Inspiring Church

I was watching the NBC Nightly news and they did a story on this church in Schaumburg, Ill. Apparently they give all their profits to people in the church community who need the money more. The Pastor works from his laptop at Starbucks and they rent property from the local high school. I thought this was inspiring in these hard times. Click here to read more about this church. I would have included the direct link to the church but it looks like the website is down. (Go figure!)

Today, the glass is half empty...

So, I'm going to write a REAL update. For the most part, most blogs that I read, people don't really write their true feelings or what they are honestly really going through. They take the opportunity to share what they think is cool and use the web as sounding boards to voice their opinions. Well, to be honest, I'm not really in a "cool position" right now, so I will write what I know.

Today, I'm having a real insecurity about my future. I have this baby growing inside of me and I have no idea what to expect. I know these feelings of anxiety are normal or at least that is what all the books say, but I'm needing some other kind of encouragement. Right now, I feel like my support system has withered and I'm trying to figure out what I can do to get some confidence back. (Now, that excludes all my remarkable friends that have totally stepped in, given me advice and even loaned me some baby gear.) I'm talking about things like my mother, who won't be by my side to help me. Boy, what I wouldn't give to have her tell me that I'm doing everything wrong! Second, my financial stability. Right now, all I have to give towards our household income is an unemployment check, which will eventually come to an end by the time our little guy arrives. We've taken the steps by first cutting out the luxuries, so now we move to possibly cutting the necessities, right?

Someone told me today that this position I'm in allows me to take time and enjoy my pregnancy. I kinda beg the differ. I'm not like the octuplet mom who lives in a "Pollyanna" world. This is real to me. I wouldn't even allow us to entertain the idea of having a baby until I felt secure in our future. If I knew we would be in this position, I would not be sitting here pregnant right now. Jobs are hard enough to secure right now in this economy, but to throw a pregnant girl into the mix, that makes the competition a bit tougher.

I guess I should put a disclaimer on my bad day too. Believe me, during this time, I am grateful for a lot of things as well. I have a baby, from what we can tell, who is healthy. A truly caring and loving husband, who works his butt off for the both of us right now. We have lots of friends who care about us. My brother is getting married to a wonderful girl who already feels a part of the family. See, I know it is not all doom and gloom.

Meet Britain Thomas McCaskey

Yesterday we had our BIG ultrasound. Everything looked good so far, and because they weren't able to measure everything we get to go back in a few weeks once he is bigger! We aren't too disappointed that we get another glance soon! Here are a few snapshots!

Don't use the "C" word...

Recently at a press conference for the Tour of California, an Irish Journalist, Paul Kimmage, set Lance Armstrong off. Apparently Lance had denied him an interview because the writer for the Sunday Times of London been quoted "The cancer had been in remission for 4 years and now the cancer is back in the peleton" talking of Lance's return to racing in the fall.

Now this is where I can definitely understand why he went off. Anybody, ANYBODY, who chooses to use the word "Cancer" to refer to something else in life, whether it be a person, a process, or even just an object is using a poor choice of words. Aren't people smarter than that now? Of course, I can understand because the disease has hit close to home, but I would like to think that before my mom got sick I would have been more aware of my words. I have definitely been around people who have accidently used this referral before and unfortunately it was a work situation where I didn't feel I could completely go off on my boss. But I can just say that I can understand where Lance is coming from with his anger. He's lived and defeated the disease and has also done more work to help the cause than we can imagine. He does all this work so your future friend, relative or spouse can maybe have some hope in the future if they are hit with the disease. To top it off, if you were wondering, as far as I know, this ridiculous reporter has yet to apologize for his remarks.



Watch Lance Armstrong Goes Off in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Advice from Ms. Trunk...again

Back in my days at Provident, my boss made us read Penelope Trunk's book Brazen Careerist. Afterwards, I became a big fan of her blog. This week she's written about "How To Talk To A Friend Who's Been Laid Off." I've listed the bullet points below, but to read it in-depth, be sure to click here. I can appreciate these bullet points first hand, right now, but also need to remember these when talking to my fellow unemployed. Some of these are so obvious that we don't even think about it because we care about that person too much.

1. Don't ask "how's the job hunt?"
Do you know how many times a day someone hears this if he is unemployed? Ten. And even if it's not ten really, it's ten in his head. He asks himself that, and he imagines other people asking that, and he stresses about the answer. Because the job hunt doesn't change much from day to day, but it's demoralizing to report that.

2. Ask about extracurriculars
In between jobs is the best time for real vacations and often the best time for gaining deep knowledge of something totally new.

3. Ask about health insurance
There needs to be more collective knowledge on how to deal with health insurance during stints of unemployment.

4. Talk about industry news
One of the hardest things about being laid off is keeping up in one's industry.

5. Offer up one good contact
The truth is that we all know someone who is out of work. And we all know that the next person could be us.

6. Acknowledge trouble with the significant other
It used to be that we could not openly discuss the testosterone hit that comes with being laid off. But today it's fair game, and even compassionate to acknowledge.

7. Don't be shy about gratitude
Tell a co-worker who’s been laid off that you miss him or her. And what you miss.