Tuesday, April 21, 2009
My Family
Today in class everyone shared about their families and how things have changed for them during this hard time in our economy. I thought that it was really interesting to hear other people's stories but it was also very sad to think about it. My family has been affected also. My family was just getting to the point where we were "financially stable". We live in a very small community on a farm. We have a lot of animals and my parents used to farm but started within the last 2 years renting out all of our farm ground. My dad works full time at a really great job that he loves and my mom also has a decent job. I have 4 younger siblings that are adopted with special needs. My parents have been waiting for the day when my mom could quit her job and stay home to help the girls more. This day came last year, she told her office she would not be coming back for 2009. We soon found out though that this was no longer going to happen. With the economy my dad has taken back all of the farm ground to farm himself and my mother did not end up quiting her job. This is also causing a lot of tension between my parents. My mom hates that my dad has to go to work all day and then work in the fields until 1 or 2 in the morning. Neither of them are home for my younger sisters and they hate having to do this but it's the only way to make ends meet for a while. Hopefully soon everything will go back to normal. Although my family is hurting I know there are other people that are affected so much more by this and my heart goes out to them.
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4 comments:
Throughout my entire life both my mother and father have held steady jobs that kept my family firmly placed within the middle-class. However, while my mother was always careful with her money and maintained a strict budget for her income, my father was not so careful. Instead of placing money in a savings account to provide for college tuition for my brothers and I in the future, he spent frugally. He bought not just one Porsche, but two (at different times of course). He bought a house with a pool then proceded to furnish it with Italian leather sofas, a big-screen TV, and a beautiful baby grand piano (these purchases were likely an attempt to get us to spend more time at his house rather than at my mothers). Because of my father's irresponsible spending I am now buried in a mountain of debt due to student loans for tuition, rent, groceries, and other basic necesseties that I have had no choice but to provide for myself. This is just my own personal example about how finances can hurt a family.
With the same sentiment I somewhat understand how you both feel. I agree that lots of people are affected by the economy now. My parent use to work at the same place but because of the low economy their work place change into hell. All the rule turn stricter, all the benefits are cut and people are being fire if they can’t make the standard. It tired me to see my father have to deal with hectic work while my mother has to change job and ride with other people to her new work place. She has to wait 2-3 hour for them to be off work before she can go home because of their different schedule. And my family is short on car now since my brother and I have different class schedule so we have to look for another car for my mom so she doesn’t have to ride with other people. But I’m worry of how the additional cost of insurance will cause more problems for us. It’s really chaotic in our family now and I’m very tired from trying to hang on with school and the emotional stuff at home. Hopefully thing will liven up soon.
My family has not been hit as hard as others in my area. My father is a farmer which allows him to control his own hours and how much he wants to spend. We sell most of our corn to ethanol plants have the rest pre-contracted. The markets have not been too bad therefor we have not had to worry about making ends meet. Although, in one of the neighboring towns, several of their plants have laid people off from their factory jobs. I met a former employee from one of the factories who had just been laid off the day before. The look on his face made me want to cry. He didn't know what he was going to do. He started looking for other jobs, unfortunately, most businesses are not hiring new workers. I am also looking for a summer job back home over the summer, and I am having just as bad of luck. Hopefully someone will be willing to hire me or else I don't know what I will do.
You are definately in my prayers! I know lots of people use that as a phrase instead of a hreatfelt desire, but I really will pray that God moves in these situations and we can all rely on Him to provide - because He will and He does, fully. My family is strugglin too really bad, so I feel where you're comin from.
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