#28

Well this is Thanksgiving #28 for Me. I have started this tradition of listing the things I am thankful for. This being the 28th Thanksgiving I have celebrated I have A LOT to be thankful for! I have been blessed beyond anything I could ever imagined! I am so excited to see what this next year brings. You can check out #27 to see what I was thankful this time last year (some may be the same but I'm going to try to list things that I am thankful from within the last year!)

1. Reese's pieces pastel eggs (I bought 12 bags after Easter to enjoy year round, one of which I am enjoying right now!)
2. The HARD times that this year has brought that have caused me to grow and become such a stronger person.
3. The times that I get to spend with my dearest and longest friends/sisters, Emily and Les! My birthday this year was so sweet with them here to celebrate with me!
4. The times few and far between that I get to spend with my sweet friends from Mankato. Whether it be in Kansas City or Tucson or here in Fort Worth, I am so thankful for these sweet visits!
5. Having women in my life who are intentional about pouring their lives into mine. Especially my new friend Molly, who entered my life as a huge answer to prayer!
6. Thursday mornings at Chic-Fil-A with Kati and Erin, I am so thankful for how these mornings have drawn me closer to these sweet friends as we grow closer to the Lord.
7. Christ Chapel Bible Church, what an amazing church to be a part of! I am thankful for the people that have entered into my life through CCBC!
8. The opportunity I had to intern at and then work at Texas ReEntry Services.
9. That I am a proud new owner of a 2009 Ford Focus!
10. School... I'm so thankful that I was able to graduate and get my Bachelor of Social Work and now continue to work on my Master of Social Work! I am so thankful that I L-O-V-E my classes! And I am so thankful for my classmates!
11. That I have been able to continue building on my relationship with my brother Marc!
12. My new apartment! I love living alone once again and it is such a little oasis for me.
13. Kari Jobe and Sandra McCracken and the other amazing musicians who speak to my heart!
14. My journal from Mirage Paper Co! As many of you know I journal on a regular basis and I honestly believe that if I did not have that in my life I would go crazy!
15. Having a place to go "home" to...
16. Being able to celebrate with many of my friends as they have married the man of their dreams!
17. Watching the growth that is happening in the lives of those I love!
18. Restoration in friendships that have been broken (see #2!)
19. Being able to celebrate with my friends as they expand their families!
20. Being unemployed... I think that this time has been the best thing for my relationship with the Lord. I have significant time to spend reading and journaling and this time has forced me to trust in a whole new way!
21. That I can call my God, Jehovah Jireh the Lord who provides! I am so thankful for all the ways the I have seen the Lord provide in some AMAZING ways!
22. Skinny Cows Ice Cream sandwiches... who knew that "diet" could taste so good?!?!
23. Being able to nanny for Alisha, Ashley, Amanda and little Kelly! What a great opportunity to love those kids in the midst of a chaotic time in their lives.
24. My iphone, I love that I have everything I need at my fingertips. I love that it sync's with my car (see #9), and that it begins to play my itunes upon starting my car, I love that I can play on facebook or check my e-mail no matter where I am at! I just love it!
25. Union Gospel Mission and the opportunity to serve the homeless of Fort Worth supper every Tuesday night. Thankful for Ron and Issac who make us feel like family as we come serve each week!
26. Student health care, without which I would be thousands of dollars in debt right now!
27. The Amazing Amazing Amazing people in my life! I am so blessed by the amazing people who choose to walk through life with me. I am SO forever grateful to and for these people, namely... Emily and Patrick, Les and Jonathon, Natalie and Bob, Melissa, Kati, Erin, Theresa, Sarah, Holly, Arianne, Kathleen, Heather, and so many more! I love you all more than I could ever express!
28. I once again am leaving the thing I am most thankful for last.... My relationship with the Lord. He has saved me and continues to show me mercy and grace. I am so very thankful for that, without that relationship I would not have this list!

Unemployed...still!

I have officially been unemployed for 25 days as of today. I have been on 5 interviews, invited for 2 more interviews, offered one position (which I turned down), did not finish one of the interviews when we realized the position would not work with my school schedule, did not get one of the jobs but was encouraged to apply for future positions due to the fact I was a strong candidate, and I continue to wait for a response from the other two! One of the said jobs I'm waiting for a response from is the one I WANT! So here I sit and wait...

This time has become a lesson in trusting in the LORD. I had the recommended two months worth of bills saved up and come December 1st I will have been unemployed for two months and therefore my savings will be depleted. I have begun to freak out a little bit and yet I feel the calming presence of the LORD! I have said a few times over the last week that this month of unemployment has been the best thing for my relationship with the LORD. I have had time each morning to spend a significant amount of time reading, journaling and just being still with the LORD. I have been able to spend time praying for people in my life and doing things to serve within the community. I still have a great peace about turning down the job offer a month ago. When I begin to question that decision I am reminded about how sweet this time has been with my LORD, and ultimately I believe that is more valuable. And therefore I sit and I wait...

I honestly do believe that I got the job that I really want. It is a job working with Mental Health & Mental Retardation (MHMR) of Tarrant County. The position is a Family Intervention Specialist. I would have a caseload of 20-30 kids ages 4-17 who have mental health issues and whose families have decided to be a part of this program. I would meet with the kids either every week or every other week and work on their goals. I would make my own schedule (I schedule when I see clients) and therefore will work great with my school schedule. I honestly think that I would excel at this position and that my gifts, talents and education would be a great asset to this program. The interview went great and my interviewer made it sound as though I have the job. MHMR is a huge agency and therefore there is a LOT of paper work and they are not quick to do things (so I've heard from current employees) and therefore I sit here and I wait...

Things are tight financially and I'm not able to do some of the things I desire to do, but yet I am in one of the best places emotionally and spiritually that I have been in in a long time! And therefore I will continue to sit here and wait and most importantly, trust!

Unemployed!

As of today I am unemployed! As I have mentioned I have been searching for a new job, and honestly it has been going pretty well. I have my resume out there and many different non-profit agencies and I have had 4 interviews (the 5th is tomorrow morning) and 1 job offer. I don't know if it was the wisest decision but I turned down the job I was offered because of the promise that the 2 interviews I have/had this week. The position I was offered was a central intake specialist for a non-profit agency. I would have spent a lot of my time on the phone accessing the needs of clients and referring them on. Not my dream job, and the salary was less than what I am currently making. Both of the jobs I'm interviewing for this week are for positions that I would love excel at. Through this process I have had to put to work many of the skills that I taught my classes this summer. I have been asked many interview questions and have had to think on my toes. Here are some of the interview questions I have been asked so far....

The person we hire for this position will be the 'face of the company', why would you make a good face for this company?

What are you strengths and weaknesses?

What brings you joy? And what irritates you?

What are your professional goals?

Have you ever had to deliver hard news? How did you respond to that?

What do you like about this agency?

Describe a stressful situation you've encountered at a workplace, how did you deal with the stress?

What type of schedule do you like to work with?

And so many more! One interview this week took 1 hour and 45 minutes! I was told earlier this week in a interview that I am very poised which I guess is a good thing! I hope that tomorrow as I go on yet another interview I am as poised as I have been. I will keep ya'll updated on the process!

Where I am from...

For one of my classes we had to write a poem about where we are from, I thought I would share mine!

Where I am from…

I am from the trailer park,
Living week to week,
Waiting for the welfare check.
Living with my brother and father,
While my mother remarried
Making my uncle my step-father!

I am from a home where everyday was filled with love…
Until one day, I believe I was 10
And things began to change
The fridge began to fill with beer
And my brother and I began to live in fear
My brother was the first to go
And I soon too followed

We moved in with the mother we barely knew
Now I must say I am from the other side
Living purchase to purchase
My love trying to be bought
Feeling lonely and sad

My brother followed in the family foot steps
Became an addict and completely withdrew
One would expect that I too would become an addict
But instead I fell in love with my Savior
And O what a different path I have taken
I love to look back and see and remember…
Where I am from!

The job search...

So the summer is over which therefore means that my summer employment program is over. Going into the summer I knew that my job was a temporarly job, but it was thought that more money would come in so that I could stay at the agency. Now here we are a week and half until the end of September and still no money has come in to pay me. So come October 1st, I will no longer be at TXRS unless some money comes in soon.

Because of this, the job search has begun! There is nothing I enjoy less than searching for a new job! I have my resume out there all throughout the Fort Worth area. I have been applying mostly to non-profit agencies. I have a second interview on Tuesday and am hopeful for an offer. I must say that I am very excited to be done with my school so that I will be qualified for the jobs that I want! Until then I will continue to build up my resume. I must say that my experiences will look great on my resume and hopefully where I end up next will add to that! I'm just ready to know what the near future will look like!

Well...

It has been over a month since I have blogged! What has been going on you ask, well here is the run down!


I finished my first semester of Grad school!


A weekend float trip that brought me back to junior high in the antics of some of the people on the trip!

5 days days in Arkansas celebrating Leslie's birthday with the Steens, Emily and Bonnie!


2 of my very dearest friends from undergrad,Melissa & Natalie, came to visit Fort Worth!


Which included skating, once again a junior high moment!



And spent time with some great friends here in Fort Worth

I have begun to volunteer with my small group at Union Gospel Mission a local homeless shelter. Every Tuesday we help to serve supper there!
I read Same kinda different as me ... Seriously go out and read it, it is GREAT!
I have begun my second semester of Grad school in which I am taking 3 classes that I am already LOVING! I love my classes more and more every semester. It is nice to continue to be affirmed that this is exactly what I am suppose to be doing! As a part of my course work this semester I have to attend two 12-step meetings and also go to 3 "out of my comfort zone" places. I will be excited to share these experiences with you! Next week I am lining up for supper with the homeless at a shelter and experiencing that. SO that is my life over the past month... there is a lot going on right now but I will leave that for the next blog!

Where part of my heart is....

This past weekend I went to Longview to celebrate the marriage of Kacie and Phil Peek. Kacie is a dear friend of mine from Heartlight. Theresa, Marti and I drove over Friday night and stayed with Heather, a friend so very dear to my heart! It was so good to catch up with old friends. Although I was sick all day on Saturday I sucked it up and went to the wedding. It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding and it was so good to catch up with old friends! Heartlight was such a huge part of my life and these people are so dear to my heart! I loved the time I had to spend with these great people!

Mr & Mrs Peek


Heartlight staff



Theresa, Marti and I before the wedding


I love these girls!

The last two months...

Well it's been almost two months since I've been on here... bad bad Jen! I've got lots of catching up to do! Here is the run down... Graduated with my Bachelor's of Social Work, transistioned from being an intern to a supervisor of a program that I designed, began Grad school, began teaching the work readiness classes for the youth program, went to Houston for a weekend,moved to a new apartment, saw the X-Fighters motor-cross games, went to Arizona and have really enjoyed life.

Graduation Photo


Sarah, Theresa and I at the X-Fighters


My new apartment!









I will write more soon! For now I have a mid-term to study for!

Crazy...

Well I am officially employed now! I am very excited to begin this new journey! It's been kinda strange to go from being an unpaid intern to the person in charge of a new program! I officially have people reporting to me! I have talked to so many people in the past few days talking about this program that I have designed It's so weird and I can say that it is something that I am very proud of! These next two weeks will be spent contacting people getting them excited to be a part of this program and then the classes will start the first week of June! To say the least I'm excited!

It is funny how some things that should be a big mile stone don't seem that exciting to me right now. In 3 day I will graduate with my Bachelor of Social Work degree, and yet it does not seem like that big of a deal to me. I'm not walking at graduation and I begin the Masters Program in 3 weeks from tomorrow. I think that once I graduate with my Masters in Social Work degree I will feel more accomplished! I should be done next August! That is the day I look forward to! Saying all of that it, is crazy that this milestone is here! I moved to Texas a little less than two years ago with the intention of getting my BSW in order to get my MSSW and now here I am with one goal accomplished! These past two years have FLOWN by!! It is crazy to think of all that has happened over the past two years, how much I have grown, and how much I gotten to know who I really am. I'm so thankful for the amazing opportunities I had over the past two years and am excited to see what the next year of schooling will bring!

News Story

I never thought that when I began working on the grant for the Youth Summer Employment Program back in March that it would turn into this great honor for me. I have to say that I am SO exicted about the program and I'm so excited to be working alongside these young men and women and give them the opperunity to begin to turn around their lives. On Thursday of this week, NBC channel 5 in Dallas came to the office and did a news story on me. Here is the link

I feel very proud that I am able to be a part of this!

The kiddos...

This is funny. The kids were playing a maze game on the computer.
F-U-N-N-Y!

Top 9

1) I did Habitat for Humanity over the weekend. It was super fun! I would highly recommend it to ya'll if you have never done it before. It was a LONG day but super fun!

2) I got a new bed and I L-O-V-E it! It is so comfortable!

3) I decorated my new bathroom. It's very HAPPY looking!

4) I'm pretty sure that Allisha has the Swine Flu... It's only a matter of time before I get it. Just add it onto my crazy medical history!

5) I have 4 more days of undergrad class left... ever!

6) I registered for my first Grad classes today, I begin June 3rd.

7) Tomorrow is my first day as a paid employee at Texas ReEntry Services

8) The University of Texas at Arlington is highlighting me as an outstanding graduate. They are doing a story on me and the summer program I designed and will be running it in the UTA magazine. They called today and asked if they can pitch my story to the local newspapers and TV channels. (I'll keep you updated on that!)

9) Is it just me or did April FLY by?

Thursday = Monday

As it has been pointed out I have missed a couple of Mondays. So here I sit on Thursday trying to make up for that. I am "working" from home today due to my Jeep being in the shop. My Jeep has been leaking anti-freeze and yesterday it over heated. Kelly (my boss) looked at it and thought it was the Head Gasket which totally stressed me out all day yesterday! But I just got the call and it's just the heater valve....Phew!!

So I have been a live in Nanny for almost a week now! My second day in the oldest girl (14) "ran away" in the middle of the night. She came back that night and is safe. I spent a good majority of Sunday talking to her. My Heartlight days are coming in handy! Other than that it's been good. It has been a good transition.

I have 2 weeks left of undergrad! The last day of class is May 8th and I graduate on May 15th. It doesn't really feel like I'm done though. My goal in going back to school was to get my Masters and I'm not there yet so I don't feel like it's that big of a deal. But I have a MAJOR case of senioritis!! I will be glad to be done with these silly general ed classes I have had to take.

The Youth Summer Employment Program (YESP) officially starts May 1, 2009! I will transition into that position that first week of May as I finish up my internship hours and begin that program. I am SO very excited about it! I'm excited to be working alongside a good friend of mine and doing something that I have a passion for!

That's all for now... I'm sure I have more to say but I really should get back to work! I will try not to miss another Monday!

The big 2-8

I just re-read my blog from one year ago and remembered how hard my birthday was last year. I have to say this year was the opposite of that and I am so thankful! I had a great birthday and hopefully 28 will be good to me!

On Friday two of my dearest friends flew in for the weekend. Emily and Leslie are like sisters to me and it was so fun to have them here for the weekend. We spent Saturday at the Zoo and then we had a cook-out. It was fun to have a few of my friends gather and just spend time together! Then on Sunday(my birthday), I spent some time journaling in the morning and then we went to eat lunch and then to the Botanical Gardens and an art festival in Dallas. Leslie's flight got delayed so we had some extra time with her so we went and got Mexican. It was such a good day. It was so good to be with people I love on a day that is usually so hard for me. Thanks so very much Emily and Leslie for coming and making my birthday so special! Just spending time with you was the best present!

I'll try to upload pictures later!

Oh yeah and another update... I GOT THE GRANT!!!! My supervisor called me on Friday to tell me that not only did we get the grant but they like it so much they are DOUBLING our budget! My supervisor said they were very impressed by the program. It really makes all that hard work well worth it!!! It was such a good early birthday present!!

Medical mystery solved!

So as many of you may know I tend to be a bit of a medical mystery! I spent about 6 months back in 2006 going though pretty much all the tests known to the GI doctors, all to come back showing me I was a healthy 25 year old. I was told by one doctor that it must be Cancer since we ruled everything else out (and then he told me I couldn't get in for the test for 4 weeks!). I recommend that a doctor NEVER do this!!! The symptoms I was having eventually just went away on their own, only surfacing twice at random times throughout the next few months. Then in 2007 I was having intense abdominal pain. My doctor prescribed Cipro to combat an infection she thought I had. Turns out I am allergic to Cipro and I went into Renal failure. This is an extremely rare reaction to the drug (1 in 1,000,000).

As I wrote on Sunday I was in a lot of pain, it only continued to get worse on Monday. Yesterday I went into the clinic. At first they could not figure out what was wrong with me (surprise, surprise) but I finally got a diagnosis! I have epiploic appendagitis. Granted this usually is diagnosed in late 40's early 50's. It is the same thing that I originally had when I was prescribed Cipro. Basically the fatty tissue on my appendix is inflamed. I was told I don't need surgery, the pain will go away in about a week. So I'm home in bed today. It's nice to know what wrong for once but am sad to know that this type of pain can come on at anytime if it gets inflamed again.

3 weeks in a row!

Well I am currently laying in bed not feeling well at all. As long as I don't move I am not in pain so I'm gonna try to write this while moving as little as possible. I woke up this morning with an intense pain that has been present all day. I'm really hoping it goes away and I will be better tomorrow!

Do you ever have those days when it just feels great to do nothing?!? That is what yesterday was for me. I slept in, ate breakfast, showered and then read all day long. It was so nice to just have a nice lazy Sunday. I got to read for fun too which is something I have not done in a long time.

Also big news is I think I have found my future home! I spent all of last Thursday and Friday looking at apartments. I looked at a total of 16! I came home Friday night and watched Fireproof (which I recommend to all of you, especially my married readers... it's cheesy but good). I narrowed down my choices but did not feel totally confident about any of them. Today I stopped at one last place and I really liked it!! It's near to where I use to live so I know the neighborhood and they have a great student special so it was cheaper than most I have looked at. The community is only 5 years old so it is also very nice. I'm going tomorrow to put my deposit on it!

Well I am going to bed and praying that I feel better come tomorrow morning!

CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!!!

My Monday morning was CRAZY! Let me walk you through it, 9:00 Spanish Mid-term, 10:00 turn in English paper, 11:00 turn in History paper and take a quiz over FDR's Folly (which I did not read... 20 questions, I guessed on 20 of them!), 12:00 go to the office and put final touches on grant and HAND IT IN!!! It was such a busy morning but so good to have it all done. I had a crazy couple of days leading up to Monday also as I was trying to prepare for the crazy day. I feel like I need a break from spring break! It felt so good to check these things off my list though!!

I must say that I am SUPER excited about having the grant turned in and even more excited to hear back from board. We should know unofficially April 8th if we got it or not. I continued to get more and more excited about it as I was writing but I was trying not to in case we don't get it. I think it's going to be a great program though and my supervisor does also!

I am realizing more and more how much I love working with teens and young adults. The oldest daughter of the family I nanny for Alisha has had some hard things going on in the past couple of weeks, a friend of hers was cutting, another friend is pregnant (she is only 14), and then last week she lost a friend of hers unexpectedly. All of these things have really opened up our relationship and I have been able to walk through some of this with her. She reminds me A LOT of myself when I was 14 and it's neat to be able to be to her what a woman dear to my heart was to me at that age! It just continues to confirm to me that I am doing the right thing by getting my Masters in order that I will have the skills to do what I love!

Ok, so I'm exhausted and going to bed. I wanted to include a picture of my new dishes though! I'm super excited about them!

The last month...

Ok so it has officially been a month since I last wrote on here. It has been a crazy month, but some very exciting things are happening! So here is the update...

I have decided that Mondays are going to be my official day to blog so if a Monday goes by and I haven't blogged yell at me!

Well in February I flew out to Kansas City to surprise a dear dear friend of mine for her birthday. Natalie is a friend from MSU who has become so dear to my heart over the years. I had realized that it had been over a year and a half since we've really had time to just sit with each other and catch up. I worked with her husband Bob to plan the surprise, and it was AMAZING. I flew in early and got to have coffee with Melissa, one of my old residents from Heartlight and then I drove to Bob and Nat's apt. It was such a sweet weekend to my heart. It is amazing how the Lord continues to use these people I love in my life!

The next big thing is that I moved out of my house I was living in. I know that it was the best decision, it was just a bit sudden! I am currently staying with a friend of mine while I look for my new apartment. I'm so excited about living by myself! I'm excited about this new stage of life! I'm excited to find new stuff and decorate my new apt (I just bought new dishes this past weekend!)

I said earlier that my life has been crazy busy, and the reason for that is an amazing opportunity I have been given. My supervisor at my internship came to me a few weeks ago to tell me about an opportunity she had been presented to develop a Summer Youth Employment program for disadvantaged youth. She knows this is the age group I want to work with and asked me if I would want to develop this project. If we get the grant she is going to hire me on for the summer to run the program! Of course I said YES! So I have been developing this program and am currently writing the grant proposal. I'm getting more and more excited about the program and pray that we get the grant! I will be ok if I never have to write another grant in my life though!

I think that is all for now. All the major things anyhow! I'll be back next Monday at the latest to fill ya'll in on anything I forgot!

Blog challenge

So my dear friend Emily did this and as a response I am now doing it also. I thought it was an amazing idea so here we go...

The deal is, the first 5 people who comment will receive something in the mail that I've made. The stickler, is that if you comment, you have to do the same on your blog. Cool?

I really don't know if 5 people even read this so you have a good chance of being one of the first 5 to comment. I'm so excited to think of things to send to each of you.

There is nothing better to me than to recieve fun things via snail mail. I love to send things also, I wish I was better about this. I think that may be one of my new goals for 2009, to send people more mail. So maybe this blog will give that a jump start.

So go ahead... comment away!

Have you ever....

Have you ever been blamed for something that you did not do? Have you ever felt as though people were holding your past sins over your head as though they defined who you are? Have you ever felt as though no matter what you said, it would fall upon deaf ears? Have you ever felt as though you would never be able to make things ok? Have you ever felt as though every step you took and every move you made was being judged? Have you ever felt as though the people who say they love you, are attacking you? Have you ever thought that love should look differently? Have you ever felt like someone was always looking for a fault, even though you were doing everything right? If so welcome to my world!

It's interesting to me how I can be in such a great spot and how the enemy thinks he knows exactly how to hurt me and tries to knock me down... well guess what?!?! I'm not falling! 2009 has begun very interestingly for me. It has been hard and yet though all of that I have grown so much closer to God. I would say that these last few weeks have been some of the sweetest times I've had with the Lord in awhile. Life has been very busy and then there is the situation explained above that is a daily struggle and yet at the end of the day I am rejoicing because I am a child of God.

Yesterday someone dear dear dear to my heart called me out of the blue. She is someone who since I have known her, has been a prayer warrior for me. As we were talking she told me that she wanted to encourage me by telling me that my worth is not found in the relationships I have here on earth. That the people who say they love me may hurt and disappoint me but that I should never find my worth in that. Her call came at such a perfect time for me as I needed that reminder. I will press on towards the goal and keep my eyes on HIM!

Newness...

There has been so many new things in my life over the past few weeks and I'm really interested to see what these next few week and months are going to look like!

I started school this past week along with going back to Texas ReEntry Services. Let me just say that my schedule is FULL. The plan is to leave my house at about 5:45 each morning (I didn't do this this past week!) in order to get to the gym by 6. I then have class from 9-12 MWF and then I go directly to the office till 2:30 when I leave to go pick up the kiddos from school. I then hang out with them until 6:00. On Tuesday & Thursday I go from the gym to the office till 2:30, when I pick up the kiddos. So everyday I'm going going going! It wouldn't be so bad but I have things Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings also! Ahh it's going to be a LONG semester!

Also, there is a new friend in my life. His name is Jacob and it's been kinda a roller coaster ride getting to know him but it's been really good. It's kinda tricky because we both have developed feeling for each other but don't feel as though the Lord is leading us towards anything beyond a friendship at this point. So this is all new to me and I'm really interested to see what this looks like. We have decided to use this time to really build upon our friendship and getting to know each other more.

So anyhow I'm really interested to see what these next few weeks and months look like. This is all new to me...

A new year!

2009 has been a crazy year and I am only 15 days into it! There were some really hard things that happened in the last days of 2008 and then some of my bad choices from the past came back to the surface. 2009 started with much hurt, and I've had to spend the last 15 days trying to figure out what I'm going to do with, how I'm going to respond. There have been so many times in my life when I have been the victim and I can either sit in that or I can trust God that things will be ok and continue with life. This is the path that I have chosen. It has been very sweet in the past few days to just sit with the Lord and hear His truth about who I am. I'm excited to see how He is going to use these hard things to His glory.

There have also been some changes in 2009, the major one being that I am now nannying for a family. It is a hard family situation but I'm so excited to be able to be a part of what God is doing in this family. There are 4 kids (ages 7, 10, 13, 15) and they live with their dad who is going through a divorce from his second wife. So these kids are going through their second divorce. I did not know this when I first started but was filled in before my first day. Anyhow I pick the 2 youngest up from school, help them with homework and then cook supper and do household chores. It actually has been a great set up for me. I feel as though I am able to use my gifts very well in this position. I'm glad that I am able to be a stable person in these kids lives. I'm glad that I am able to be able to talk through how they are cooping with the divorce. It's just been a great opportunity to serve!

As hard as 2009 has been so far I'm so excited about what the year holds. I'm excited about the newness of it all!