It is now more than a month since Mike walked into the corporate office of Hill International and was told, "You've been terminated. Sign here" Five simple words that sent our world spinning dizzily out of control. Or so it felt. As Mike told me about it that evening, the first night of the Perspectives class, the anniversary of Mom's death, I thought I was going to throw up. He told me that when he asked them, "What about my family? What do we do now? My son graduates in June. What do we do?" He was met with a blank stare and a shoulder shrug. All righty then....
And so began many days and nights of prayer, mornings of waking up in a panic, talking and talking and talking to other companies, to friends here and friends in the US, to previous co-workers and bosses, and more prayer.
Of course, losing a job anywhere is a very, very difficult thing. Here in the UAE, though, the ramifications of being jobless can be tramatic in different ways. Visas are cancelled, bank accounts can be frozen, and so on. We felt this looming black hole approaching to swallow us at such a speed that we couldn't get our breath. Combine that with the global economic crisis and the construction business plummeting..and well, you have panic. In Dubai right now, Mike guesses that one quarter to one half of the cranes are shut down. Projects are being closed down and people laid off at an alarming rate. And all their resumes are coming to Abu Dhabi. Oh boy. And it doesn't look good here, either. At Mike's previous project, just after he was let go, about 80 more people followed. So far.
During this job hunting time(more like frantic search) we have had many false starts and confusing messages. One company hired Mike for a project but the client then turned around and said no. "He's too senior." The company then went back to the client to ask them to approve him AGAIN and we have heard that he is still not approved. We still, however, get conflicting stories from that. Mike talked to another company. They hired him, an answer. In this case, however, we needed more documentation. His diplomas needed to be stamped by a notary, then the State of Kansas and Texas, then the State Dept. and then the UAE embassy in the US. Although even with that, we heard different stories. He immediately started getting that done, not easy to do from over here and was also told different processes to do it, BUT the new company, Parsons. needed him at work except he couldn't be official until the doc. was done. Wow. Finally, after a week working at Parsons, he is signing a contract today. Officially he is hired. Though we are still waiting on the documents. The Hildebrands are just relieved to know that we will not be kicked out of the country. That Ryan will be able to graduate from high school here. That we do not need to borrow money to pay off the cars so our bank account isn't frozen. That, at least for now, Mom Hildebrand doesn't need to clean out the closet for 5 extra boarders!:) And that perhaps our purpose for being here is still in process. For the last month and more, we truly wondered if 18 months was all He wanted...and just exactly what did that mean?
Mike just called. Good news. He has an employee number and that means he's on the payroll! Hallelujah.
Praising God for new beginnings and friends who prayed along side us.
Mattie
