Hearing hopeful signs but not yet seeing them...

The part of Northwestern Ohio that I live in has been pretty hard hit with the downturn in the economy. Unemployment has been in the doubledigits for some time and some with jobs have either taken pay cuts or had their health insurance costs increase. Or in the case of my family, both.

I know more people know who are on unemployment and have been nearing their last extension more than once. That's never happened before that I can remember, typically most of my circle of acquaintances may end up temporarily between jobs, but one extension was all that was needed and at times not even that.