Praise in the midst of the unexpected news

Sent all this out on an email to most of my "away" friends and family, but thought I'd put it on here as well, to try and keep everyone in the loop.

No, Kevin doesn't have a new job yet, but there was some good news today... I went back to the apartment complex to turn in our keys and tell them that we were going to wait until Kevin found a job before staying in a new place when we weren't sure if we could continue paying rent or not. And since we have a free place to stay, we really can't pass that up. So, as I mentioned below, there is the "30 Day Love it or Leave it" clause that this complex has, and the girl we signed everything with had talked with Kevin yesterday and knew all the news. When I went in this morning to turn in keys, and sign the lease break agreement, I asked her if we would get any of the money from yesterday back. I was stunned when she told me we'd get EVERYTHING back, including our rent deposit, application and processing fees, minus one day's rent for yesterday!! What a huge praise!!! (That will be a little over $500 if I add correctly.) I'm thrilled! So, I told the leasing girl that she was a blessing and that I've already told everyone about this apartment complex and how awesome they were. She reminded me that just about anywhere else in the area, we would have been locked in for a year's lease and would have had to probably pay about 2 months' rent worth. I again told her what a huge blessing she was and that we'd be back once Kevin found another job.

Several people have asked a few questions, so I'll try to answer them all here:
1) What does Kevin do and what kind of job is he looking for? This is rather hard to answer, as it's not just a simple thing like "lawyer" or "doctor" or "IT" person. He has a finance background and would LOVE to get back into that realm again. But, for the past 4-5 years, he's been in logistics/customer service with 2 different manufacturing companies. I think he'd love to be a financial adviser, auditor of some sort, or something along those lines. If you're local here and may have contacts, you can email him directly and he can tell you more specifically what he's qualified to do or not to do. His email is: khallquist@gmail.com

2) Are you looking outside of Greenville? Well, yes and no. Ideally, we'd love to stay here and it sure would be a lot easier than moving yet again to another new city. However, at this point, he's applying almost anywhere. I say anywhere, but really just in the Southeast. If we'd have to move again, we would rather try to move to NC area, as his parents have relocated there and there are other Hallquist family there. However, like I said, since I have a great job at a great church and since Kevin's sister and her family are here, our first choice is to stay of course. We will just see what God opens up.

3) How did the lay-off happen/what was behind it? It's nothing he did or didn't do. The company he works for is German owned and operated. They have been laying off people since before December I think and several folks have just quit and found other jobs because it had gotten so bad. As I've told some people, this really is a blessing, in the midst of the scariness and "not knowing what's next or how to pay the bills." I mean, for the past 3-4 months in particular, he would work his tail off (sorry for the language), but take an emotional and mental beating just about every day. I honestly don't know how he has done it for the past 15 months, but sure am thankful to be married to someone who is that hard of a worker, despite the daily "crap." Some of the stuff he'd come home telling me what pure insanity. Seriously, I don't even have a business background, but some of the stuff just didn't make sense. Anyway, the company, as a result of very poor management, has been losing money, so they have been downsizing. And, I'm figuring since he's only been there 15 months, it wasn't a hard decision for them to ax his job. (Although, to make us "feel better" his boss was also let go and he had been there almost 10 years, and there have been others who have been there years who have been laid off as well. So, who really knows why?)

Just wanted to share that bit of info and I appreciate all the prayers from everyone as we apply and search out the next steps. I'll try to keep everyone posted.