Ahhhhh, Sunday.....

Would be just like any other if not for church and great friends!
Lots of hugs! Great sermon. Great meeting with the ladies after the service. Such a supportive group. Interesting Bible Study topic.... "Cutting back after job loss".... how appropriate! Yummy food. More hugs.

Then home to figure out my email.... Gremlins seem to have gotten in there and rearranged everything, and I can't EVEN find the address book and bookmarks that I emailed to myself the last week of work.

If you sent me anything since about Jan 26th, and haven't heard from me, please resend. I'm not sure when things were supposed to start forwarding, but I seem to have missed a lot. Several people have told me things were coming back to them.

I'm changing addresses with everyone when I remember they don't have the new one, but seems I haven't caught up with everyone yet.... so, here is my new email for family and friends.

lorissareynolds@gmail.com

A busy week of meetings and job hunting, and promoting our photography business and parenting classes.
If you know of anyone who would be willing to sponsor a family to take the class, or want to know more about that, please let me know.
A lot of the people who contact us for classes are foster parents, or going through divorce, who can't afford the classes. We are seeking folks to sponsor them with a scholarship. Good for the family, good for the community, good for the world. Peace begins at home!

Well, much to do before I sleep....

Blessings,
Lori

Losing track of what day it is.....

What a great Saturday!

Kind of hard to tell the days apart since I'm working on working..... finding a job, building our businesses, paperwork, forms, and more....

Today was special because I went to my granddaughter's birthday party and got to spend some time with family and friends. A big switch from working on working all the time!
I love playing with the kids. Took lots of photos. Hopefully will get them loaded on the computer tomorrow and sent out.

Off to bed soon so I can be alert in church tomorrow. :)
Sweet dreams everyone!
Blessings,
Lori

Fat and Sassy.....

Well, feeling fat anyway!

Had a nice lunch today with friends from my old job. Seems funny to call it that since it's only been a short time since I was there. But it is.... my old job.
The friends are the best still! I do hope we will still get together sometimes as time goes on. Maybe they'll remember to invite me when they have lunches out for other folks. Hope I can go when they do!

I worked the last two days in my jammies, so it was different to get dressed and go out this morning. Luckily after rush hour traffic. I sure don't miss THAT!

The job club meeting was interesting today. I took a lot of notes and thought of ways to apply what the speaker was saying to what I'm doing. I can see ways to make it fit. It was definitely worth the time to go.

I collected a few more business cards today. I can see right now I'm going to have to find a box for them, or one of those books, before they are all over the place!

Tonight is stamp group with the girls and working on a scrapbook for my granddaughter's birthday. Tomorrow afternoon is her party. Better get busy!

That's about it for today!
Have a great rest of the day!
Blessings,
Lori

Putting myself out there....

My prayer since the beginning.... well, after the initial shock of not having a job after 20 years of loyal and dedicated service.... that God will put the job in front of me that I'm supposed to have and I will get it, if that is His will. Since the job hunting hasn't been going very well, must be that we are supposed to pursue our dreams.
Photography and helping families. We are working on some ideas to make them both be very rewarding AND support us. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

We are very busy going to networking meetings and events, and a couple of social things too.
Our next parenting class is scheduled to begin Feb 23rd! Now to get busy to fill it.

If the gremlins would just stay out of the "little" things, I could certainly focus a lot easier on the "big" things! Why do some things have to be so complicated!
E has been having challenges getting my old email into some format at home that I can easily get to it. There is a lot of stuff in there that I want to be able to access! It's very frustrating, for both of us. I haven't been able to get to any of that for days. Hopefully he just found a solution.

Going to what sounds like a promising networking meeting tonight. It's along the lines of what we discussed at the business counseling session earlier this week... Tuesday, I think. Hard to keep up with what day it is when I'm working at home!
I do like it tho. Sleep when I'm tired, work late nights, eat when I'm hungry. Very busy all the time tho.

Must go work out soon! Better get ready!
Hope you are having a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Lori

Busy Day!!!

Hit the ground running today and haven't slowed down yet!
Lots of phone calls, paperwork to fill out and stuff to gather up for insurance, early retirement, etc..... not to mention the task list from the SBA counseling yesterday.
So many things to consider. What is God calling us to do? Seems to be pointing us in the direction of building our businesses so we can help families grow closer and children grow up to be responsible, respectful and make good choices.
And of course to pursue our artistic goals and dreams with our photography business.
So many things pointing in that direction.

We put the white board up to keep everything in front of us. Don't want anything important to slip through the cracks.... now to remember everything we need to put on the board! Open to suggestions!

New beginnings..

We had a very encouraging meeting with a small business adviser this morning! I'm feeling REALLY good about being self-employed. It's not so scary after all!
There have been so many things pointing to this being the best option, starting with the phone call within the hour of my coming home on Nov 30th when I got my pink slip (wasn't even pink!). The phone call was from a foster parent who needed more credit hours before the end of December. We taught a Redirecting Children's Behavior class in Kyle. All of the jobs I've applied/qualified for pay only about 2/3 of what I was making after 20 years with UT. I'm only two months from being able to take early retirement. There are just so many things pointing us in this direction, that it's really hard to ignore what must be God's plan for us.
Besides, I don't want to live under a bridge! So, best get busy pursuing our dreams!
Prayers, please!

The first Monday.... on my own....

Slept in a bit this morning to catch my breath since it's my first Monday unemployed, ...I mean self-employed. Of course, since I didn't go to bed until after 2 (that's what happens when you're self-employed), I didn't sleep in that much! Got up at 9:00.

Had to go by the office this afternoon anyway to clean out the rest of my desk. Fun stuff. It was weird being a visitor!

Have to go back tomorrow for some copies of paperwork to turn in to different places.
Everyone was glad to see me. No tears today. Just lots of hugs. "Someone" (yes, I know who but I'm not telling) even said to me it was good that I came in because they have to get used to my not being there gradually.

It's not the end in some ways. I will see my "family" - just not as often as I have.
And you can follow me on this blog. I'll hopefully have a few minutes to post daily.
Blessings!
Lori