Spinning..... Day 6

 I decided to give my family a bit of a rest from the camera today.  They are such good sports as I take their photos and tell our stories.  I do try to respect their lives while still providing enough detail to allow this to be an accurate memory of the time of our lives we are currently in.  It is amazing as I go back and read previous year's DPP, how much I have forgotten and I am grateful for the written reminders.  Here is a photo at my parent's house a beautiful wind spinner they have outside.  I had taken my camera outside to play with some nighttime photography.  It is an area of weakness for me and I wanted to just see what I could come up with while shifting and changing settings.  I love the lighting and the movement of this photo as it is so clear that it was spinning.  

In addition to playing with photography, I gave myself a bit of a day of rest.  Not completely.  We are in the middle of home improvements so there is always furniture to move and things to get out of the way.  But I did take some intentional time to slow down, put my feet up, drink some warm coffee, and watch some cheesy, predictable, and happy ending filled Hallmark movies.  Rich and I have both been spinning this week.  We started the weekend with a car break down that prompted the purchase of a new vehicle.  Right before Christmas and with home improvements underway beyond the point of changing our minds, the timing wasn't great.  But we knew it was a must because the other car wouldn't be safe.  Unfortunately, what we didn't know was that Rich's company would be doing a massive lay off a day later.  Thus, sending us spinning into uncertainty.  Both of us struggling to sleep as our minds spin through scenarios of what the future holds.  We hold hope in knowing that God will walk with us in this time.  He has already shown up with people going to bat for Rich who know his talents and are bringing opportunity his way.  While we hope one of these opportunities will result in employment, regardless, it has slowed the spin because it shows us the respect, the relationships, and the excellent reputation Rich has built in his community.  Makes the sting of the loss hurt a bit less and reminds me, though I always knew, what a special talent Rich has not only for data forensics but also for people.  He builds relationships first.  He makes sure that he takes care of his clients and looks out for them during and beyond his work.  In data forensics, it can be easy to say "nothing is there" but when Rich says it, you know it is true.  Because he has built that relationship, I have seen him stay up at night trying to find what a client is looking for.  Coming up with creative ways to prove cases that others would have given up on.  He is always on the quest for the "smoking gun".  The relationship doesn't end with the work as he still checks in on clients and asks about their family long after the work is done.  A true skill set that is dying in a world where people disconnect so easily.    

Rich and I discussed this as it feels vulnerable to share but we both pride ourselves on authenticity.  We do not share as a way to look for attention of any kind (in fact, Rich specifically requests no "this stinks" texts though he looks forward to a time of congratulatory texts - whenever the timing works out for that).  We truly just want this blog, that is for us, to be real. And every previous entry of this blog has danced around this issue because December 1 was when we were stopped in our tracks with this news.  It is important to us that we have this in the future to remember just what 2020 was like and how we weathered this particular bit of hard.   So as we settled in to (Dec, 1st) Let Go of the Status Quo (after 14 years with these people), we are recognizing the imperfections (Dec 2nd) in all of this.  We are looking to give grace to those who had to give bad news at a terrible time of year.  We are taking time to look at our own imperfections so that we may improve from this experience.  We are looking with hindsight (Dec 5th) to the things God has laid in our path to prepare (Dec 4th) us for this time and how this challenge and hardship will prepare us in the future.  Our previous experiences tell us that this time will be hard but there will come a day that we look back on this and realize the good that came of it.  But for today, coffee and Hallmark is just want I needed to stop the spinning.  Well, that and a whole lotta prayer.  Psalm 22:19  Philippians 4:6

A few more photos.....

This is the most 2020 Christmas tree.   Still plenty of light - but the dark parts feel the most noticeable.  

A few other shots from playing with my camera.  The last one is the only other night time shot that came out anywhere near worth keeping.   I still have so much to learn about photography.

We may be spinning now but we are anchored in so many blessings.  But I also think there is necessity and beauty in some days just allowing it to not be ok.  To not put a bow on turd - as someone I know used to say.  Sometimes it is ok to say, this is scary and it hurts.  We will know our tomorrows will be better days and tomorrow we will find our gratitude.