A year and decade come to an end

I am at the kitchen table while your mom is at the office and you guys are playing with blocks in the living room.  I have a fresh cup of coffee and wanted to share some thoughts with you guys.  This has been a very interesting year.  February was the lowest point in our business and the local economy and things were looking pretty bad.  Your mom and I had agreed to sell half of our company to a friendly competitor and had entered into discussions with them the previous September 2008.  By the time January rolled around, the individual that we had been working with advised that he would could give us the cheque but was concerned that he might have to ask for it back as his business was also feeling the strains of the economy.  As a result we did not end up completing our sale and I laid off most of our staff.  We were down to 4 people and as March approached your mom and I had many conversations about locking the front doors of the office and shutting down the shop.  The idea was that I would work from home and that your mother might pick up some part time work to help make ends meet.  We also went on our big family cruise which was a lot of fun and a once in a lifetime opportunity - right in the middle of complete turmoil with our business.  Upon our return I continued having breakfast every couple of weeks with an individual that your mom and I had known for almost 10 years.  Your mom did a project on his company for a university business class and I had the opportunity to continue a relationship with him as he was a entrepreneur and we enjoyed each other's  company.  In May after a breakfast meeting we had he called me and asked me to come down to his office.  I went to meet with him and he asked if he could buy a piece of our company to give us the money we needed to not have to close the shop and move forward with a smaller business plan.  Your mom and I agreed and June 1 marked the closing date of the sale.  Since then we have met monthly to review our progress and he has been instrumental in taking a genuine interest in our business and has helped us increase our margins and has helped us direct our efforts.  We hired our first new staff in August and another in October and are very excited about not only 2010 but also the next decade. At the same time, your mom and I have continued this incredible journey of pursuing our faith and really trying to understand God's will for our lives.  Both your mother and I have a very different understanding of our faith and are comforted and amazed by all that He has done.  Both your mother and I would tell you guys to not look for reasons to not believe in God and His word but rather look for reasons to believe.  This would be true of life as well - there are always reasons to not do something but it takes an incredible amount of strength and focus to look for the reasons to do something.