The Rooster Comes Home to Roost

Or, Papa Rooster No Longer Flies the Coop.

I couldn't decide.

And now I've delayed in posting this and today is his birthday, so yet another topic begs to be worked into the title. "Birthday Rooster Home for Good"?

The big news is that Papa R's employers, at his request, have restructured his job so he no longer has to travel all the time! Exactly what we were praying for! Papa R was even willing to take a pay cut, but they are keeping his base salary the same--woo hoo! Bonus potential will be less since he's no longer in sales, but that's fine with us. He will mostly be focusing on marketing, which he is good at and enjoys doing. So thankful to God and his employers!

Can't beat that for a birthday present.

He will still travel a couple times a year to industry conferences to be a speaker, because he is so popular. It's true--my husband is always everyone's favorite presenter of the conference. Surprised, some of you who enjoy his sermons regularly?  I mean, you know he's articulate, personable and wise, and he can be entertaining--but not THAT entertaining, right?

But in his industry, which is so complex and analytical, he's a breath of fresh air. In fact, an article was published recently which summarized a presentation that he gave recently at an industry conference. I had to read it twice, myself, to understand it...somewhat! It's easy to imagine that his presentation was more engaging than the article.

We laugh regularly at our kids' inability to explain what their dad does for a living, beyond a simple "he's in sales" or "he's a consultant." A parent who drove B14 home recently asked me about my husband's job, because B14 couldn't really tell him. After my description, the parent said, "Now I see why your son couldn't explain it!"

"Senior director of marketing of a revenue analytics firm in the healthcare industry." There. If we can all just memorize that.

In other news, our church is taking baby steps toward figuring out how to bring him on as a full-time pastor in the next year or so. They've done some benchmarking and have determined a salary, which is completely fair and generous, but about half of what we are living on now.  So we are praying about selling our house and downsizing sometime next year. We will see how the Lord leads, but for now I feel led to de-clutter and get some painting done! Always a good thing, right?

So Happy Birthday, my love. It's been great having you around more. I am blessed to have a partner like you to walk through life with, and now I think our partnership will grow even stronger with more time to spend together. Our children will love it too! You're the best, and we are blest!