Do It Anyway

I have had family and friends asking me why I decided to start this blog.  When the idea first took root in the fall of 2012, it was to be dedicated totally for the promotion of the artists and crafters of The Crafter’s Co-op.  Eleven months after the blog was first planned, there have been some changes.  The blog name is different, but I still intend to showcase those awesome folks that made up The Crafter’s Co-op.  I plan to feature lots of fun stuff and inspirational and informative stories as well.  But that is not why family and friends have expressed their concern for us and the blog, it is because I also intend to explain the truth behind the closing of my shop and the dismantling of our life as we had known it up until February 14, 2013.

Because of our forced silence, so much in our life has been placed on hold.  There has even been a change in the dynamics of relationships that we experienced in the past.  All the while we were being threatened to silence, there was still much being said by Officials in town as evidenced by many occurrences and other people’s behavior towards us.  Even when you are not guilty of all the accusations, just the treatment of others makes you want to gather up your toys and leave town.  And seven months later after Dwight’s leave, the reality of our silence is that things are so much worse for us in the community because the Officials are still spreading the lies and innuendoes around town.  Dwight has been blackballed for any job within driving distance of our home, and there are friends in the business community now shunning us to discourage us from seeking their services anymore.  An organized class at the library is believed to have been dropped from the calendar or cancelled because I was registered for the class and I am certainly no longer considered a “welcomed visitor”.  We have been informed that people were told not to even speak to us in the grocery store.  Knowing that explained an encounter we experienced at the Lowe’s in Murphy several months before we heard this.  Since the beginning of this debacle, I had not wanted anyone subjected to any scrutiny because of us and we stopped going to our favorite places in town, not wanting them hurt because of association with us.  We now know that they too have heard things and do not want our presence “scaring off” their business.   The more we are shunned in town, the more we realize all we have lost.  Yet the more we have lost, the deeper our faith has become in God and in our marriage---both relationships are stronger than ever before.  But the more we have been hurt, the more I have wanted to take the “gag” off, yet we have remained silent, believing the lies would eventually cease.  About a month ago, I decided my “gag” was coming off.

Several things happened that made me realize that the Lord allowed all of this to happen so we would come forward with the truth for the sake of others.  Something we recently heard made me realize that there are other employees going through this same mistreatment since this happened to Dwight.  If we had not been silent, maybe this would not be happening to them.  By exposing the City’s modus operandi, I believe it will not be so easy to hang innocent employees “out to dry” using their fabricated stories anymore.  The “documented” lies and false accusations against most of these employees are virtually impossible to disprove.  The real reasons that are suspect are those that would be considered discriminatory in nature, and the City would be hard pressed to answer such discrimination charges.  Another reason was due to phone calls we have received from people in other municipalities warning us that news of us had traveled their way and of the dangers they believe we are in.  I now believe that the more people that know of all of this, the safer we will be instead of their “sitting ducks”.  Silence is not helping anyone except those that perpetuate this wrongful judgment and deeds on good employees.  And the final thing that convicted me was when I sat down and made out a list of all the people that have contacted us over these seven months, telling us of their own stories resulting in their wrongful dismissals.  For the past ten years, most share the same commonality—the same players are involved and fabricated lies resulted in incontestable charges.  There have been so many before us caught up in the City’s wake of destruction—promising futures annihilated, families broken, lives destroyed, and too many never recover.  If we did not have our faith in God, I do not believe we could recover from such damning attacks.  It has without a doubt been the most difficult battle Dwight and I have been through since we married.  It has been devastating for us even all the while we believe and know God is in control.  It is also for all the victims of these Officials that I decided to use this blog, a forum for sharing their stories too.  I believe in God’s redemption, the redemption for the wrongful verdict for these former employees by the unscrupulous and bullying Officials in the City of Wylie.             

Imagine how your life would be impacted and affects it would have on the rest of your life if you were subjected to what we and so many others before us.

• Our witness for Christ has been compromised because of all the innuendos and lies told about us.
• The closing of The Crafter’s Co-op, our community ministry and the displacement of our awesome 98 artists and crafters, including the representation of 28 ministries.
• Dwight’s 40 year career and reputation in the business community has been greatly compromised.
• 80 percent of our income has been lost and will adversely affect our retirement.
• We lost our group health insurance and taking out COBRA was cost prohibitive now as the cost is over $2,000 a month and we are still unemployed.
• I also had to discontinue my cancer medication as the quoted price for private pay was $589.00 at Costco and that was the most affordable price quote received from 5 different pharmacies.  This was a medication my oncologist said I would be on the remainder of my life due to the type of breast cancer I had and the risk of metastasis before it can be seen on mammograms as occurred before.       
• We are now shunned in our community.

In closing, the following poem by Mother Teresa sums up how I feel about this.

“Do It Anyway”

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered,

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives,

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies,

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you,

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight,

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous,

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow,

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough,

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God,

It was never between you and them anyway.

To be continued……..

What's in Your Wallet?

…Platinum, Gold, Bronze, or Silver?  The more you have in your pocket will be a determining factor for your premium costs in the Affordable Care Act mandate.  In September, I went into HealthCare.gov to get a general idea of what to expect through the Health Insurance Marketplace.  My sneak preview indicated…..

            

"You may be eligible to get quality health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace.  But based on the information you provided, you probably won't qualify to save money on your monthly premiums or out-of-pocket costs.  You'll find out for sure when you apply for coverage starting October 1, 2013".            

Now these results are based on our estimated income for 2014.  This is difficult to project since we have been unemployed since February 2013.  Dwight is taking early Social Security and it will begin this month.  For the unemployed this is a major PRAISE!  With the loss of income, we have been living on my Social Security and Dwight’s pension.   These were the figures I factored into the estimate calculator and the resulting premium cost represented 22.57% of our estimated future household income—and this was for their more affordable Silver plan.  Unbelievable!  Needless to say, we will be doing a lot of research and study between now and the deadline to see what we can find that is actually “affordable”.

I have been checking different online financial sites to see if there is a “new” budget percentage for healthcare and insurance.  From one site to the next there are small variances, but none showed more than 10 percent for Medical/Healthcare.  I could not find any adjustments made to the percentages with the Affordable Care Act in mind.  This makes me think everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room and hoping it will go away.

6% for the National Average Budget Category Percentages of Net Income

5-10% for Dave Ramsey

5-10% for Desjardins Financial

If we opted for the “affordable” premium cost of the Silver plan (which we can NOT) then there would have to be major budget adjustments elsewhere and honestly who can easily make such modifications?   In our state of unemployment, our cutbacks have been dramatic and the next step we have wanted to avoid is the sale of our home.  For the first time in our lives, we have no health insurance.  When Dwight worked for the City of Wylie, the deduction for our health insurance was 8.7579% of his gross income.  After Dwight’s leave, the amount quoted for COBRA was actually $1,500.00 more a month than what we were paying when he was employed.  There was not a decision to ponder as we absolutely could not begin to afford COBRA with no jobs in sight. 

This path we have been diverted to has been scary, but we remind ourselves that since we married we are continually “stepping out in faith” and this is just another one of those “steps” in life.  We are truly thankful that the Lord is carrying us through these troubling times and providing and blessing us in ways we never could have imagined.   God has entrusted us as He does everyone with much to deal with in this life---unfair and unexplained circumstances and burdens that we all have to embrace.  We can accept where we are at this moment with absolute thanksgiving, as we know His hedge of confinement is for our good at this time and that He will bring all of this together for our good as well.  Once I know how it works out, I will share it with you, as I know it will be better than what I could ever dream.  Be safe, stay healthy, and make sure you eat that apple a day!