My regular blog visitors may have noticed that while I am back to blogging after my break last month, I am still not blogging as frequently as I used to.  I started this year off with a new and positive attitude and I'm really struggling already to stay that way.  2007 was a horrible year for us financially.  I had faith and a positive attitude that things were going to turn around for us in 2008.  While we have had some blessings come our way, it seems more things are continuing to go wrong than right.

I discovered Friday that our dishwasher is leaking.  We have an extended warranty on it (thankfully we did that after many initial problems with it) and are hoping it's just a seal that can easily be replaced.  We have a service call set for this week and hopefully the technician will come prepared with repair parts on hand (most of the time they don't) and will be able to fix it on the spot.  Until then, I suppose I'm getting a lot of therapy by hand washing dishes.  I also noticed our dryer making an odd noise yesterday and by the end of all the loads it was letting off a nasty smell.  It could be something simple or it could be on its last legs.  Our washer died a few months ago - this dryer was purchased at the same time so it very well could be at the end of its life - and we are still trying to recover from that unexpected expense (just one of many in 2007).  We simply don't have the $$ to purchase a new dryer at this time.  To top it off, our kitchen faucet is leaking.  Thankfully hubby can fix that himself and a replacement is on its way to us.

I have been working recently on lesson planning for this coming school year (yes, I tend to be an early bird in that respect!).  I've been going through our science curriculum ... Apologia's Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day ... making notes of how much I want to cover each day and noting what extra things we're going to need to purchase (things that aren't figured into our homeschool budget).  I've been trying not to let those 'extras' get me down.

Hubby has been with his current employer just over 4 months now.  He's thankful to have a job.  So many people he knows have lost their jobs due to businesses closing and so many businesses are struggling right now.  Unfortunately we were hit with more bad news from his employer back in December.  Hubby was qualified for medical and dental insurance after being in employment for 90 days.  (Remember, we've been without both since the end of last June.)  Just a couple of days after his 90 day mark, his employer announced they were doing away with the medical coverage (would no longer be offering it to employees).  We've been trying to get coverage on our own and I have to say it's a frustrating and stressful process.  I have never been asked such in depth questions in order to have medical coverage.  Not only that, but we've been asked the questions multiple times and have been asked simply ridiculous things (such as, do our children - ages 8 and 2 - smoke, drink alcohol on a regular basis, or use drugs).  For those of you that have medical coverage through an employer ... be thankful ... very thankful.  I never knew how good we had it before (before hubby had to leave the employer he'd been with for about 10 years).  As far as dental ... we're still without that as well.  The plan through hubby's employer is junk and costs way too much.  Of course we've yet to find a suitable plan on our own.  Hubby has also not received his 90 day review yet (he's over the 120 day mark at this point).  He was also hired to be one of the department managers (he was given the impression during the interview process that this would be immediate - he found out after starting that it would not be until he'd been there for 90 days).  Ninety days have come and gone and he's still not been made department manager.  Very frustrating.  Hubby is not one to open up and share or express his feelings, but I can tell it all has him down.  What's more frustrating is knowing just how very valuable of an employee he is (he holds professional licensing and has extensive training and experience in a specialty in his field ... none of the other employees have either).

More stress has come our way from hubby's family.  I won't go into details as they would be entirely too lengthy, but one particular thing finally came to an ugly head at our house this past Friday evening and more ugliness along with more bad news came along over the weekend.

Continued prayers for us would be appreciated.  I know we are not the only family with major troubles right now and I hope I am not coming across that way.  Sadly, times are tough for way too many people.  My best daily anti-depressant therapy has been my children.  It delights my heart to see ds1 running around outside each day trying to catch all kinds of butterflies and bugs.  His excitement becomes contagious.  Ds2 has become our little mockingbird ... his vocabulary is increasing each day by leaps and bounds ... very thrilling for us all (especially big brother who thinks he has the coolest little brother on the planet).