Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The End

One might gather from the title "The End" that there may be a beginning and a middle. Well one would be smart. In the case of this story, its far more appropriate to tell "The End" first. And if I don't some people may kill me :). Not you of course Mitch. Oh Mr. Blog has a name. His Aunt Micki named him Mitch. And let me go ahead and clarify that "The End" is only referring to the end of this story and a season, not my life. I know you are so relieved about that. Mitch would miss me.

THE JOB!!!

Ok so the end is... I have a job! A real, grown up, adult job! I briefly mentioned before (see "Bodies are funny." post) how I found the job. Synopsis: Many many may job applications and resumes sent, no call backs, job posted an hour, sent resume, 2 hours later a call to interview the next day, had to bring degree, didn't know where it was, first box I opened on top, transcripts, act of God I got those too, interview was amazing, they said I'd hear by this coming Friday, which would have been a week and a day from my interview. And keep in mind, this is just a summary of the end. The middle involves lots of craziness and trials mixed with a whole lot of God provision that all lead to this end.

From the time they called me back something just felt different. Something inside me felt different. I felt different. I believed God's small voice through Himself and others that had been constantly telling me, "There is a reason, I have something for you, trust Me." The more I thought about the job before and after the interview the more I got excited and just knew it had to be it. I'd venture to say 100 people were praying. I was constantly begging God. Not just begging for the job, which I did a little of, not ashamed. But begging that He'd keep reminding me that He had a plan for my life and I hadn't messed it up.

The company is called Quality Support Coordination, Inc. It's the Covington branch, about 20 minutes or so from my house. They are a social services agency that provides "quality support" for people with disabilities enabling them to live in their communities instead of facilities. They don't provide the services but connect their clients with people who do. My degree is in Social Work. It seemed a perfect fit. Everyone at church, probably at least 20 people, told me on Sunday that I was going to get the job on Monday, they were going to call me. And..

THEY DID!! At 3:51 p.m. they called to offer me the job! My title is Case Manager/Support Coordinator. I will be in training at first, but after training will have 35 clients. Full time, Monday - Friday 8:30 - 4:30. An hour for lunch. I will be on a 3 month probation period, but I am confident this is what God has for me and that He in every way provided this job and it will work out. Every puzzle piece (which you will hear more of in the beginning and middle) lead to this. Even the parts not a part of this particular story, like my education for instance! I'm actually using the quality (and expensive) Mississippi College education that I got! I am a social worker!

We call our clients on a monthly basis, but usually it will end up being more, as there is always problems working with government and social service agencies. We visit them once a quarter. Mileage is reimbursed. Paid holidays, 60 % paid insurance, paid life insurance, 8 hours a month of paid personal time, 4 hours a month of paid sick time, annual evaluations. The dress is casual! They all had on jeans and cute shirts. I'll be making almost twice as much as I would have been making with the Nanny job that lead me to move to Slidell and fell through. I am in total and utter shock! 100 and a thousand percent of the glory goes to God (yes I know that isn't a real number). I believed, my fellow brothers and sisters believed. God knew. He mapped out every step. Every trial and tear.

So there you have it. The end. The end of a very long, painful, sometimes dark season. He didn't leave me. He wouldn't let me leave Him. And it was worth it all. And I haven't even started the job yet. But to see God provide, it is already worth it all. Thank you for your prayers.

 Stay tuned for the middle and beginning in no particular or decided order.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Ghetto Granny

Ok yes. Mr. Blog. I know. Three times in one day?! You can only listen to so much right? Oh ok good, I'm glad your proverbial paper ears are always open!

I don't know if you know this about me, but my life is a melodramatic comedy. Crazy, funny, weird things happen to me, throw in God's provision, drama and tragedy and you have my life. I also don't know if you know that cars and I are not friends.

I had a car. It broke. A lot. A whole lot. Then I didn't have one. For a long time. Because she broke down on a bridge. For a long time. I had on a dress. Cars driving by fast on skinny bridges and dresses don't mix. I sat there for 2 hours. A cop pushed my car with his car to the next exit. I sat in a greasy fish restaurant for 2 more hours. The fish was good. My mom came and got me. We fought for 2 more hours. Was a great day. So goodbye red car.

My mom let me use her old car. The trunk randomly popped open when you went down the road, particularly on bumpy roads. I lived in New Orleans. Have you been on New Orleans roads? Then it started jumping. As in jerking as I drove down the road. It was broken. Again, no car.

So my dad bought me a great car. A Saturn station wagon. I named him Wentworth. He's an Ivy League car so he needed a smart name. Why Ivy League? The Yale and UPenn stickers of course! So Wentworth and I have gotten along pretty well. No problems. Until now...

Last week he wouldn't crank. His battery cable got corroded. We fixed that. Well for a little while my tail lights wouldn't work. Replaced bulbs, went out. Then no break lights. Checked fuses, not that. I got stopped by the cops three times and decided I should get them fixed. One cop strongly suggested (aka rudely demanded) I ride around with my hazard lights on. So my Dad so wonderfully said he'd pay to get it fixed! Yay! Well I went to the car fixing place. Waiting for parts so it can be fixed. Well in the checking process some other things messed up. My gear shift won't work. I have to put the key on the acc setting put in it neutral then crank it. If I put it in park at the bank or something, I have to uncrank and repeat the process. Well then tonight I realized the inside panel lights don't work. So I can't see my speed. So I'm driving down the road, hazard lights on, inside light on so I can see my speed, and the crazy gear shift. Kari Job cranked up, and with the light on I'm sure people can see me singing. So I'm driving down the road looking like a crazy ghetto granny. Oy with the poodles already!

Bodies are funny.

The human body is miraculously odd and curious. There are many reasons to back up this statement that I don't care to discuss. I don't mean in the medical terminology way, yes all of those things are cool too. But I mean little things. For instance, one thing I often think about is how cool it is that we all have taste buds, which by definition are the same. But everyone's taste buds are different. I don't like olives, but I bet you do Mr. Blog (yep, he needs a name). What brings me to this thought is stress. We know in our brains and thoughts we are stressed, well usually. But those thoughts and messages travel to our body.

In the near future I will go in to more detail about the past year of my life, but it's contained a lot of stress. Which has seemed to peak in the last month. Long story short, from March to August I lived in 7 places, moved back to the town that feels like home, into a house with a roommate, for a job. The day after I moved the people told me they decided to hire someone who already knew the kids, even though they told me they were 100 percent sure I was officially hired. So I've been quite unsuccessfully looking for a job since. As said, more details in the near future, but that brief synopsis to say, STRESS is very prominent in my life.

So after sending probably close to 60 or 70 resumes (with no call back), I finally got a call back. And let me add that I even found a list of every social services agency in St. Tammany parish and started calling and "professionally" begging for a job in addition to applying for every job that didn't have warehouse or truck driver in the title. So on Wednesday a new job was posted, within an hour of it being posted I sent my resume, 2 hours later they called and asked if I could interview the next day. I got a call back! They asked me to bring my degree and transcripts. I had no idea if I'd be able to find them. First box I opened, degree was on the top. Transcripts worked out too. The interview was great. And now I'm in the waiting place. I've done all the right things. Best interview I've ever had. I could tell they were impressed and liked me. I sent an equally impressive thank you card that they will receive on Monday. So side note, PRAY!

Now to the point, obviously I'm stressed. I can't stop thinking about it. I said I wouldn't get my hopes up but that is a silly statement for a believer. We are supposed to have hope. And I have and I've believed and still am. But the night after the interview, I tossed and turned all night. Kept having dreams I didn't get the job. Kept waking up upset. Then today, Saturday I might add, the internationally known day of sleeping in late (I like to exaggerate), by 9 am I had cooked a breakfast casserole and 3 batches of cookies to bring to our ladies gathering tonight. Oh and sweet tea and homemade lemonade and loaded the dish washer twice and washed a load of clothes. WHAT?!

Bodies are funny. Treat yours to one of these yummy treats.

French Toast Casserole or More Cinnamony Bread Pudding

Note: I used 5 eggs, wheat bread, 1 cup fat free milk and 1/2 cup english toffee liquid coffee creamer, and a shake of cinnamon and nutmeg in the liquid mixture. I also had to cook it a little longer than the recipe suggested.

Pumkin Cookies I'm bring to WOW tonight!

Note: They are cakey cookies. The batter didn't taste sweet to me so I added an extra 1/4th cup of sugar and 1/4th of brown sugar. I also put the batter in a zip lock and cut the corner, made them equal sizes and more round.

Hi (said in an awkward-not-so-sure-about-this tone)...

I've been thinking about this for a while and decided yes. I like writing (sometimes, particularly when it has nothing to do with research books or due dates). I want to like it more. I want to do it more. So.. why not? I want to feel connected, even if it's just to myself. I want to have someone to share recipes with, someone to listen to my ramblings, someone to tell a funny story to about how I tripped 5 times in one day and then ran over my own mailbox (I really did that, the mailbox part, and it is not unlikely that I'd trip 5 times in one day either). So Dear Mr. Blog, I'm glad you've decided to listen. If anyone else chooses to, fun. If not Mr. Blog and I will do just fine. I see the start of a beautiful relationship. Hmm.. he needs a name. We'll work on that. I tend to forget about using paragraphs sometimes. I also can write a whole page and only use commas. I use parenthesis a lot. I ramble. I may complain. I may cry. I may share. I may write at 4 o'clock in the morning which likely means it won't make sense. You may find stuff out about me you never knew, you may not. But I want to do something creative and productive. So here we go. Don't expect. I don't even know what to expect.