God's Mercy and compassion was shown to us in a major way today. An anonymous benefactor gave us enough money to give the kids one of the best Christmases EVER. When we received the card and saw the check my wife and I were absolutely speechless. We sat in the post office parking lot for several minutes with tears in our eyes. Often times the gifts of the Lord are subtle. However, this one just left us in awe. I've thought all day about how to write about this in this journal and I am still at a loss for words. This morning we were facing a bleak and sad holiday. Now it is much different. Thanks be to God.

Needless to say our first gift of the season will be a family trip tommorrow morning to see "The Return of the King". I am so excited about getting to see it. It'll be hard to get to sleep tonight.

My Wife and I are always thinking about new business ideas. We'll today I think we came up with the best so far. When we lived back in Mordor I was a big fan of the microbreweries. The unique beers and the awesome food is something that is absolutely missing in Siskiyou County. With the ski park and the eco-tourism in that area, I'm sure it would be a big success if we found the right location. Someplace central and easy for everyone to get to. We could offer all sorts of great food like hot wings, which are virtually non-existant in that area. Also, we could offer ethnic Armenian food like Kebabs. Anyway, I know it would be an expensive and delicate endeavor so I'd have to find a business partner that I could absolutely trust like my Armenian friend.

Well, one thing at a time I guess. It's good to have future ambitions but I'll focus on the task at hand and that is finding a job. With the tremendous blessing we had today I'm sure that God will see to it that my next job will be a good one.

Oh, by the way... Union Pacific held over for continued review an application I put in for a job in Arkansas. The way I see it, that's a good sign. They are at least considering it!