WELL, THE VACATION IS OVER

Yes dear readers, my forced vacation, which has just passed its six month mark, has come to an end. After 194 applications (some of these multiple times to the same opening at different times), I have landed a position with Kapitan Engineering, Inc. http://www.kapitan-eng.com/

As the web site states, the main focus of Kapitan is telecommunications, infrastructure planning and mapping and civil engineering. My role, according to the boss, is to be the computer aided drafting (CAD) "go to guy". With my twenty-five-plus years of said experience, this should be a good fit for both Kapitan and me.

This proves the statistics really apply in my case. First, the average length of unemployment is six months. My sentence was just five days over this. Second, the job seeker is told constantly not to "settle" for a job in panic or haste, that just like investing, one needs to be in it for the long haul. I am glad I adhered to this advice and did not "settle" for Walmart or some low-paying factory or warehouse job - not that these places were beating down my door to hire me anyway. And third, it is said that about 75% of all jobs found are through networking. In my case, a friend suggested I call Kapitan. I did, and almost two months to the day later I have been hired.

This also strengthens my belief in prayer. Since the very first day of my latest unemployment stint, I have prayed every day, multiple times, that God would grant me this latest gift and at His time frame, not mine. It is He who has blessed me with my talents and abilities and now, again, a place to put them to work to His glory. I guess that this forced vacation was His way of allowing me to spend far more time with my wife helping her at her work and at home while she won the bread and to spend extra quality time with my precious granddaughter. It has also helped us learn how to better manage the monetary gifts God has bestowed and the lessons we learned from Dave Ramsey. Sherri and I even made short lists of things on which we were going to spend money once I got back to work, even if I did have to "settle". God's ways are truly mysterious.