I am in a new phase of my life: the work-a-lot phase!
I did not plan to be here right now. Since my means of making a living is selling toys, each year I plan to be extremely busy for what we have dubbed "The Christmas Rush".
The 2015 Christmas Rush was set to be a bit crazier than usual, because my long-time employee had gotten married and moved away. (I am very happy for her, and in fact, had been praying to this very end for a long time - not the move away part, but that the Lord would bring her a godly husband!)
To compensate, I'd hired someone short-term to work through the end of December, but I was left to bridge the gap of work that needed to be done since there was no way to teach him everything. I braced myself for a very crazy month... and it sure was!
Sales were higher than they had been, probably for the entire history of Superdairyboy. And profits were LOWER... I'm still looking into all of the possible causes. (It is probably a combination of things, including the dreadful legal fees loan that I can't afford, but must be paid every month regardless of whether I can afford it or not.)
My short-term employee quit in the middle of the Christmas Rush. The work still needed to be done, and I pulled 70-80 hours a week for those last 2 weeks before Christmas. The work was STILL not being completed... and we still are not entirely caught up from it!
I am further behind financially than I have ever been since the divorce. I'm trying to use less money, but I can't figure out how to continue to feed my family and heat where we are and take less than I was already taking, since it is winter.
And, of course, there is the illness! It continues to rage, even though I'm nearly to month 4 of the Cowden Protocol. (This is after 17 months of antibiotics, then a year or more of other non-prescription-drug-treatment, and then I started this.)
So, like I mentioned at the beginning, I did not plan to be in this place right now. But as it stands, I have to work, and work HARD. I have to try to find the places we are loosing money and plug those holes - yesterday! Meanwhile, the work has to be done, or we will not bring in the sales to even continue as a business. I have to monitor my illness, teach school, take care of my kids, manage the laundry, cleaning, and cooking... and of course there is grocery shopping and doctors appointments in the middle of it all! (One son split his knee open on a rock and had stitches - it became infected, and something is still going on with it that is not quite right.)
One of the reasons that I am giving a little glimpse into my life right now, is so that you can pray for me. The main reason that I share it though, is that I want to say that God's grace is still enough... even when life is beyond manageable... He is still holding us in His hands. :) I can continue on to face a new day, because He is here with us, in this impossible place, sustaining and guiding us. His love is enough, for each new day that comes.
