You gotta wonder what God is doing sometimes.

It amazes me how much my 100% support means to my DH and how gigantic of a difference even 1% of un-support makes. I have been supporting him, in the way I thought he needed, and didn't listen to when he told me he needed something different.

His work situation is extremely unfair. They treat him very poorly. He is unappreciated and gets no thanks for going out of his way to help those around him, for going the extra 5 miles and for being nice. He gets reprimanded when others are more in the wrong and when he's done nothing wrong. He is the youngest of the three maintenance guys, but has seniority as he's been there the longest. He has a family to support and can't just walk away from the position. He has looked for work elsewhere and the doors have been firmly closed.

We decided last time things got heated at work, that the mistreatment needed to stop, not only for Jason, but for other current and future employees. At this point, I believe the decision is to formally document each injustice by writing a letter to be put in his personnel file (and we will keep a copy).

The latest issue is over on-call. He gets called every weekend, when they are to be rotating every three weekends! He feels as if they expect him to be available 24/7, no matter what. He has been reprimanded for showing up late (half an hour or so) due to prior obligations - it was his weekend off and he made plans. He's gotten in trouble for not answering his phones, but last weekend the on-call guy didn't answer his phones, so Jason had to go do the job. The on-call guy sort of got a talking to and Jason got no thanks and in fact got talked to about being in a fuss about having to go in.

Please continue to pray. Pray for me that I will support him 100% in the way he needs me to to feel supported by me. Pray that Jason will be willing to allow another couple to come along and support the both of us and that the couple will be willing to do so. Pray that Jason will say and do the right things to continue to be a Christ-like example in an unfair situation, and yet not allow himself to be trampled on. Oh, and that we will make time for the two of us, as we found out last night we need that so especially right now!

We've been through tough things before. We will get through this. But it is very very hard, very stressful and so tough to see your man treated so poorly. I want to fight and be angry!

We are trying hard to give this problem over to God, to allow him to work on the hearts of all involved. This type of behavior at J's workplace has been going on for many years which makes our "job" of changing things that much harder. We don't see the big picture; we want to, we think. And yet, if it's gonna get worse, I don't want to know that, cuz I'd probably quit now.

I am fuming!

Ok, so I've settled down a little, but it wouldn't take much to get me riled again.

Just recently the three maintenance guys (together with their bosses) decided to start an on call rotation so that the men could actually get some time off. For the summer it seemed to work okay. My DH got some time off, but then he would at times be called in on his vacation days too, but that's another story. The guys have been working together to swap weekends and it's been good; everyone has been pulling their weight and everyone gets to spend weekends with their families, except if something comes up on their weekend to work.

Well, since Christmas my DH has been called in almost every single weekend! It's been crazy! He's willingly swapped weekends, been on call 2 weekends in a row just to help the other guys out and such things. Well, today was the day that it all blew up! And I am mad! So mad I could cry and scream and throw a great big hissy fit on the floor like my two year old son does!

J swapped weekends with one of the other guys. No problem. Well, as J was coming to bed after 2AM the pager goes off! An accident on the highway, pedestrian met tractor trailer. I knew he was going to be gone until morning as they have to wait for the inspector to come who can't see the full situation until daylight. At 5:30AM I get a call that I miss; thank goodness for call display or I would have worried until J got home.

It was his work calling! Our home phone!! At 5:30 in the morning!!! On his WEEKEND OFF!!!!! I was very polite when I called them back and let them know he was unavailable and why. When he got home at 9:30AM I let him know how my night (morning) went (you don't wanna know, just know I didn't get any sleep either!) and so he called work to find out what was going on and if they still needed him (and why I was getting a call at that time of day). Anyway, he dealt with the situation over the phone and calmed everyone down I guess.

Having not slept all night he crashed in front of the tv saying that he'd try to work on the loft later. That later was not filled with working on the loft. It was filled with calls to and from work all afternoon, ranting and raving about how he wasn't on call and why wasn't the guy on call answering his phones! He ended up having to go into work all afternoon to fix a pump on the main boiler that heats the building(thank goodness it was warmer today!!). He came home, got to eat supper and was not even finished when they called for him to come back again!!!! In there the other guy called him too and said that he hadn't received any calls all weekend and didn't know why J was so upset! So, it is now almost 10 PM at night and my dh is still not home from work on HIS WEEKEND OFF!!!!

My hubby is seriously getting it from all sides at work. He can't do anything right it seems. It's been a rough year that way. There are a couple of women that want him fired and one has been trying since March! to find a reason to get rid of him! We thank God regularly for the allies he has at work and ones that have developed even though some of them didn't start out that way. And it's funny, how we've looked for other options ourselves, wondering where God wants us and what He has in store for us. Well, everything we've looked into and applied for have been very obviously closed doors. And it's nice to have a clear answer!

Thanks for "listening" to my rant, dear readers! It's been a rough day. I think a lot of it was both of us being overtired and things not going the way they were supposed to go. Tomorrow is a new day!

Some random thoughts

Well, we've had quite the Christmas season. We've been so sick. Terribly sick. Every single one of us. Well, except for baby who just slept lots and lots.

We were together though and that's what counts. Although DH was on call he didn't get any calls into work. This was totally different from last here when DH was called out every day but one through the whole 10 days. He was able to work on our loft (even if he didn't get as far as he wanted, he got a start) and I'm so excited about that. (Look for pictures soon.)

Now we've started a new year! Do you have resolutions? I didn't really make any specific but I will be working on my 101 in 1001 list - see my post from yesterday about the habit per month.

Off to get lunch for everyone now. K cooked burgers! She's really getting very independent and I love it. She's a huge help to me.

Oh, and my pic for Photo Wednesday - look for more of those. I think I found my hobby. Scrapbooking without the mess!!! I worked on a bunch of pages last night and brought in the new year that way! : )

Some Changes, In Case You Didn't Notice

Hi again. I have been posting quite regularly and hopefully not too often for my readers.

I just wanted to bring your attention to the snow scene at the top of the page! I am hoping to change that picture with the changing seasons. Through that process you will be able to see the changes we make to the outside of our home as well. The outside changes will be slow. Nothing is planned until spring/summer when we need to rebuild the front deck. Any of you who have visited are well aware of the dangerous climb to our front doors.

Inside, changes should be happening more often. For instance, beginning any day my maintenance man will start building the loft bedroom. He has the materials priced out and the plans drawn. I've started taking items downstairs that don't really need to be in this room; we aren't using them for the most part anyway. My main room is starting to look and feel cleaner and more comfortable, more peaceful. I will continue this transfer of boxes and items tomorrow.

I am excited about the changes in our home. I'll keep you updated.

Well, I'm setting it up a little more

Like the changes I've made. I think I'm getting into this a little more. Still continue to visit me over at Just Our Thoughts on homeschoolblogger.com