Consulting God

All summer, I had one goal in my mind, get a job. I woke up every morning and went straight to the computer to look at all the different school districts around and saw what job openings they had. I then spent the rest of my morning emailing principals, filling out applications (I now can fill out a job application in less than 30 minutes. It used to take at least an hour), and printing off resumes to take into schools. I would then eat lunch and begin to look at the sites again to see if any new jobs were posted. Through this process, I ended up having 9 different interviews throughout the summer. I did not get any one of the jobs.

About two weeks ago I became very discouraged. Up until this point I had been positive and upbeat and hopeful I would have job by the time school started. But as the start of school drawed near I began to realize I still didn't have a job, and my outlook started to become very dark.

All summer I had been focused on getting a teaching job. That's most of what I thought about, most of what I did, and it's what I prayed about. I even had my family and friends praying that I would find a job. Last Tuesday I suddenly realized, that my goal (getting a teaching job) may not be God's goal for me. I realized that as well intentioned as my goal was, I had not consulted God in this matter other than to say "Give me a job!" I had completely ignored God in the plans for my life, I didn't ask if I was acting in accordance with His will or plan for my life, I simply thought I knew better. Boy was I wrong.

Over the last week, I've asked God to change my heart, my desire and to help me to just listen to Him. Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you' says the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'

Jared and I both have been trying to just sit and listen and have faith that God knows what's best for us. Please pray for us, not that I find a job, but that we are following God's will.

Welcome to X ISD!

Last year I worked for a school district that had a lot of problems. I will neither name the school district(we'll just refer to it as X ISD) nor talk about most of those problems but the most recent problem I heard about I just had to post.

My sister in law, Jenna has been looking for a teaching job just like me. Orginally all my experiences with X ISD had scared her away from applying with them, but since school starts in a few weeks and she still doesn't have a job, she decided to go ahead and apply. She started contacting schools. She was told that all of X ISD is on a hiring freeze. No Schools are allowed to hire anyone unless it's an internal transfer. So it looks like A LOT of schools will be starting the school year without a full staff. I get the feeling it is a budgetary reason they aren't hiring at all, but really, is the teaching staff in a school district the place to save money?

After Jenna told me all of this she asked me "Why would they do that in the summer?" All I could do was laugh and say "Welcome to X ISD!"

What are the odds?

The other day I came home from the store and my garage door opener didn't work. I figured that the battery had died and it needed a new one. So that night Jared and I opened up the opener and the batter that was in there, was one neither of us had ever seen before. It was about as thick as a AAA but about half as long. The next day Jared went to the battery store and found one just like it. And that's all the opener needed. Problem solved!

Last night, a remote we use to turn on and off a light in our bedroom, stopped working. Again we figured it was the battery. We open it up and it took the exact same kind of battery that the garage door opener took. We thought that was really weird. Not only that they both took the same type of rare battery but that they both died within 2 days of each other. So Luckily Jared had bought two of the rare battery so we popped that in and the remote started working again!

Today when I came home again the garage door opener wouldn't work (I had switched to a different one the other day while Jared was getting the battery) Again it is the battery, and since it's the same type of opener of course it takes the same rare battery!


The battery we had to use was the one at the top of the picture. It's an A23.

So within 3 days we had 3 remotes die and all 3 of them took the same kind of rare battery! Jared figured out the odds of this happening and we should win the lottery multiple times before this happens again!

Flooding

I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids. It's the town where all my childhood friends and I would ride our bikes around the neighborhood, play secret agent and spy on the neighbors. It's the town where I played countless basketball and softball games, where I set city records in track, and where I gave my heart to the Lord.

Today, as I look at the pictures and videos online of the massive flooding happening in my hometown. I feel part of my heart is devestated. The parks that I played in as a girl and went on picnic dates in in high school, is completely underwater. The YMCA's I learned to play basketball in are being destroyed. Even the roads I was so careful to follow the speed limits on because there were always cops there are under many feet of water. My beloved library that I spent countless hours in as a girl and an adult is closed as the water creeps up higher and higher on the windows.

The flooding in Cedar Rapids is just a horrible sight to watch. Jared keeps asking me why they didn't do something to prevent it. I keep telling him that no matter what precautions they took, it was going to happen, because this was so massive and so powerful there was no way to stop it.

I was there for the floods of '93 which up until now seemed pretty bad. People were still talking about those floods when I moved away a year ago. But '93 seems like a kidde pool compared to the ocean of a problem that Cedar Rapids is facing now.

Please pray for Cedar Rapids. http://www.gazetteonline.com

Making an Effort

Since I made my last post so late at night I realize that I left off a couple of points.

First I forgot to acknowledge that God gave me the most wonderful best friend in my Husband, Jared. He is amazing and wonderful and helps me keep a clear and not one sided view of things. I have learned lately that I have lately seemed to become a very selfish and self centered person. (as I'm learning from Beth Moore, even when you're thinking negatively about yourself, your still thinking about YOU.) Jared and God (during quiet times) have been helping me with this and helping to remind me how to be selfless and to be a good friend again.

Another thing that they have been reminding me of lately is that I am a very shy introverted person by nature. Because of this, it is harder not only for me to get to know other people, but for them to get to know me. Jared is so wise and has been encouraging me for a few months now to get out of my comfort zone and be the one to call the girls and ask to do things or just to talk.

I know God is working on my heart and teaching me how to be good friend again. Since I began making a little more effort I do feel like I have been becoming closer to some of the girls in my Bible Study. Sometimes God just has to gently say, "If you weren't so wrapped up in yourself, you'd see all the great things I have for you right here."

Friends

Friends are such an important part of everyone's life. They are the people you lean on, you ask for advice and even just have a great time with. They are there for you when you're far away from your family, or are having problems with family. They're there for you when you get a job or a promotion, or when you get fired, or have trouble with your boss. They are there when you just need someone to listen, or a shoulder to cry on.

I say all of this because lately I have learned just how important friends are to me. In high school I had my good friends, Allison, Emily and Jill. We shared the same interests, and were involved in the same activities. I considered them my best friends. Looking back, I never shared anything especially deep with them, part of that was probably I was still young and figuring out what my own desires, morals and ambitions were. But I'm still so thankful for that group of girls.

My first day of college is where I met Kirstie, who I still considered my closest and best friend (even though we live 1500 miles apart). Kirstie and I never had a stage where we were really just friends, we became best friends right away. Kirstie was always the first one I ran to with both problems and excitement. We would spend hours taking walks around campus talking, staying up late watching movies, walking home from Target in the dark, (an activity neither of us would recommend). Even today with me living in Texas and her living in Minnesota, the moment we hear each other's voice on the phone, we pick up right where we left off the last time we talked. She is truly the most amazing friend in the world.

There was one time in college when Kirstie couldn't be there for me because she travelled to England for the semester (lucky girl!) And ironically it was the one semester I needed a best friend the most. I had gone through a horrible break up right before classes started, and God knew I needed someone, so he brought Megan into my life. She and I had never met before that 1st day of Block 2 (all Bethel Education majors know what Block 2 is like) but from that moment she was there for me, and became a great friend. She is still a wonderful friend to me.



I have had other good friends through the years that I have always been able to count on, and whom I love very much, Melody, Debbie, Sarah and especially my sister Lindsay.


When Jared and I moved to Texas, our number 1 priority was finding good Christian friends. We knew how important friendship would be for us. We found a great church and a great lifegroup to join right away. They even had a Bible studies that we could join right away. I want to state at this point that I love this group of girls very much. They are all very nice friendly, welcoming, and honestly I've never met a group that is so good about never talking bad about people or saying anything bad behind anyone's back. I respect them all so much. But I've never had a harder time trying to fit in, or find people to really connect with. I have been part of this group for about 9 months now, and I am just now starting to feel comfortable calling some of these girls on the phone. Although they've always invited me to things and make me feel welcome, most of them have been such good friends for so long that I feel like they don't have room for any more good friends.

Not having a good friend here in Texas has been hard on me. During the fall semester there were so many times when I'd had a hard day at work (everyday) I wished that I'd had a friend that I could have just stopped over and talked about my day. I know in Iowa I did that a lot with Sarah, and Lindsay, and I did that every day in college with Kirstie, and Megan everyday my senior year.

I have been praying about this matter for some time, and I know that God will bring me more friends, and will create some very close friends for me, but for now I need to pray for the patience to wait for that time.

Growing Families

In the past 6 months 3 of my good friends have announced that they are pregnant. This adds to the 4 other good friends that already have children. Each time in the past that I have been told by a friend that they are pregnant, I immediately feel overwhelming joy for the woman and her husband, but a few minutes later a tiny feeling of jealousy and sadness would creep in. Don't misunderstand me, I'm so happy for my friends that God is blessing them with the little miracle growing inside them, but I felt sad because I wonder, 'when will it be my turn?'

Lately I have been praying that God take some of my desire and jealousy away so that I can concentrate on teaching, and the other things God wants for Jared and I before we have children. And when my most recent friend announced she was pregnant, I was nothing but happy for her. I waited for the sadness and it never came. God has made me content in my current life.

Looking around at everything now, I know that life will never be the same once children enter the picture, and I love our life right now. God has reminded me that I need to be happy and content with what He provides for me.

Kidd and the Mavericks

By now many of you have heard about the rumored Mavericks trade to get Jason Kidd. I'm not sure that I like this trade. I don't have anything against Jason Kidd, but I feel like the Mavericks have to give up too much to get him. I have only been a Mavs fan for 3 years but in that time I have grown to love the members of the team and how well they work together. I don't know if it's because I'm a girl or because I'm just too soft hearted, but I feel like the current team works well together and they have good chemistry. I feel like trading Devin Harris is like giving up on him. He is just starting to come into his own as a point guard. Jared and I have marveled at every game this year at how much Devin Harris has been improving and how good he is starting to become. Not just giving up Harris, but also giving up Stackhouse, Diop, Ager, George and a couple of draft picks seems like a lot just to get one 34 year old point guard who probably has 1-2 good years left in him. I know I don't know basketball as well as my sports obsessed husband, and I know the idea is to win and win now, but I just feel sad as this trade is being announced, because I feel like the team that I fell in love with, is being broken apart.

Caramel, the Guard Dog

Yesterday I took care of a friend's 6 month old son. I was very excited but I was also nervous because Caramel, our 1 1/2 year old Beagle has never really been around babies before. I was worried that she would lick the baby all over or try and cuddle up to the baby too much, because that's what she does with everyone else, but she didn't do that. She liked to sit on the blanket with the baby but not too close. She would just sit there and watch him and look around. I was surprised by this because she is very friendly and just always wants to play. Even when I tried to play with her, she just stayed where she was watching the baby. When I layed the baby down for a nap, she went into the room with him, and sat between where he was sleeping and the door, and just watched the door. I finally figured out that she was trying to protect the baby. It was so sweet! She knew he was helpless and it was her job to protect him. It made me feel much better about her for when Jared and I have children. She'll make a great big sister, and not let anything happen to them.

The Glass Castle

I just finished reading this book by Jeannette Walls. My friend Sharee recommended it to me. It was an incredible book! It is heartbreaking, and full of sorrow and frustration but I couldn't put it down! It really makes you stop and think about love and family. I don't want to give away too much so I'll just leave it at this is a must read!

What am I going to do?

I sent in all my information today to become a substitute teacher again and now I have found out that the next orientation meeting is not until March 6! That's like 6 weeks away! I did not think it would be that long til the next orientation. I'm not sure what I should do now. I could try and find a nannying job. I nannyed for a few summers in college and really liked it. Or of course I could always do Jared's dream job for me; Best Buy (so he can get the discount). I know God will provide for us. I just have to keep trusting Him.

First Time Blogger

I've never blogged before, but I have a few friends who do and I love reading their blogs, so I thought I'd start blogging myself.

Friday was the last day of work for me. I'm so glad to be gone from such a stressful situation, but I have to admit that I am having mixed feelings about quitting. I was finally earning a decent amount of money and now I no longer am bringing that in. I can't help but like I'm not doing my part for our family until I find another job that pays about as much as the last one did. I know God has a plan for me and I know I'm doing the right thing by not remaining at my last job. I just have to be patient and trust Him.