Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Lord Knows Your Needs

A while back I had a pretty emotional spell. I was eating myself up with stress. I was pregnant with our fourth kid. Our finances were extremely stretched as it was, then we found out that Alex would be getting a small pay cut. It really wasn't a "big deal" as far as amount, but to me it meant more than just losing a small portion of income. To me it meant that the Master's degree that Alex had just received would do nothing for him as long as he stayed in his current position as teacher. When he started working for Boise State they gave him a "pay schedule". Meaning, as he gained more education and experience, his pay would go up. Well, Boise State turned the entire technical college over to the new community college- College of Western Idaho. The economy was on a sinking downturn and CWI had to cut cut cut. We were lucky that Alex got to keep his job. Not everyone got that luxury. Anyway, I was feeling very distressed. How does someone go year after year making the same income...with NO increase and NO PROMISE of increase?....all the while growing a family into a small home with NO ability to move?? Getting a new job in this economy is near to impossible AND would probably start you at the bottom. Ok so on to my POINT. We decided that Alex should utilize his mechanic skills to do some work on the side. A little extra cash could go a long way. This summer he's had a few jobs and its been really helpful. Plus, people who use Alex get to save some money as well. Today we just got some fabulous news that University of Idaho has hired Alex for a part time job as the Skills USA Idaho Coordinator! This is all work he does on the side of his teaching position with CWI. The pay is good and will hopefully help us out even more. The best part about this whole thing is that Alex still gets his summers off and can work when he wants to. Also he gets more leadership experience added to his education and teaching. I know the Lord has been watching over us. I am so grateful for all my blessings. This came in a very needed time.

3 comments:

  1. That is great. I'm glad Alex got an extra job and that is will work out so well. Sweet!

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  2. That is so awesome! How blessed your cute little family is.
    I feel I can relate, Steve will make the same amount of money for the rest of his life unless he decides to switch from hoseman (fireman) to driver (drives the truck) so we were stuck too, which is why I had to get a job as teaching. It's super tuff especially in this economy but you are doing fabulous my friend and your babies are beautiful and healthy and happy:)

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  3. We had the exact same thing happen with Collin and his job this year. It's now his 6th year teaching and even though they also have a "pay schedule" he was supposed to go up like 4K this year because he's almost done with his master's and reached his 5-year mark. BUT thanks to the governor's billions of education cuts instead Collin got a pay CUT! It really sucks. I wish people would understand that cutting education funding isn't the way to make our education system better!! Glad Alex was able to get something goin on the side! We will definitely call him next time we need some car help!

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