Praise and Pumpkins

Whewwwwwww. Did you hear that?  It does not matter where you are reading this, you likely heard my enormous exhale all the way from Virginia. I am so, so, so thankful to share that I will be keeping my position with Pfizer in the Roanoke area. The layoff that occurred today was announced around six weeks ago, and my stomach has been in knots ever since. I haven't been afraid of how we would make it; I know He will take are of us. But, just the uncertainty of "what comes next" felt like it was putting a lot if things on hold for our family.  I was expecting to receive my notification call around 1:30 this afternoon, and while most folks arranged to be home for it, I knew that wouldn't be an option with the girls at the house, especially since we had decided not to tell Kasey about it (more about that choice below!). So after I worked the morning, I drove around for a little while to find a place to park and wait for my call.  Though I drove in circles for a while, I ended up in our church parking lot because there was a comfort in recognizing He already knows what decision has been made.   And now, instead of beginning my search for a Plan B this afternoon, I am praising the One who goes before me; He fights for me.

As I mentioned above, we chose not to share the potential layoff with Kasey beforehand. At first I said we could wait, and then give her a notice if I lost my job, but as crazy as it sounds, we actually decided we were going to try to keep her on board for as long as we possibly could so that we wouldn't risk losing her as our nanny (my hope would have been to apply for other jobs rather quickly). Yes, we love her that much. (And now you're all thinking... Out of work and keeping her full time nanny, no wonder she wasn't absolutely frantic about that possibility... haha). 

But, here's just another little peek at why we are so pleased with her. Kasey's mom is an elementary school teacher, and a few weeks ago, Kasey asked if she and Willa could join her mom and her class on a field trip to Layman Family Farm, a local pumpkin patch. Harper has her "long" day at preschool on Wednesdays since she eats lunch there, so I knew Wills would absolutely. eat. up. the chance to go do something with other "big kids" (aka first graders) without ol' Harper there to boss her around. And by the looks of these pictures that Kasey sent me, she sure did!  Just another sweet praise.