When Will it Turn Around?

I'm the kind of person who does not like to complain about my life often, especially in public places.  I like to be put together and seem like everything is fine, when really it might not be fine.  And I know that there are millions of people in this world who have it SO much worse than me, so I feel guilty when I get frustrated with the way things are going in my life.  Right now I am reading a lot of Holocaust literature, and I can't imagine the way these people tried to put their lives back together if they survived, and how their perspectives, and ours, for that matter, will never be the same.

So, I'll start with the good things in my life:  my wonderful husband, my family, my job/vocation, our beautiful house, Kole, friends, choir, good food in my stomach, etc.  I am thankful for all of these things, which so many do not have.  Speaking of my family, I'm currently thinking of my sister, who is in surgery at this very moment.

We also just came back from a fabulous vacation, our Caribbean cruise, which I hope to blog more about in the near future!  Getting back from the trip was just pure bad luck, however...more on that later.

However, I will take this minute to share the frustrations of my life right now, and dare to ask blindly, when will it turn around for the better?  It has been about 7 months since we have moved, and about 9 months since we found out that we would be moving, and Corey still does not have a job.  He has sent in a ton of applications to different types of places, and nothing has worked.  He needs a job- hopefully a full time one.  When will it happen???  People keep telling us, "All in God's time," or "The right one just hasn't come along yet..." Well, I'm sorry, but that is BS!  We have been trying.  We have been praying.  He has tried just about everything- the time is NOW!  We need the income, yes, but even more than that, Corey wants to feel like he has a purpose and a calling in this life, but things have not been easy to accommodate that.  The impact of long-term unemployment is more intense that you might imagine if you've never faced it yourself, and affects all areas of your life.  We are feeling the effects of it for sure.

While I am enjoying my appointment in Morgantown, we are also frustrated by the lack of culture and community for us here.  We are lonely.  We've had several times where friends have come to visit or we have done something in Indy or Greenwood, but there is simply not much for us here.  While the congregation has a large percent of open minded and accepting people, there are still issues of racism, homophobia, and lack of tolerance in this little southern IN town.  That's hard to know what to do with.

Car troubles, house troubles, did I mention car troubles?  We have had a ton of car troubles since we've moved.  It's been one thing after the other.  Dead batteries, people leaving dents without a note, tire problems, you name it.  One blessing in all of this is that the Indiana UMC has a "tire fund" for young clergy, so we actually got a new set of tires put on my car, free to us.  Awesome!  While our house is beautiful and we are really enjoying it, it has had its share of problems.  We have called our trustees so much that our head trustee sounds tentative when I call him now!  Our internet is off and on, the phone is practically unusable due to the static on the line, we had to replace the water heater, there were weird smells coming from the gas line last week, our oven caught on fire a few months ago, and today, on one of the coldest days of the year so far, our heater wasn't working.  And to add to that, I seem to be coming down with another spell of bronchitis.  If it's not one thing, it's another.

We need some positive energy, some support, and some encouragement.  We need a job for Corey, and to feel like we are part of a community.  We're just not there yet.  That's where I am right now, that's my honesty, and that's what challenges we are facing.