Bart and I know that God is in control of our lives and we put our trust in Him to see us thru.
If you are discouraged today, if you are going thru a storm of your own, let my story encourage you! Let God walk thru that storm with you....you don't have to go it alone. This scripture from Jeremiah 29:11 is a favorite of mine..... "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
I'm sorry to get all "preachy" on you today (hee) but you know, sometimes it's good to hear "the rest of the story" and see how differently things look a year later. We all need to be encouraged at one time or another and if it's you today, then let me be the first to encourage you.....to tell you that it's gonna be ok. Let me offer you one of the 402 "virtual hugs" that were given to me last year.
I hope you know that you, dear readers, have become so much more than readers to me. You mean the world to me. I know you're there and just having you to talk to, even if you don't always talk back, is a blessing to me. I just wanted to take a minute today to make sure that you all know how much I care about YOU. And I wanted to make sure that you know how grateful I am to have you in my life. Thank you for sharing of yourselves with me. Thank you for those comments on that sad day last year and for every day since then. Connecting with you has become another of the joys in my life. You're my friends, my confidantes (goodness knows I've told you all sorts of things about myself and my family -- even funny things like this story or this story), you're my cheerleaders, my bff's and I just want you to know how much I appreciate you.
I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend. Hopefully I'll be back later today with a card to share, but the studio is a bit of a pit right now and is in desperate need of tidying up! We'll see how it goes! Ha.
much love to each and every one of you,
