And now for some not so good news....

I want to share with you some very personal information.  It's hard to share, but I'm sharing in hopes that you will pray for us - pray for our family and pray for my colleagues.

So, I went back into work on Monday.  Monday was tough, leaving Sara at child care and then being back to work after quite some time away.  I had a lot to catch up on.  It was rough.  By the end of the day I was ready to go home.  I was anxious to see how Sara did.  Not a good day. 

Relatively speaking though, Monday was wonderful.  Tuesday turned out to be the really bad day.  On Tuesday we were called into an all employee staff meeting and were told that our branch of the company was being put on the market.  No one saw it coming.  It was a slap in the face. 

We are a bulk active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer.  We make the active ingredients for many pharmaceutical compounds.  We make the active ingredient for an obesity drug.  We make the active ingredient for a cancer drug.  We also make the active ingredient for pandemic flu drugs.  I've worked at small molecule API manufacturing facilities my entire life.  It's all I know.  Sure, my knowledge can be applied to other areas - anything that requires GMP's, but I LOVE API manufacturing. 

Our site is beautiful - but it's also expensive.  In this economy, who knows if it will be sold.  And if it is sold, will it be sold to a reputable company?

So, our world was pretty much turned upside down.  In the middle of all of this, Tim was in Switzerland.  We couldn't even discuss the impact to our family.  For those of you who don't know, Tim and I work at the same company.... so, our family is pretty impacted.

Right now, it's difficult.  We are adjusting to a new addition to our family, and then this.  God's timing is perfect though.  If this happened a month ago, I could not, in good conscience, have gone and gotten Sara.  It's just too uncertain.  God wanted this little girl to come home to our family though.  I'm confident in that.

I'm also confident in the fact that God is holding us securely in His hand.  I wish I knew what was on the other side of this journey, but I don't.  He's not going to tell me either... not until we've walked thru it.  It's difficult.  Faith is difficult when it's challenged.  Trust is difficult when it's challenged.  We need faith and trust in God to make it through this.  My prayer is that when we do get to the other side of this, that we will be thankful for having gone through it.  I pray the grass is greener on the other side.  I don't know at this point what "the other side of this" will mean for Tim and I.  Will it mean we are still living in Florence, just working for another company?  Or will it mean picking up our family and taking our journey to somewhere new?  I wish I knew, but only time will tell.  We will wait and see where God leads our family.  I'm sure it will be to somewhere good.  While we wait though, we're scared... at least I am.  I think God would be OK with that.

Shortly we will begin to see friends leave.  The people I have worked with for the past 7 1/2 years have become more like family than colleagues.  Some of them will be asked to leave.  Some will leave due to the uncertainty.  Either way, it will be hard to see them go.  I'm dreading it.  Please pray for all of my colleagues as they find their way in this journey and find where God is leading their families.  Right now, it's not seeming like a good place - I pray that it ends up being good for each and every one of them.

I told Tim yesterday that it's so hard to be thankful for what you have, when it seems like a huge portion of what you have could quickly be stripped away.  That is hard.  But, I still have my job right now, and for that, I'm thankful.  It's likely that both Tim and I are secure for a relatively decent period of time.  For that I am thankful.  I'm thankful for my family.  I'm thankful for an optimist husband.  I'm the realist wife.  It's actually a good combination in times like this.  I'm thankful for Cameron.  My helpful child.  I'm thankful for Anna - my generous child.  I'm thankful for Sara - my happy little chatterbox.  I'm thankful for my mom and Denis who have been willing to help at a moments notice recently.  I'm thankful for MY God who will carry our family through this.

Please keep us in your prayers as we make our way through these uncertain times.

In Christ,
Charity