My wife was informed by her company yesterday that she will be receiving a $1,000 bonus this weekend. This is in addition to regular bonus that she should receive in July.

Her company has exceeded their sales targets and, therefore, they are hooking up all of the sales reps. This is a huge blessing. We’re going to use the money to buy a bedroom set that we were planning to pull money out of savings for.

My wife has been doing such an awesome job with her new company. She’s working hand-in-hand with the VP to secure a huge account. They have a meeting with the account next week that will include both the VP and CEO of her company. Talk about great face time!

My company laid off four more employees this week, including my boss. That drops us down to 28 total employees. Thankfully, my old boss has come back over from our sister company to act as our new General Manager. I really enjoy working with him and am convinced that if anyone can help see our company through these challenging economic times, he can. Plus, I’ve stayed in touch with him since we last worked together and have been playing cards with him and some other friends every Wednesday night for the last few months.

These additional layoffs helped minimize the salary reductions that the rest of us have to take. I found out today that my salary will be reduced 10% (from $70,460 to $63,423), beginning with my 2/25 paycheck. I expected a salary reduction of up to 25%, so needless to say, hearing it will only be 10% was a blessing.

My wife has always counted on God to help her when she needs to find a new job and it’s amazing to watch Him make things work out. Here are just a few examples from the past week:

She was informed on Wednesday that the company she interviewed with last month had decided to hire her, but unfortunately, the company was purchased and the new Owners will not be bringing any new employees onboard. It was sad that she was so close, but good to know that her interviewing skills are still sharp. Plus, this company may decide to hire her at some point down the road.

While we had hoped that she could seamlessly transition to a new job, it wasn’t in the cards. However, she received her final check from her company yesterday and it was much, much more than we thought it would be. She expected to receive 3 days pay for the end of December and 3 days of pay for her cashed in vacation time. Well, the check was for 13 days of pay for the end of December and 3 days of pay for her vacation time. After taxes and a $121 contribution to her 401(k), the check came to $2,150.26! This as a huge blessing and will buy us even more time while my wife looks for a new job.

My wife also received a call from a friend who offered her $360 if she would help her with her work one day this month. That’s good money for one day’s worth of work. My wife offered to help this friend last year when she was in a pinch, and although she did not accept the offer, she did remembered it and is now returning the favor.

My wife filed for unemployment last week and received a call from them yesterday. The lady told her that if she waited just one week, it would put her in a higher income quarter from which they calculate her benefits. This small suggestion had a big impact on her benefits, as they increased from $375/week to $450/week. Granted, she will miss out on one unemployment check because of the delay, but it will only take a few weeks to make up the missed check.

And finally, my wife has begun watching our neighbor’s child will probably earn $120 or more this month for just a few hours of work. Our neighbor’s child is a very good kid and my wife can take care of her and search online for jobs at the same time.

We’re confident that God will provide my wife with a great new job, but in the meantime, He’s taking pretty good care of us.

During training this week my wife learned quite a bit about the company, her position, and the products she will be selling. While challenging, this new career is already living up to her expectations. Her manager has also done an amazing job of taking care of the new sales reps including providing very nice hotel rooms and meals.

My wife found out this week that her company will be providing a few more perks they had not mentioned before. Each month, they will give her $60 towards a cell phone, $60 towards internet service, $50towards office supplies and up to $100 for a mini storage unit (for her samples). They also gave her a laptop, docking station, printer for her home office – perfectly timed because our printer is on the fritz.

I am amazed at how well her new company is taking care of her to ensure that she feels like part of the familiy, is properly trained, and has the tools necessary to do the job. Let the Good Times Roll

My wife starts her new career on the 16th, and gave her two week notice at her current job on Monday. Although her boss fought her a bit, she was able to negotiate keeping all of the commissions that she has earned, but not been paid on yet. This includes a large ~$4,000 commission that should come in around August, once the company has been paid by their customer. This is such a blessing. We were worried that they might try not to pay her the commissions and/or let her go immediately rather than pay her for the final two weeks.

My wife receives her new company car before her start date, so we plan to put her car up for sale this week and hope to sell it within the next few weeks. This will save us $450/month in car payments and $150-$200/month in gas.

Her first paycheck from the new job will be deposited on July 4th. With the increased income combined with the money we will be saving on the car, we want to restart our 2nd mortgage accelerated payment plan by paying an extra $400/month to principle. In addition, we will apply ~$12,000 of her $20,000 annual bonuses towards the 2nd mortgage. We’re hope to have the 2nd mortgage paid off by July 2010 and begin saving for a down payment with a goal of purchasing a home by July 2012. We also plan to increase our tithe, contribute 6% of her salary to the company 401(k) that includes a 25% match up to 6%, and deposit $200/month into our savings account. The only deliberate increase in lifestyle will be an extra $20/month each for fun money.

This new career is such a blessing in so many ways. My wife will be working in a field she is passionate about, earning greater pay, working out of our home, and receiving amazing benefits/perks. I am very impressed and proud of her success, especially at such a young age. Because of this opportunity, we will be able to go after multiple goals (increasing our tithe, paying off our 2nd mortgage, increasing our savings, and adding to our retirement savings) much sooner than expected.