Justin got a new job! I just realized I never wrote about it, and it's really quite the story, so here goes:

As you've surely noticed, we've been pretty unhappy with his current job.  So we've both been praying something new would pop up.  At one point, I remember driving home from somewhere thinking to myself, "I should tell Niki that if any job opportunities come up at Mike's work he should put in a good word for Justin."  But I forgot and never mentioned it to her.  A few weeks later she called to tell me a funny story about a guy doing something dumb at Mike's work.  I told her that if Mike fired the guy Justin would take his job - mostly kidding.  A few days later Niki called and said they had to let the guy go and Justin could have the job if he wanted it!  We had to make a quick decision - which was pretty stressful - but eventually we decided it was the right thing to do.  The pay is pretty much the same, but the new job has much better benefits for significantly less than what we pay now.  Can't beat that!

Mike wanted Justin to start right away, but Justin's current job asked for a full two weeks before he could leave - which ended up being a blessing, too.  He went to get his cast off last week and they told him the bone hasn't completely healed and he has to wear a hard splint for at least two more weeks. The new job is manual labor, so a cast really isn't going to fly.  Hopefully the bone will be healed well enough by next Monday!!

There's more to the story, but I shouldn't say anything about that part yet, so you'll just have to wait in suspense.

While we are extremely grateful for the new job, things still aren't great in the finance department here at the VK household.  Justin's ER bills have started coming in.  So far there are $890 worth of bills hanging on the fridge.  Plus we've already paid a significant chunk to the specialist.  Marvelous.  I need to call the hospital and see what kind of payment plan I can set up.  We did however succesfully pay all our bills for this month - which I wasn't sure would be possible.  So thank God for that!  He'll provide in the next few months, too.

Ok, well it's wicked late, so I'm off to bed.  Maybe I won't wait so long before posting next time.  No guarantees.

Sadie  

Last night, I spent an hour reading some of my old xanga entries - from like 4 years ago.  It made me realize how little I write here anymore.  So I'm going to record some interesting facts about the past two weeks.  Once again, I know it's not really appropriate to talk about money, and no one really wants to read all my depressing thoughts.  Feel free to skip this entry if you're so inclined.

In the past two weeks . . .

- We found out we owe $994 to the federal government (although we were told we'd get $1,140 from our Michigan tax return to cover it)

- Justin broke his hand and we spent two hours in the ER.  He got 2 x-rays taken and a cast put on.

- We paid $1,020 to fix my van.

- We paid $368 to fix Justin's car.

- Justin went to the specialist, got another set of x-rays, and found out he needs to take 3 weeks off work.

- Justin tried to get some paid time off by questioning HR about his part time/full time status.  He was rewarded with having two of his stores taken away and told that from now on he has to stay under 32 hours a week. (He was previously working at least 40.)  Oh, and no paid time off.

- I got a UTI and had to pay for a prescription for antibiotics.

- We got a letter telling us something was wrong on our taxes so we're only getting $992 as a tax return from Michigan instead of the $1,140.  It still pretty much covers the federal taxes we owe, but I was seriously planning on that extra $150 to pay some bills this week.

- We signed up for "max checking" at our credit union to make 4% interest on our balance each month.  This month, we only made $3.62.  The way I figured 4% of our balance, it should have been around $50.  When I inquired about it, the teller said that the interest is figured daily and our balance dipped pretty low this month.  I don't even understand what it means, but once again it's us not getting the money we were expecting to.

- Justin got a call today from the specialist saying the doctor reviewed his x-rays from last week and they think the broken bone shifted.  He has to go back for more x-rays on Wednesday, and who knows what a shifted bone could mean, but somehow I doubt it's anything good.

The deductible on Justin's insurance is $2500, so we're responsible for everything up to that.  Every time I hear the word "x-ray," it's like another punch in the gut.  Also, without Justin working for the next 3 weeks, I figure we'll be about $1600 short of paying all our bills this month.  That doesn't even include any hospital bills that are going to start coming due.

I know if anyone's reading this I've lost you by now, but there's more.

Justin will start working again around the last week of March.  The first week of April, Chase and his family are going to Florida for Spring Break, so I have a mandatory, unpaid 10 day vacation.  And then I'll take about 6 weeks of maternity leave at the beginning of May.  So I don't know how we're ever going to get caught up!!

Some days I just tell myself we're doing everything we can and God will provide.  Other days (like today) I'm beside myself with panic, anger, frustration, and fear.  I seriously don't know what we're going to do.

Seriously, I'm not asking for "woe is you" comments.  I just wanted to write this all down so I can look back on it someday and see how God worked. 

I had a doctor's appointment today, and I half expected them to find something wrong and put me on bedrest! Haha.  But everything looked great.  At least we have that to be grateful for!

Sadie

Good News
Our tax refund from the state will cover what we owe federal - with almost enough left over to pay the tax preparer's fee.  So we're almost breaking even!

Bad News
Justin went to his old athletic trainer at Cornerstone to see if he could pop his finger back in place.  The trainer said it wasn't just a dislocated finger, there was something more wrong with it, and to go straight to the ER because the med center would just send him there for x-rays anyway.  So we spent Tuesday night in the ER.  It was my first ER experience.  I was really nervous someone was going to come screaming through the doors with a screwdriver sticking out of their eyeball and blood gushing everywhere (too much Grey's Anatomy, perhaps?), but it was a pretty slow night.  We actually got in and out of there in 2 hours! Anyway, it turns out that Justin broke his 4th metacarpal - which is the bone in his hand that runs down his ring finger.  And of course it was some kind of special break so he had to be referred to a specialist.  The ER doctor threw around the word "surgery" and I started to get a little queasy.  However, this piece of information leads to the next set of good news:

Good News
Justin saw the specialist yesterday and he said that surgery won't be necessary!! They put a cast on his hand and told him to come back in a week for follow up x-rays.  Of course, all these x-rays and specialist appointments, and hours in the ER are going to cost us huge amounts of money, at least it's not surgery and subsequent weeks off of work!!! Which leads to the more bad news.  Haha . . .

Bad News
Justin tried to go to work today, but found it nearly impossible to do his job with one hand, so he's going to have to take some time off.  Unfortunately, he is considered a part time employee so he's not eligible for any paid time off.  Every hour he takes off of work is money we're out.  Which is a little counterproductive when we have all these medical bills coming in!  Unreal.

Ok, that's it.  For now.  Haha.  Prayers for peace and providence would be greatly appreciated.

Sadie