The TSUNAMI at the Shaffer House

Hi!!
On Monday afternoon, The Ashgrove Cement Company called its employees in and let them know the plant was shutting down the Kilns and having clinker shipped in from Durkee Oregon. The plant will run as it is until January 31, 2009. After that only a few employees would remain. Today Max was called in for a 10 minute interview to explain what would happen. He will be laid off with many others.He is of course his optimistic self.
We went to the Temple yesterday for a little bit of PEACE and felt like things will be ok.The closer to Inkom we got the more doom we felt. Above the West bench was a cloud that I swore looked like a tsunami.
Max said he was heading to the tub and was going to get drunk...LOL Neither of us drink of course but we are trying to have some humor about us. There are lots of people affected besides us. Men have put their lives into working hard to provide for their families. I am grateful for those who have called to cheer Max up.Not so grateful for those who were looking for a gossip scoop. It's amazing who friends REALLY are.
Max and Matt Gunter reflected together on the phone how they each had been very blessed with the wild game they each were able to put in freezers this year and also how the wood piles in the shed were full and how grateful we ALL are that Max and Matt and the kids put this meat and wood all up. I myself know that the stuff does not hop in the wood pile nor does the meat HOP in the freezer. Countless hours of preparing has blessed us. I am grateful for the Chris and Bryce's help.They do what they can to keep this home a nice place to relax. I am grateful to Paige who has come in with lots of humor . She has worked hard to get the other house rented so we could actually move in to this one. She is always doing something to help us...from Deer meat to eggs to rent money.
I am grateful for the experience we all had to build this home. We achieved our purpose in have ing an "OUR" home. We worked very hard to get it. Money came from the sale of my home which I worked very hard to keep as a single person for 13 years. Money came from Max and his hard work all his life. WE combined that hoping to have a NEW foundation. We did it amidst lot of criticism, some of which I could hardly take. Decisions were made as a newly established couple and we moved ahead and we have a wonderful FUN home of the likes many of which will never have the chance to have. We may lose it.... We may not... but no one will take from Max, Me, Chris or Bryce the feeling of accomplishment we get when we say we did it together.
When the Latter Day Saints built the temple in Nauvoo they gave everything they had, substance, labor and some their lives to walk away. I have somewhat an understanding of that right now and how hard that was to watch the Temple burn as they left everything they had created. Bathsheba Smith swept her house one last time, laid the broom in the corner and walked away. Thank you friends for reminding us of what we have accomplished instead of criticizing us for what we should have done. I love my husband. I have seen him do soooo many things for other people and get NOTHING in return but the joy that he could lay in bed at night and say he had done all he could do to be a GOOD person. I know Heavenly Father is sending us in a different direction now. The question is asked How do you feel? LOL like a Lamb going to slaughter . We have yet more to do.Thanks for the meat, the wood supply, OUR health, the jobs we have had and the knowledge of the gospel and the plan we have to live here on this earth to have different experiences..
Love Jan and Max