Apparently the company noticed that she just could not perform the sales end of the job but her customer service skills were very high. The company decided they wanted to keep her as an employee and move her to another division that did only customer service. Here is a funny and not so funny part of this. The sales/customer service job she had paid also commission. The customer service pays no commission, which makes sense but also pays lower per hour. So, the people that provide the service that keeps the customers happy, resolves their issues and makes for a good client, get paid less?
To keep her rate of pay, which is really needed to help support us while I am in school full time, is requiring her to work until the very late evening and never getting more than one day off in a row. She will be working four days a week but they have spread the days out. This loss of family time will be significant. One of the reasons for her to finally making the move to Dubuque was to have more family time. We like to go away for the weekends to camp. This will not be possible anymore since she works Saturday. She did put her foot down and insisted that she does not work Sunday, as this is her time for worship and this is important.
What to do and how to adjust? It will be an adjustment that is for sure. We are thankful that she is living with us again and this is still better than living apart. As I head off to CPE this summer in Chicago, we had hoped to meet and camp together. I just do not see that happening. Last summer was pretty sparse on the camping as well. I could go alone or meet the kids out to camp but it is not the same. Not that this will not happen but it is just not the same. As my children get older even that gets difficult. My son now works and will be working weekends. My daughter wants a job and will be spending time down at Lincoln Park Zoo doing volunteer work.
Busy busy busy seems to be the way of life. I too will be busy with CPE, writing reports and preparing a paper for when I get back before my second year in seminary, God willing. We all realize that some of this busyness is temporary but what do we miss out on that cannot be ever retrieved? God has a plan and we trust in this plan even though all the steps are not shown to each of us, we trust through our faith in God that the plan is for good.
What shall we do than? We will be making a concerted effort to do family related things, were possible. Game night, movie night, walk the dog together or just walks and talks. Time is precious and cannot be retrieved. We cannot see Jesus but know that He is walking side by side with us in these times and when things seem very rough, he is carrying us through them. Yes, these things seem minor when compared to what others may be going through. We are conscious of that as well. However, that being said, this is our experience and how we react will help us deal with more serious things in life should they come about. God prepares us and only allows us to handle what we can, nothing more and sometimes less.