Yesterday was one of those days that you hope and pray will never happen to your family.
The company that Todd works for has a new CEO, who has decided to shut down the three therapeutic programs in our small community.
In a town of 500 people in the middle of nowhere, 200 will be losing their jobs.
The possibility of being able to sell our house is highly unlikely.
The outlook for many is bleak.
But, strangely enough, I feel okay about it. I don't know why this happened, and I don't know exactly how we'll get through it, but I know the Lord is watching out for us. I can feel it so strongly it is almost tangible. I've literally only cried a few tears, as I was telling our parents, but not even enough to mess up my mascara.
A couple years ago, both our Bishop and Stake President had an overwhelming feeling that we needed to "be prepared" as a community. I remember Bishop saying he didn't know why, but he just couldn't shake the feeling.
And here we are.
I have absolutely no idea where to even begin or which path to follow, but I am calm and I feel peace. There were a couple hours yesterday when I started to get angry, and I'm sure in the days to come we will experience a whole spectrum of emotions, but the anger passed quickly and I know deep down that it will all be okay.
Todd often says "When the Lord closes a door, he always opens a window...but that doesn't mean it won't be hell in the hallway".
It takes awhile to close a program like the one where he works, and luckily he can keep his job until August 2nd. Some lost their job yesterday, and others will be laid off in May, June, and July. We feel grateful to at least have some time for the dust to settle before we have to make any major decisions.
The spirit in our community is strong. I have no doubt that people will rally together and weather the storm as a whole. What we DO have is a bunch of people who know how to run residential and wilderness treatment facilities. The possibility of keeping these programs going, on a private level, is actually a very real possibility...but it will take everyone working together. No one person can do it alone.
It will be interesting, to say the least, to see where the rest of this year takes us.
