Miracles and a Painting Company

At the beginning of November Ryan lost his job, although I have to say, it was an experience full of miracles. I really feel like the Lord’s hand has been in this. Ryan hds been with NII for about 2 years. For about the last 8 months or so, he had really not been happy there and his discontent had been increasing. He felt his job just didn’t allow him to really utilize his talents or grow. Ever since college, he’s wanted to own his own business. He did some entrepreneurial ventures back then and since he tasted that experience, he’s never been fully satisfied at another job. So back in July we sat down and created some goals. We set a goal that he could be out of NII by January, we would save a certain amount of money by that point, and we could launch some kind of business if he would create a plan for what he wanted to do. Well, as time went by, it was very apparent we were nowhere near our savings goal. Although we had saved some money, it certainly wasn’t accumulating at the rate we had anticipated. We weren't even close. In September they announced that there would be layoffs in November, but Ryan really didn't think he’d be on the chopping block at that point. As things drew closer, more information came out and we learned the cuts would be much more severe than we had anticipated, though we also learned that there would be a nice severance package for those leaving. We began to feel that that would be a great blessing for us. The week of the layoffs Ryan found out he would be getting let go, and then when the actual day came we were surprised to find out that the severance money was nearly double what we were anticipating. What this ultimately meant was that we now had a clear slate to pursue a new career option, and we had the funds in our account that we had planned on. I attribute this blessing fully to the Lord and to paying tithing and fast offerings. I know that He blessed us for our faithfulness and it is He who made it possible to achieve our goals in this area. I’m so grateful for a knowledge of the gospel because it provides a key to blessings we so greatly need in our lives. When I think of this experience, I feel the hand of the Lord so greatly in our lives.

And that is just the beginning. Also in August or September, we started looking into various franchise options. We weren't even really think of doing it right then, just "someday in the future." We just wanted to see what was out there. Well, we found some that looked like they had potential, so we decided to talk to them a little bit and see what we thought. We started with four, and by the time my parents came had it down to two, but felt pretty good about one in particular. We still didn't know at that point if Ryan was going to be let go. When he did lose his job, I just had a peaceful feeling. We were prepared for that and we had a plan we could immediately get into action on. We decided to buy a painting company called Five Star Painting. We had a ton of criteria on any business we would buy in to, and this fit everything. It was incredible. More to come on how this all goes in the future.