LFC says Goodbye 1 year ago . . .

This past week was the one year anniversary of Randy and I loosing our jobs. One year ago at about 9:30am on July 30th all the employees in our office were gathered together and told that we had been shut down, to pack our stuff and head home. It was over! It came as quite a surprise. It was a title and escrow company so we were definitely seeing tough times, we had done a few lay offs and things were hard. However, we were fighting a good fight and were actually making money. (And even if we were going to close down, no one could have guessed it would have come down the way it did!)
Lenders First Choice (LFC) was a privately owned company. The owner owned a few businesses and was making some poor financial decisions, so much so that he lost his line of credit. With out a line of credit it was impossible for him to float these companies so he decided to pull all the money out of the accounts of the companies he owned, bankrupting them and pocketing the money. We walked away with out getting a last paycheck for the 2 weeks we had previously worked as well as not being payed out for our acrued vacation. Our health benefits stopped that day as well (a big deal when I was 37 weeks pregnant) Needless to say, It was quite a day!
I remember walking around the office for a while saying good byes and just hanging out. It was hard to leave. It was so surreal! I had worked there for 5 1/2 years, Randy for 5. We had started it from the ground up. I think I was the 12th employee hired and at one point we had about 600 employees in 5 offices. In looking back, I have mixed feelings. I have NEVER worked so hard in my whole life. NEVER been so stressed, so frustrated and yet I still have good memories. There were great people, good times, hilarious moments, ridiculous people that we will NEVER forget and stop laughing about. So, I have come to the conclusion that it is what it is. The good, the bad, the ugly . . it was all an experience and I am grateful for it.
One year later I am glad to say we survived that trial, with Heavenly Father's help, of course! I am glad to say we are still on our feet and have learned a lot. I do know that we will be better for having traveled the road we have, working there and then saying good bye. There is something else for us and will see what that is in time.