It's a Small World After All

So, my Mom comes for a visit recently and tells me that she brought a jar of cookie mix with her to spend some time together making cookies with my girls. Well, she forgot and left the cookie mix in the car the first day, but two days later she comes by and delivers the cookie mix, along with other presents and goodies on her way elsewhere for the day.

I had a baby shower to attend that afternoon and left the girls behind, due to an eye infection working its way through my family, to make the cookies together while I was gone. When I returned home the were in the kitchen diligently working away and I picked up the glass canning jar and read the homemade label. It said, “Sparkler Cookies. [baking instructions]Enjoy this treat with our heart-felt THANKS for your dedicated service this year! We thank GOD upon our every remembrance of YOU!
Ric and Lisa Schumacher.”

Then, I about fell off my chair! I almost couldn’t believe it!

Ric and Lisa Schumacher were the support group leaders for our homeschool group while living in the Stuttgart, Germany area. And they were also in charge of the Sparks age-group at the AWANA program my girls attended while living there.

And now, less than two years later I was holding a handmade label from them that had been given to my Mom for her volunteer service at the Sparks AWANA program at my Mom’s church in Pullman, WA.

It’s a small, small world. :)

Here is a photo of Cory just a few steps outside from his new office in Eagle, ID during his lunch hour. He now works next door to Merrill Park and a fishing pond near the Boise River and the greenbelt. Three months later it is hard to believe that...

1. He was laid off from his previous job
2. He was unemployed (just a few weeks)
3. And just three short months ago he didn't even have this job!

Well, from the photo, you can see all is well and he loves it. :) Including lunch.

Unemployment Final Chapter by Cory

Well, it looks like we are nearing the end of the latest mini-series of Isakson Family. Lets recap what we have seen and remember that they were asking Jesus to be with them all along.

This episode began just before Christmas on December 16th when Mr. Isakson was given notice by his employer that he had until the end of February to find another job.

Angela’s response of “Woo Hoo now we can go back to Germany” was surprising to some viewers, but the real fans knew that was from her heart.

The excitement grew as viewers then watched Mr. Isakson get immediately let go on New Years eve.

Several options unfolded for the Isakson’s to consider during our last few weeks. First was the Email from local friend Richard Hundhausen on Dec. 18th.

 “Hi Richard, Do you know any very good Boise area / northwest shops that are available to develop a large cross-platform .net and silverlight application?” – Jeff Bull at Unity Media Group

 You might check with Cory Isakson. He’s good, and might have some availability. – Richard

This began a working relationship between Unity and Cory. He began working as a consultant to help them with a product they needed to get developed, having no idea how long the work would last.

Then the big surprise came on January 7th in the form of another Email from a recruiter in Stuttgart Germany.

 “Cory, Just going through some old emails... Looking for a programmer initially for the Web Portal over at SOCAF ... Are you interested? 4 month base and two option years... Please reply to all...” – Chris Foley with Lockheed

We watched the family process the Germany possibility and saw that the biggest concern was Phillip who had been openly opposed. With a big prayer of thanksgiving we all rejoiced as Phillip opened up and reconsidered his previous fears.

Unity continued to meet with Cory and decided they wanted to hire him full time and make him a member of their team. Meanwhile Cory completed the application for Germany and kept that option open.

During our last episode we saw the options coming to a conclusion as Cory met with the leadership of Unity Media Group.

Then came the decision point on Thursday when Ken called him with the offer. Would he take it and stay in Boise where friends and family were wrestling with God to keep him. Or would he hang onto the possibility of returning to the land of Castles, Cars and Beer ?

Again, we find the answers in Email.

 Cory - just had meeting this morning with the govt... They have chosen another guy.... Good guns... Grab what you have... Will keep you in mind for other things as well so lets stay in touch...

And thus concludes this episode of Isakson Family. Tune in next week as Cory goes back to full time work and jumps into the .COM startup game with Unity Media Group.


The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are the personal property and copyright of Cory Isakson. This summary is provided for information and entertainment and Praise Jesus purposes only. It does not represent the experiences of most families and therefore should not be taken to mean that viewers can and will experience similar things. The use of Email in this drama was entirely real and while it is often a weak form of communication it can still be useful. Twitter, Facebook, and Social Networks have been expressly omitted from Isakson Family, though some on the set occasionally catch glimpses of family members on Facebook. Right wing fundies who get their undies into bundies are asked to please exit through the side door. Everyone else is welcome to stay for the shooting of infomercials.

Unemployment Day 8

Well, I thought I should update, but really there is no news yet. Cory is off at Microsoft this week doing training (for FREE) but still no official local job offer has materialized.

So, we are trying to decide what to do. He is trying to decide what to do.

Do we stay or do we go back to Germany as that is the only job offer on the table so far.

What to do, what to do?

The family is all game to move back overseas, but Cory is a bit hesitant---hhhmmm, I wonder why that could be?

Unemployment Day 4

What to say....

It looks like my husband will have about three different job offers in writing by next week. Now he will just have to decide where to work (Boise or Germany) and for whom.

Amazing...Astonishing.. Astounding...

Almost Unbelievable

EXCEPT for GOD, with whom all things are possible.

Day 1 of Unemployment

Some may know that my husband was given a 2 month notice of a job lay-off recently.

However, two months turned into two weeks and he is officially unemployed NOW. He was let go on December 31st, 2008.

So, actually Day 1 of umemployment was last Friday, but who's counting?! Ha!

And all I can say is God is Faithful and True! We are looking forward to a new chapter of faith and trust in 2009. I'll let you know the end of the story...later.

To be continued...

Living Lighter

Part of the joyful experience of moving overseas was that we took only about two thirds of our belongings with us. I wish we could say we took less. It would have been much easier; especially in light of the fact that we only ended up staying about seven and a half months. In hind-sight we should have stored almost everything, packed our suitcases and left.

But evening leaving one third of our possessions behind was a wonderful experience. I don’t recall missing a single item in storage while there and by the time our storage items were re-delivered, almost a year later, I had forgotten most of what we had packed away to begin with. For a few precious months, there was less to pick up, clean up, keep up, fix up and pack up. It was liberating. Since we did not own our house in Germany we didn’t have a myriad of home improvement or fix-it projects hanging over our heads. And thus felt available to pack a suitcase or just a picnic lunch for a day trip and leave to go sightseeing or exploring for a weekend--guilt free!

We lived with only items from our suitcases for six weeks in a German hotel and for another six weeks back in Idaho both going and coming. You just don’t realize how many possessions including houses, cars, pets and yards clamor for your attention and suck away time and energy until you have lived without them for a time.

Now that we are back living on American soil in a large house and garage filled-to-the-brim with stuff, we are once again overwhelmed at trying to manage and clean and fix and organize it all. And so we keep boxing it up and getting rid of it via donations and it feels like we have barely made a dent. But we keep trying because we remember how invigorating it was to live lighter for one (school) year.