Pay Day in Iraq

This morning I got an email from my lovely friend Lindsay. We met Linds and her husband Jim at CCC in OK, at the same time we met Rich and Melissa. Lindsays brother-in-law, Lou, is deployed to the same-ish area as Erik and I guess he sent this picture home to the fam and Linds noticed that Erik was in the back ground! (BTW, you guessed right, poor Jim's mom has two sons deployed... Bless her heart!)

So, here's the picture that Lindsay sent!

Here's my question - isn't the dude in the undershirt, sweater and blazer a little toasty? It is the desert, after all... And here's my other question - is that a can of pop in front of Erik? I don't think I have EVER seen him drink a can of pop before. Do you call it pop? I call it either pop or coke. Never soda.

Also, I have some unsettling news and would appreciate any prayers that you could send my way. The program I work for is contracted by the state of Hawaii and the contract is up for review. Long story short, they are going to break the program up into two clusters and allow different companies to "bid" on one of the two clusters - however no company can win both. The top "bidder" will be awarded what they are calling Cluster 1, and the runner up with be awarded what they call Cluster 2. Well, Goodwill will almost certainly win Cluster 1, however my office is in Cluster 2. The point is that when the new contracts start on March 1st I could be out of a job, at least the job that I have. There is always the chance the new company will hire me (and I could make more money that way because both the "front runners" are for-profit organizations) but if not, Goodwill is saying that they "will make every effort" to place us within the organization, however the program I work for is the largest so I would almost certainly take a pay cut, and who knows what that could mean for my commute. I am sick to my stomach at the thought of having to look for another job, but especially while Erik has gone. The last couple of months have literally FLOWN by, and if I'm stuck at home, unemployed, they're going to start dragging.

I know there is nothing I can do but wait at this point (we should know who wins which contracts by the 1st-ish of February) so I'm trying not to worry, but it's hard. I don't want to lose my mind... So, any good thoughts you could send my way would be MUCH appreciated it. You know me, I can't stand the feeling of being out of control.

Okay well I'm off. Baxy wants some dinner.