The door SLAMS shut!

I guess the saying “when one door closes another opens” is true to a point. As I said to Dan….I guess that door that was SLAMMED into your face opened up the window. What am I talking about? Well……Yesterday Dan received a phone call from a gentleman at the tech. It was a follow up on an application that Dan submitted last week. He has an interview Tuesday mid morning I believe. YAH!!! This is a job Dan wants so very badly. He didn’t get a chance to interview for the full time position they had open due to someone having more teaching experience, but this one was handled differently and Dan ended up being the last person they were going to mail the application out to per the gentleman Dan spoke with. Maybe this is something that was meant to be? I dunno, only time will tell.  It is only a part-time job but he will at least get his foot in the door and he can always continue to look for more work. It will be helping with teaching the students that are in the transportation program and helping them get ready for their road tests for them to be successful.    Please keep Dan in your prayers that a job will come his way. Life is quite the struggle but taking it one day at a time helps being able to survive. I don’t know how people can make it in life if they don’t have family and friends to lean on. I guess I am a very fortunate that I have a few special people that I can just vent my daily stress to and feel better about everything. I also find working makes me feel like life isn’t all that bad here. Sure we are struggling financially, who isn’t? But we have our health and we have faith and hope that tomorrow will come. The patients that we see don’t have that. They know they are towards the end of their journey here on earth. So I guess I can say for me….Life is good 🙂

Last night Logan and the rest of Roosevelts 8th grade choir had the honor of singing at the Lawrence Chapel with the northside schools (5-6 graders) and the choirs from Appleton North. They did a fabulous job! I truely enjoyed listening to them the whole evening. They had an awesome director. To bad I don’t know his name. I do know it starts with an “A”. Logan loves him. I made a comment about being able to just listen to him play his music and Logan said he also has an awesome voice. Anyway all the kids did an awesome job. To my suprise my cousins daughter was there also. She looked beautiful and did an awesome job. The music in that chapel was undescribable. It just carried through that place that you felt it was all around you. Absolutly amazing!

Tyler started football practice outside tonight. They were accepted into the semi pro league this season so they won’t have as many games being canceled like last. This is all good. He is excited to start playing again. It is his one true love.

Brooke still continues to think college is “boring”. I am hoping it starts to challenge her soon.

Cayla is looking forward to going to the New Kids on the Block concert. I know what you are thinking but what can I say?! lol

That is about it here in the Rawlings home. Stay safe and enjoy the great weather as we get it. You never know what we will have the next day. Never take a day for granted 🙂
Hugs to all
~*~T~*~

Teens and young adults in todays world

Sitting here tonight talking to Dan after he got off the phone. He shared his conversation with me that he had with the other person on the phone. After ours I sat there thinking:
Today’s teens and young adults are robbed from the experiences that the real world has to offer due to all the technology that is in the world. If you think about it, if you are 30ish and up you made it without a cell phone. You actually called home from a friends house phone or a pay phone to check in. Your parents didn’t know where you were calling from because they didn’t have caller id. You spent your time outside exploring the world and what it had to offer you or just finding things to putz around with. You didn’t have the computer. You didn’t have texting. You didn’t have instant messaging. You knew what an encyclopedia was. You spent your evenings after supper gathering neighbor kids together to play red robin, kick the can, kick ball and the many other outside games that anyone could think of. You rode your bike all over the city no matter how big it is. MTV was a channel were you could watch only music videos, Downtown was a place that you could go and hang out or actually window shop. You could spend hours down there and always find something to do, even without any money. Today’s kids rely on texting. Gosh for sacks they actually pick up a phone and have a REAL conversation. When someone doesn’t reply right away some of the girls think their friend is mad at them. Ever think they might not have received it? Technology is a good thing for some things but when it comes to things for teens and young adults I just wish things would take a lot longer to be improved or for something new to come out. I think that is what you call being content. Now there is a concept! Be content with life!!!! How many teens/young adults can say they are absolutly content with life. Minus the cell phones, or the computers and such. I am sure not many. Glad I grew up in the 70s-80s! How about you?!

Small update

Dan received a few calls this week from the same company about a driving job. It is the same company that Tyler works for. They have been preparing all the paperwork and getting all the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted so they had the go ahead to get a hire date for him. He got a call this afternoon and has another meeting Monday and will possibly start next week. The pay is not even near what he was making and more close to what he is making on unemployment but I should be having a chance to go full-time where I work to compensate for some of what we are lacking.
Will keep you posted as to when things are in cement. Until then we are continuing to climb our mountain and dealing with the boulders that come our way.

Another day in the life….

Nothing new here. We are climbing the same mountain but at a very very slow pace if at all. When something is a little different I will blog at that time. In the meantime we will continue to dodge boulders and attempt to get further up our mountain.

Blessed

As I sit here, I find myself feeling so giddy. I don’t have any reason and I have no clue why. Really no reason at all. Life here at the Rawlings is pretty much the same. Application after application is filled out day in and day out. Hearing “accepting applications but not hiring at this time”, “Sorry you are over qualified for this type of job”, “Your application is still in process”. Alrighty then! Whatever, God knows what he is doing and knows what path he is leading us so I will have faith in his will. I think I get a “high” from a successful day of making my way thru what I call the black hole upstairs. For you that knew me when Tim, Katy and I were younger (much younger) you know we were pretty much slobs when it came to our rooms. We could always shut the door and nobody would know. Heck I don’t think my mom dared to venture into our rooms. (I know Katy…it was all my side! not) I think she feared the floor would swallow her. Well that is how I felt going upstairs today. Between the girls room, the boys room and the sitting room…Not a pretty sight. Lets put it this way….I still had my Christmas stuff lined up along the hall to be put away yet. Add some, no LOTS of clothes, books and shoes in that and well you get a HUGE mess!!!! and that is just the sitting room/hall. After spending 2 hours upstairs I was content for the time being. The boys room actually has a floor!!! The sitting room! There is a loveseat that you can actually sit on! Oh my gosh and you can walk down the hall with more room then you need and not even stepping on anything! The only thing that is left in the boys room is to go thru their clothes and donating whatever they don’t wear or doesn’t fit. The girls don’t do to bad of a job on their room when they clean it so I have faith that they will get that done before the weekend is over.
I am full of joy that the three older kids were able to get something big with their refunds this year that they have wanted. Tyler a TV for his room, Cayla a laptop and Brooke a full size bed. They all deserve it more then anyone I know. They are good kids and they never ask for anything. They are ALWAYS content.
I was definitely blessed with awesome children!

The search continues

No new news here. Dan is still searching for employment. Today he was told at a job that he inquired about that he was over qualified. Imagine that! But the gentleman that he had talked to did ask him if he would be interested in driving tanker for his stations if he bought a truck. Dan told him that he would. But according to Dan he isn’t going to hold his breath. He doesn’t think this guy is going to be making any decisions anytime soon. Other then that we are still hanging out waiting to hear the phone to ring for a job interview or offer.

Tonight we are suppose to get snow. All I can say about that is UGH! I am so ready for the nice weather to come and be able to just go outside and get fresh air and open the windows to let the germs out. But I guess I will wait a few more weeks. But in the meantime I am going to plant some seeds and see how they will grow and see what the out come will be in spring. Something to look forward to 🙂

Life as a mountain

Life seems to be once again a mountain. I find that climbing this mountain isn’t as enjoyable as one would think.  But then again you will have good days and get far up that mountain and then there are days when you feel like you continue to slip.  Right now I feel like I am slipping down after getting so far up.  Dan is still searching for a job.  Still continuing to pray for the teaching job but with realization we pray for God’s  grace in guiding us on the journey he is laying out for us.  I believe this is where faith and trust come in.  I will continue to work on practicing my faith and trust in God that he will provide and that he is leading us onto the correct path and in the meantime our trip up the mountain will get closer to the top with an awesome view. 

Life is looking up!!!

Today was a little challenging. Dan was having a “bad” day and I couldn’t find the compassion to put up with it. Sound like a horrible wife don’t I? But enough is enough. I shared with him how I felt and also told him if his dad was still alive he would be over here kicking his butt and getting over his “bad” day. When I say bad day I am actually referring to his poor pity me day. I can understand how hard it can be for a man to have no job and not being able to support his family like he did. Doesn’t help when he sees the bills come in and knowing the money isn’t there to pay for them. I also told him that we always have brought out kids up with the saying “If there is something you can do about it then do something, if not then find a way to deal with it”.
Shortly after me sharing my feelings/thoughts with him the phone rang. It was a company that he applied for on Monday. The guy called, they talked and he came out of the bedroom and told me he was no longer unemployed. It isn’t the job he really truly wants but it is a job and it will bring an income into the home. He will be hauling containers from Neenah to one of the rail yards in Chicago. (what this means in regular peoples terms…he will be transporting the railroad containers to the railroad yards. He will start next week sometime. Knowing life will be back to somewhat normal eventually….. I know why at least one person in a marriage works. So they don’t drive each other nuts being together all the time!!!!
Yeah yes….Life is good!!!!

Sermons talking straight to you!

Ever find yourself sitting at church and while you are listening to the sermon you find that everything that the pastor is saying you can relate to?? Tonight while sitting in my seat listening to pastor preaching I am thinking…how does he know I need this right now??? How does he know we are at a point in our life right now that we need this reminder? Is he preaching this directly at me?! Tonight the message was “God will provide”. Yesterday I had a melt down from a brain fart that I had and trying to keep it together I kept trying to tell myself “don’t worry about it Trish, God will provide”. Then I go to church tonight and poof! I think God felt that I needed to hear it from him through a way that would get my attention. Well guess what?! It worked. Then while he is reading the gospel, all I could think of was gesh he sounds so much like the guy that is on the cd reading the shack. Both voices were like one. Dan and I both looked at each other in agreement. Kind of freaky I say.

As for the update with Dan and his job search….Dan is still praying that he has a good chance with the teaching job. The position is still posted and his application is still in process. He received an email confirming that they received his application and that they will keep him updated. He also applied at a few others which to find out none of them were hiring. He has a lead on another one for next week but again unsure if they are hiring. But doesn’t hurt to go and check it out and talk with the gentleman. In the meantime Dan is hanging out at home slowly irritating me. I think he is paying me back for all the times that I enjoyably and I mean enjoyably irritated him. He did give me a compliment the other day out of the clear blue….He turned and looked at me and said “I have missed you so much in the last 15 years”. With the emotional kind of person I am and trying to not show my emotions at this point, I kidded with him and said well I didn’t think I was lost. He chuckled and we continued doing whatever it was we were doing. Good thing he knows me well.

As for me…I started school two weeks ago. Just starting with math to begin with. Gotta start out slow. Can’t throw an old woman in a group of youngens all at once. To my surprise there are a lot of older people out at the tech. But I did also realize….if you ever want to feel stupid…..Just go to school!!!!! Last week I got in there took two tests…. 1st one 93%=A
2nd one 100%=A…feeling good about it all I thought hey not bad! Then I took another test to see which skills I needed in a different area and POOF! She ended up checking a lot off! Okay so I have a lot that I don’t recall from high school. Man my high didn’t last very long let me tell yah!! Did I ever feel stupid once again. So I need a refresher. Btw….I hated algebra and geometry in high school and I didn’t see what the big deal was about it since we wouldn’t use it in the real world anyway. Well guess I should have paid more attention back then. Maybe I would have retained at least some of it. Good thing I don’t have to do anything with history. Not that subject I really did not like!! Anyway, my goal is to breeze past Tyler and get through with the class before he does. He has been in the same math class for a bit now. He goes on Fridays and I go on Wednesdays. Maybe it will be a little incentive for him to get his butt going. Speaking of Tyler……After meeting with his advisor for a course change (he is now going to go from the technical degree program to the associate degree) this past week, he found out some surprising news. After the first semester when he was in the machinist program his GPA was only 0.708. Not to good. Since he changed his program to diesel mechanic which he absolutely loves, he had a 4.0 after this past semester. He made the dean’s list. Yup Tyler!!! I am so proud of him! I think he finally found what he is really interested in. Now if I can find what I want to do for the rest of my working life I will be content. As for school……Brooke’s last day of high school was on the 30th of January. Early graduation. She is absolutely bored and wishes she could be starting school but has to wait until the 9th of March. She is waiting for the final semester grades to be finished so the school will give her a letter stating that she is done with school and that she graduated early. This way she will be able to work the day shift at McD’s during the week. Other then that life is pretty dull at the Rawlings’ home.

Traveling experience

Our excursion started about 8:00 pm Monday night.  Dan in his semi with Cayla.  Brooke and I in my car.  We had one destination…Ohio!  The final journey for Dan and his employment with LandAir after almost 15 years.  He had to return his semi to their terminal down in Columbus Ohio.  The night started out just as planned and as I followed Dan we began to experience all kinds of events.  I did very well keeping up with Dan.  As he put it “we were like flys on chit”.  Traffic wasn’t to bad as we went through Milwaukee or Chicago at this time of night.  Our first experience was the toll roads.  Now I have been on toll roads many many times before so I know how they work.  You see Dan had a “I pass” and I had to go through a different area for the cash area.  My biggest fear was losing him throughout the traffic after those toll areas.  First one went okay.  Brooke had him in focus and away we went and continued to travel.  The second one came up and well we were going to fast and I was having a brain fart or not paying attention and I couldn’t see over Dan’s truck since I was so close behind him and poof we were through the toll.  We all never laughed so hard. Dan saw that one coming.  He told Cayla, “Your mom is so close behind me I bet she folllows right through this toll.”  Sure enough!  Brooke and I realized we were already at the toll booth when it was to late as we continued to be right behind Dan.  After we were able to control ourselves and wipe the tears from our eyes and see again I decided we needed a plan so when we went through the tolls I not only would be able to meet up with him I would be able to know they were coming since I couldn’t see in front of him because of the truck.  So I said “when we are coming up on a toll, you flash your lights and turn on your right blinker and I will speed up, pay the toll and poof I will be right there by the time you go through.  Boom!  Worked like a charm.  Lights flashed, right blinker went on and off I went to Dan’s right side with the cash toll in sight.  Toll was 80 cents.  Didn’t have time to putz around looking for the exact change, gave the gentleman a buck and yelled “keep the change hurry I gotta get through!”  Continued on  to the next one.  Same set of events happened again.  Even at the toll booth.  This guy looked at me a little weird but told him I had to hurry and he put up the thingerjobber to let me go.  We approached the last toll and the same set of events happen with Dan’s notice to me and poof there I go.  I am way ahead of Dan this time.  Get to the booth, the guy is READING! HELLO!!! I need to hurry here! Keep the change, gotta go!  I kept going slowly of course til the guy lifted up the thingerjobber.  Caught up with Dan once again.  I think we had this perfected.  As most of you know driving in Chicago can always be interesting.  Life on the roads there are fast.  Speed limit is 55 but does anyone go that???? Oh heck NO!  We are talking 70-80!  Good thing Dan’s truck could only go up to 68.  During this little trip Brooke and Cayla are continuing to communicate through text messaging.  Brooke’s to Cayla: “Holy crap! Mom’s going to kill me! I think I would feel safer on the roof of the truck.”   Just for the record, driving through Chicago with me isn’t really that bad.  Once we got into Indiana traffic was better.  There is this stretch on hwy 65 or 70 that seems to go and go and go forever.  While driving along this stretch I realized two things.   I  now know why people in chicago do drugs and why semi drivers have high blood pressure and most of them have anxiety!  It is called traffic in CHICAGO!  The rest of our travels through the remainder of the night went well.  Cayla went in the bunk and slept and Brooke watched a couple movies, tried reading with a  little book light (that didn’t work to well for her) and then snoozed a little here and there.  As we drove by the rest stops I was amazed at the amount of truck that were at each one.  They were all packed!  Both sides.  All I could think of is what life traveling would have been like if they were all on the road at the same time as we were.   Morning arrived and we stopped at the truck stop so Dan could fuel his truck and off to the terminal we went.  The parking lot at this place was horrible!  There are potholes all over!  Dan called them craters and Brooke called them ufo landing areas.  Dan found a spot to park the trailer and we helped clear out the truck.  It was kind of sad.  Having to clear it totally out knowing that he would never be back in this truck that he worked so hard for.  As he handed me the box I said it felt like he was cleaning out his desk at work.  Once done he drove the truck up to a different area and delivered the keys.  The end is now here.  No more LandAir.  No more driving nightly to Niles MI and back. 

 

 A new journey awaits. 

Our experience coming home was a little less fun and amusing.  As we were getting into Ohio we were hearing on the radio about freezing rain coming and such.  Hoping that we would just miss this, it started as we were finishing up with the truck.  As we headed out on the interstate we are driving along, all of a sudden a car is spinning out, then the semi truck in front of us is trying to keep his load under control.  He was hauling a load of steal.  He was able to get it under control and was back on the road handling it very well.  The road was one sheet of  peer ice!  Needless to say with being so flipping tired I was unable to sleep while we are on this.  After seeing this in front of me I think my heart came right up to my throat.  I just want to be back home!!!!  We finally got through Ohio and entered Indiana.  Life was good, they had some drizzle but by the time we got to this area the roads weren’t as icy. But prior to us getting there, there was a huge accident which made traffic come to a stand still and we were in a major back up.  Traffic crawled very slowly for an hour and half to two.  With Dan being tired, traffic not moving, weather not being the greatest he was not a happy camper.  At this point we had no idea why traffic was so backed up.  As we were finally able to move closer to the reason . Once getting past this it was like the sky opened and poof traffic was moving steady.  BTW, found out what it would be like if all those truckers weren’t at those rest areas .  We stopped someplace to eat for breakfast and when we got back on the road it seemed as if the ice had melted and traveling was a little better.   Cayla had wanted Dan to go through downtown Chicago once last time for Old time sakes so we did. 

We finally were home at 6:30pm!  AMEN!  Life is good again! 

 

As I reflected on our experiences throughout the past 24 hours or so I come to the conclusion that God was with us through the whole thing.  Everything that happened that night and day happened for a reason.  If we had left the house any earlier or the terminal any earlier then what we had one of those many accidents on those highways could have been us.   On our way home one of Dan’s good good friends called him to update him on his application at the job he applied for last week.  His friend just started at this place not to long ago also and had talked to the gal that does the hiring and she had been out of the office for a few days.  She received his application and will be reviewing it and getting ahold of him within the next few days.    Life is going to be okay.  I just have to keep reminding myself, God will provide 🙂