A huge change in our lives is taking place TODAY!

    

The day my ChiefHubby has worked for is here. It feels kind of surreal to this homemaker wife; I am no longer going to be the only one home all day after 36 of our married years. But then, there were a lot of things that happened during that era; I also worked as much as I could in the first 5 years. After Brian was born, it was another 3 years until Brett came along, and I was home permanently. And I still had Brett with me until he went into Kindergarten. During all of his 31years with Subaru Automotive of Indiana, David managed to not only work 40 plus mandatory overtime hours along with a one hour drive each way; he finished school (Seminary), spent 26 of those years as a Volunteer Firefighter- half of which was as Chief or Assistant Chief- and for the past 20 years (at least) served in church as an Elder or Deacon, and raised a family. He's not only provided for our own Sons to get them a good start in life by supporting them at school and being an example of CHRIST, he always managed to find the time to help anyone who asked. And he worked and planned to make sure our family saw and did as much together as we could.

      There is no marriage or family on this Earth that is perfect- that's just a fact- and we have had our share of rough patches, and slick patches; times of fun and times when we had to find the fun in something in order to get through it. We started with nothing. Only 2 HS diplomas, him with 1 year at Purdue, and a 1975 Chrysler Cordoba. We flipped burgers and filled tacos until better jobs came along. We went through layoffs, ripoffs, and all other things that happen to young couples just starting out who think they know everything they need to know to make it on their own. We made our first home in an old house partitioned off into two apartments where we rented the downstairs for a total of $200 a month- everything included- from a wonderful old couple who told us to remember to help someone else when we were older, as they had us, by including the utilities. That $200 was half of what we made together in one month. We got by, and were able to purchase our home in 1987, and Brian was born in May 1989.

   During those years was the time when Subaru joined together with Isuzu to build a joint-venture auto plant in Lafayette, Indiana. Both David and I put applications in- along with half of Indiana's workforce. I was called in to run through the first group testing, but my hearing got me knocked out as unemployable. Then David got his call, and the factory had already begun production by then. Over the summer of 1989, he was called in for more testing and interviews, finally getting hired in October of that fall. Changes have been ongoing from the start- Subaru Isuzu Automotive became Subaru of Indiana when Isuzu pulled out of the factory and Toyota put in a line to produce the Camry. Those years were huge booms in employment, and blessedly, our own boys were able to be part of that growth for their own futures and families. SIA continues to grow even after Subaru fulfilled the Toyota contract. Indiana should be thankful- and proud- to have had this huge opportunity all these years! We have had our share of ribbing and

comments over the years; "David is working for a JAPANESE company" or "We don't care for FOREIGN companies in the USA", or any other number of comments made long before 'global' became an accepted way of thinking. The fact is: there is NO CAR that is totally "American Made"; I've worked in those parts and they switch, trade, barter, buy and sell 'foreign' parts and stick a sticker on it that says "Made in America". But, SIA has taken care of our family with healthcare- totally
paying entire family premiums, paid wages that a worker could MORE than keep his/her head above the water with, gave real rest in shut down time and earned paid vacations, and lastly- what brings our family to this very day today: paid early matching contributions to 401K in which my ChiefHubby is now able to retire almost as early as my Dad (at age 52) did- and just after his 58th birthday. 

It may sound like all of this was just based on our "own hard earned life", but it's very far from that. What we have has come straight down from The LORD! His blessings have been bridges for us throughout our entire marriage;  even before we made the choice to follow Him. I am grateful beyond words. And my ChiefHubby has dreamed of devoting his retirement to working for JESUS- in being able to pay his own way while serving in GOD's Family- no matter where we are! Our plans are The LORD's plans- we'll be working just as we always have. And we are certainly going to enjoy it!!!

We have shared dreams of this time since we first met at age 19 and 16: being 

                                         RETIRED GRANDPARENTS....

Looking forward to the next part of the adventure:

HAPPY RETIREMENT

TO MY CHIEFHUBBY;

DAVID LARIMORE!