Our family has been suffering a local virus for about a week now. One family member has remained unaffected- remarkably. It is fever, aches, and chills. I continued to work through it and so it is still lingering. I just finished a book, Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America. The author spent a month each in three different cities and tried to make it on hourly wage jobs. One of the bosses was very reluctant to let anyone miss work. He said, "You just have to work through it." How long can you continue that kind of life though? There were several points that stuck with me, but the sharpest was housing. Poverty level is based on food prices. Therefore, minimum wage is based on food prices. But the price of housing has not at all stayed connected to the price of food. So many working poor are that way because of housing costs. I have noticed around here that there are not any houses in our price range any longer. The Lord certainly blessed us with this house and land last year. Yet, we are a very middle-income family. There should be affordable, good housing available. But the city is growing and all of it has been taken quickly. If it is anything like the book, I am sorry for those who got here a year late.