Then, last year, we entered the darkest financial valley we’ve ever seen. I finished up a little project for my steady client of several years and he told me a new project was in the works. Over the years, he’s become as much a friend as he is a business relation. I believed him when he told me more work was just around the corner. So, we waited.. We waited through our cash reserve. I called him, and he assured me it was just a little bit longer before the new work would begin. We began floating on credit cards and we shifted into bare essentials mode. I called him periodically and each time, he assured me it wouldn’t be much longer. Finally, after 6 months of assurances, I called and explained my desperate situation. He checked with his boss and found the budget for the year was gone, leaving me $50K in credit card debt and still with no sign of income.

To say the least, our happy toy shopping days were over. We sought financial help from our families, still in Austin as well. We became accustomed to non-stop calls from creditors. We sacrificed our second van for just enough cash to pay off the note - one less monthly payment. It was quite a shock to my pride after supporting myself and my family for over 30 years. We were reduced to accepting help from friends in our church, even a little old blind lady pitched in to help. My wife, used to staying home with our 4 children, took a job delivering phone books while I called old clients begging for work, and submitted resumes for lots of ‘real jobs’, including several that were shut down just as I was scheduled to interview. I started delivering phone books too.

Our whole family worked through the Christmas season bagging and delivering thousands of phone books in neighborhoods like our own. The 4 kids helped bag and load the van, then Becky and I drove off to make the deliveries. I fashioned a belt to hook 8 bags of yellow and white page phone books to my waist, hand carrying 4 more bags to save trips back and forth to the van. Among our deliveries were several 3 story apartment complexes - yikes!

In January, the new budget year rolled around. I called up my client and offered a 50% discount for any work they could offer me in the first 3 months of the year. I began work on a new project almost immediately. But my first check didn’t come in until a couple more months had gone by. We lived day by day, sometimes reduced to grocery shopping with food vouchers our church provided. Throughout the hard times, one of my old high school buddies called me every week to come have lunch with him, his treat. More than lunch though, he provided a supportive ear for all my problems.

We’re still struggling, but it looks like my work will continue. My wife now has 2 jobs. The creditors still call, but we’re slowly digging out from under the mountain of debt. Through it all, my wife and children have never once complained. They’ve pitched in to help in any way they could. The kids have gone without treats and have even refused when offered little things they knew were unwarranted extras. My 16 year old son helped me coach our 9 year old’s baseball team, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the wonder of those kids.

Sometimes, life is hard. But I’ve found the hard times offer real opportunities for personal and spiritual growth. I’ve enjoyed times of prosperity when I could have anything I wanted. And now I’ve lived for months with a gnawing sense of dread, wondering where my family’s next meal would come from. Throughout the hard times though, I’ve been blessed with human kindness beyond anything I could have expected, sometimes from folks I’d hardly ever spoken a word to. I’ve seen the true meaning of family and friendship from a perspective well beyond just sharing the good times.

There was a time back in the carefree days, that if you asked what my family’s most treasured possession was, I’d start sorting through mental images of the things we own. But that’s not the case today. Without question, our family is, in and of itself, our most treasured possession. That, and the realization that we have friends who love and care for us - even through the hard times. I may never own the finest toys, but I wouldn’t trade what I do have for anything in the world.