If it's tough for us, what must you all be going through?

Sorry, I couldn't quite bring myself to write "y'all" but I know that I'm "talking" to some Southerners here, and I'll never forget the day in high school when I called a bunch of my girlfriends "you guys" (truly a not-Southern thing!) and I got a talkin'-to! We're not GUYS, we're gals, so if you say 'y'all' then your bases are covered!

Okay, so back to the storyline here. It's VERY tough on us not knowing what's going on with Dear Husband's situation still. We have to remember daily (hourly, minute-by-minute, breath by breath!) to give it back to God because we trust that He has plans for us, and that they're better than anything we could think of. Oh, and all that worrying doesn't help, anyway! "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:34

DH's job is going well. He's back from Chicago, and I am LOVING having my husband in bed next to me where he belongs! Meanwhile, he's beginning to wonder if he's not a Christian living in the 21st century, but maybe a Hebrew slave living in the times of the great pharaohs.

He has been given a project in the Thornton Super K: to "fix" the broken grocery side of the store. How will this "fixing" be measured? By an increase in the bottom line. Period. How long does he have? Just six short weeks. Meanwhile, his drive to work is shorter than mine!

DH is really being challenged, though, and he does love a challenge. He is struggling with the personnel—there simply aren't enough people to do the jobs that need to be done, and some of them do require some experience. There have been a number of positions that are vacant—some for a short time, some for longer periods. The presentation in the store has suffered some, and the problem has compounded over time without proper guidance. He has a bevy of qualified department managers that could whip the store into shape, but the hiring and training process takes 6 weeks or more… too late to help him on his project, but certainly will help the store in the not-so-long run. Those changes take time, you know?

Now, he'll be the first to tell you: if your back stockroom is out of control, so is the rest of your store. Well, their back stockroom is… having a tough time. Getting it under control is fairly simple, given DH's experience with clearing out back stockrooms. It does, however, require a few bodies to move some freight around—like out on the sales floor, so customers can buy it and take it out of the store forever. Since they're short a few of those requisite bodies, he has taken the short-term approach of working all day Monday, and then deciding he needs to go back and work the graveyard shift with the night stockers. I don't know how long this will continue, but he does have a line on some kid that used to work at the King Soopers down the way from our house that's dating the oldest daughter… I hear he's pretty good, so we'll be keeping you posted (hey, it's not a promise, it's a vague… "we'll neglect something else one day so we can blog about it").

Speaking of neglect… I need to get back to work. Just know this: we don't really know what's going on yet. DH has to complete this project, and then he does a panel interview. It will then be decided what his actual title will be—Food District Manager (he was teased with allover District Manager, but that carrot was taken back the other day), or whatever; and of course, the all-important where he will be. We have heard hints that they are considering keeping him right here as a Food DM, which would thrill us to no end. We continue to pray for that, and unabashedly ask for your prayers as well towards this end. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, Lord.

Thanks all—and we'll keep you posted on any possible future increases to the Kelley population as we have updates. (How's THAT for a cliffhanger!)

Ciao!