We're Still Alive....

March & April are usually not high-activity months for us but this year has been the exception. We're still around...Here's a family update.

I haven't talked about Fridays much on here, if at all (?!). Well, anyway, most of you know that last December, Andy became licensed as a general contractor so he could pursue flooring.....About the same time the construction business slowed to a crawl. Andy isn't one to be idle for long and he just wasn't willing to give flooring a year to bounce back. He is still keeping his license updated just in case the Lord opens that door again. In January, he applied at TGI Fridays on more of a desire to just be busy. The manager looked at his resume and raised her eyebrows...Politely wondering why he wanted to work at Fridays. (aka "What are you doing here?!") Kind of what we were thinking, but for some reason the Lord had led Andy to it and we decided to humbly walk through the open door.

Fast forward to now. We still deal with telling people where Andy is working and watching some interesting looks from people, believe me, it's not the route we expected either. I have to fight the urge to always say "No, it's really a good thing, he's doing really well!!" In the short 3 months Andy has been there, (this is where I get to brag about him) he's risen to top server, he shift-leads which means he oversees the other servers about 50% of the time, and he is a trainer for new servers. The regional managers have all come to meet him and he's being groomed for an assistant manager/general manager. Just this week, he was approached to consider a manager position for the next Fridays that is beginning construction in Utah very soon. (Oh boy) Andy said he would begin to consider it as a stepping stone if it would lead to a position back here in Idaho.

In the next week, he will hopefully be talking with the regional manager Mr. Hyde about also possibly becoming a corporate trainer. It would require him to travel but it's a good job and Andy adores the work.

Long story short, we never saw this avenue as a possibility which is probably why the Lord had to close everything else so we'd even pay attention! Andy has received tremendous favor with the general manager who understands this isn't a normal job for a guy with a family. :) He's asked Andy to be patient and they'll do what is needed to keep him with the company until they can advance him. The other week, the general manager had Andy come back to the office and listen to all the amazing comments people had called and recorded about Andy from their dining experiences, it was pretty humbling for Andy (and myself) to accept the blessing of the Lord for a job he almost wasn't willing to take.....

Andy doesn't talk about this very much, and usually only to me, but get this! He said especially on Friday and Saturday nights, the hostesses usually keep track and tell him how many people call before they come for dinner to make sure Andy is working and request his section. Crazy!! Especially people with children have told Andy "Our kids will only sit in your section!" I think it's so cute. Andy is a people person to the core. :)

So. Moral of our story would be, that our God remains faithful and sometimes by using things that seem like "foolishness" to us to bring about his purpose for our lives.

Oh and by the way. Next time you get a chance, the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake at Fridays is TO DIE FOR. : )