After enduring unemployment for nine months in 2020, I am in the same situation again. On June 1, my former employer and I parted ways. It was not my choice. For the last three months, I have been applying for positions in North Dakota and remote. I have had interviews but no job offers. I am grateful for our friends because many have invested in our family’s well-being. They keep sending me jobs, checking in, and doing what they can to keep us here. This unemployment is different because I have a remote position doing data entry. It’s a contract position that will end in a couple of months. 

Although I am in this position, it’s been an enormous, almost providential blessing that I have been home with my wife and young boys as we transition from a family of four to a family of five. In the middle of July, eleven days overdue (just like his older brothers), our third son was born. Although my mother-in-law was here to assist us, the ability to be home with my wife and children as our family dynamic changed was good. To assist my wife in her recovery, I helped around the house during the day more than usual. This is the first post-pregnancy where I have spent quality time at home without rushing back to work. 

Within the blessing of being home, there is the blessing that I have been able to spend so much time with my two older boys (ages three and two). From time in the backyard running through the sprinklers to planting and picking vegetables in the garden or building train tracks and forts in the living room, these are the days that I will cherish and remember. Not a day goes by that I don’t give thanksgiving to Jesus Christ. My children are the constant reminder of days filled with innocence and joy. 

I am very grateful for these days. Every day I appreciate my spouse. She is an incredible wife and mother. On those hard days when I doubt my self-worth (and my choice of degrees), she reminds me that the Lord has a plan for us. I knew there would be crosses and suffering in our marriage; we did participate in the Croatian Wedding blessing. I didn’t think I would be unemployed twice in five years of marriage. 

As I reflect on what has occurred in the last three months, I have concluded that another job is on the horizon for me and that there are blessings in the potholes of life. 

Please pray the right job that will be a good fit for our family life will come soon.