What's happening?

Time to spill the beans on what has been happening the past 2 weeks.

I wish there was some great, aesthetic way of saying this. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a word doctor. Jenny's school is letting her go. It has nothing to do with job performance. But due to tough economic times in the school, they decided to let her, and 7 other teachers go (the 8 teachers with least experience).

It's been almost exactly a year ago (March 15, 2008) when we moved into our beloved home. She and I both had a respectable income and we were as happy as can be.

Needless to say, a little has changed. We feel pretty confident that Jenny can get another teaching job. We've talked to a few people "high up the ladder" who claim that there won't be much movement, but there still should be some. She's already had an interview with another school. If this works out then we'll be looking at several thousand dollars less in salary.

I'm not asking for a pity party. We'll be fine. We'll be cutting back on some of our expenses, but don't worry. Neither of us have ever been big spenders and we don't plan on changing that. Just give us the necessities and we'll be happy. We've done some tweaking on our family budget and (if Jenny gets this lesser paying job) it looks like we can keep the house.

I haven't been in the ministry "business" very long, but one thing I've noticed is how people's theology will change based on life experiences. The biggest and best example I can think of is the case with divorce/remarriage. I'll hear very humble, Godly people have a pretty firm stance on what they believe regarding divorce and remarriage. But then it happens to them (or someone close to them) and their stance completely changes.

I now read political blogs a little differently. I read various blog posts about the economy and the analysis of our leaders' attempts to fix it. I would casually read statements like "80% of the foreclosures in the past year are a result of buying a house one cannot afford, not the economy". I used to have a big soapbox about the spending habits of America. How it has become a cultural norm to spend more in a year than a family makes.

I would usually end that soapbox with this video.

My stance hasn't changed on that. Even though our income will be significantly less, we plan on strictly following our family budget and saving close to 7-10% of our income, not counting retirement.

No, my stance hasn't changed, just how I read political blogs. The economy is affecting those who make good financing choices too.

I'll end by reciting a statement from a week and a half ago: I worry about what I can control. Not what I can't.

We can't control what happened to Jenny. But we can control how we respond to it.

Anybody know of any teacher openings in the Lowndes County area?