Thankful for Today 12.4.12

It's been awhile but I've now got Internet at home and hope to continue this great tradition... It's always sweet to my heart to think through the times I am thankful each day! It allows me to live in the here and now and be able to focus on the good in each day! Hope you enjoy walking through my thankfulness with me in my blog!

1) Having a flexible schedule at work.  I ended up being out late last night on a crisis call and it was amazing to be able to sleep in a little bit and stroll into work around 9:30... And I had the flexibility to go to lunch when I needed to and also sneak away in the afternoon to meet up with an old friend! I love that my job allows for that type of flexibility and realize that is not normal.

2) For amazing co-workers, it so nice to be able to get along with those people I work alongside with.  I'm thankful for those co-workers who I can enjoy working with and who spur me on to be a better employee and a better person!

3) For amazing staff! I manager 41 staff and it's great how great they are.  I know that they are doing what they need to do and trust that they are representing my programs well! I am even more thankful for them as I spend more time on other units and see all of their drama.... Makes me thankful for my (mostly) drama free teams!

4) Reminders of God's sovereignty, grace and forgiveness! I meet up with an old friend today and it was so sweet to my heart to be reminded of those characteristics of God. I am thankful that God knows what I need better than I do and that He extends grace and forgiveness and allows me to extend those things to people in my life. 

5) My pups! You may or may not know that I got Daisy a friend! For the story of how she became a part of the family please go to my sweet friend Les' blog posting.  I love how well the girls get along and how they both like to cuddle as we go into the evening. 

Psalm 13

I just spent the evening listening to Shane & Shane along with Phil Wickham. I always love seeing Shane & Shane live because it is always such a moving show. Tonight was no different! They had only sung a few songs when the Spirit stirred in me and the tears began to fall... They  began to sing their song Psalm 13 and as I sang out with them, my God meet me where I was at.  The rest of the evening was spent in worship to my God, praising Him for who He is and where He has me.  I don't really know how to explain it but it was this crazy mixture of thankfulness and grief, contentment and loneliness, happiness and sorrow.  I have such a peace that I am exactly where I am suppose to be and yet life is so hard and lonely right now. 340 days ago I sat in my living room Christmas morning praying and pleading with God that I wouldn't have to spend one more holiday alone, and yet He continues to choose that for me. I could not have stated what my heart feels right now better than David did in Psalm 13 (and which Shane & Shane repened)...

Psalm 13

How long oh Lord will You forget me

How long oh Lord will You hide

Hide Your face from me

How long must I wrestle with me

and everyday have sorrow in my heart

sorrow in my heart

I will wait on You

I will wait on You

I will wait on You

Look on me Lord and answer me

Give my eyes light or I will sleep in death

I will sleep in death

My enemies say "I will overcome him"

and my foes rejoice even when I fall

I dont want to fall

For I will trust in Your unfailing love

My heart rejoices in Your salvation

I will sing to the Lord

The rest of the story....

Well it's official, the paperwork is signed and most of the people who need to know now know.  I am the new Program Manager for MCOT and ICARE (our 24 hour crisis line)!  And it all happened less then 18 hours!


The program manager  for ICARE left at the end of December.  My boss has been interviewing since that time and I have been able to see the whole process.  He along with 3 of the other directors were conducting the interviews and they didn't really feel comfortable with any of the candidates. 


Over the past few weeks I have really come to a place where I was feeling more and more comfortable with where I am at.  Most of you know my desire to work with troubled teens and I really began to process that.  I got to the point where I really did not want that desire to be filled within my job.  I decided I would have more freedom to walk alongside these girls in the way I want to if I'm not held to the rules and law set forth if I were to do this within a job.  I was so excited about where God had placed me.


While I was loving my job and at such a peace of where I was at, my job was becoming very frustrating.  A lot of what my team (MCOT) does depends on the ICARE staff doing their jobs correctly.  Well over the past couple of months about 80%-90% of what they have sent us has been incorrect, which just makes our job all that much harder.


So last Wednesday I was on-call with one of my staff.  We had gotten a referral and I was headed to meet my staff at the clients home.  On the way there I realized that once again they had done the assessment incorrectly.  I was fed up!  This was the 4th referral of the day and they were ALL incorrect.  I called my boss and just started yelling about his "stupid crisis line!"  He was meeting with the CEO to recommend his candidate for the program manager position and promised things would get better.  I got off the phone and continue to drive to the crisis call.  On the way the thought crossed my mind that they really needed good leadership and I wish I could just whip them into shape.  And then I thought about it more and thought, "why couldn't I do that?"  I began to think of how this could work.  An hour or so later as I was driving home from the crisis call I called my boss and told him my idea.  If I could bring a staff up into a lead position who could do some of my day to day stuff I could easily run both programs.  He loved the idea!  Long story short, I interviewed at 9:00 the next morning and by 11:00 was offered the position! 


I told my staff yesterday and they are very excited as am I!  I think this is going to be a very good move for me.  It's going to be a challenge but I'm so excited about this move!  I have a lot of vision of how to train and guide both of these teams.  It's going to be a good transition.  Crazy to be running two programs but still good.  


One of the neatest things in all of this has just been to see how smoothly it all went and to know without a doubt that this was part of God's plan!  My boss and the 3 other directors were totally supportive of me and it's encouraging to know that they believe this much in me!  I'm looking forward to see where God takes me in all of this!  


So that's the rest of the story.... 

The Journey

I have spent a lot of time thinking lately.  I've been thinking over the past few years and thinking about all that God has done in and through my life.  I am constantly in awe of how He continues to show me favor in so many ways.  Today was yet again one of those times.  I can't really say much about it because it's not official official but God has yet again awed me.  I love looking back over the past few years.  I see how God brought me to Texas and how that was so perfect and how I continue to feel daily that I am exactly where I am suppose to be.  In the past 24 hours God has once again shown up in a big way!  I'll be able to share more next week... (if you need to know call me and I can tell you, just don't want to put it out there for the world to see!) but for now I am just in awe!  

A new day... A new month... A new year!

It's been awhile I know!  Life has been crazy and so much has changed!  I have not had Internet at home in over a month and want to take advantage of this time at ROOTS to update my blog and hopefully get back on track with it.  I still don't have Internet and wont until January 18th sometime between 8am-12pm.  One of the biggest updates that many of you already know is that I have moved! ( I will be putting some pictures up at the end of this blog). I moved in over Christmas weekend and quickly got settled.  I was so excited the day the package came from AT&T with my UVerse Internet equipment.  I chose to do self set-up and save the $100 but after searching for a good 30 minutes I realized that my new home did not have a phone jack anywhere in the house!  So now they have to come out and install and jack and so a real install.  Luckily my landlord is paying the charges!


Let me rewind a little bit!  November was an eventful month for me!  I was in a wedding on 11-11-11, my apartment got broken into while I was sleeping (hence why I moved!), and I made a last minute road trip to Minnesota for Thanksgiving!  I was planning on spending some time with my dear friends the Schallers the weekend before Thanksgiving and at the last minute decided to take the week off and drive up to Minnesota.  It was a great trip!  I got to see so many people that I love and it was good to be surrounded by people who know and love me!


December flew by! At Thanksgiving I knew I only had a little over a month till I had to be out of my apartment and had no idea where I was moving to.  I spent a couple of days just driving around looking for rent houses.  One Sunday I was driving around for about 3 hours getting discouraged.  The sun had set and I still had no good leads! I just prayed that God would bring me to the perfect place. I called a friend and we decided to go eat.  As we were driving to Uncle Julios I saw a FOR RENT sign in front of the cutest little house.  I pulled over and wrote down the number.  I called the next day and long story short I moved in on December 22!  I love the house, it's a little 2 bedroom one bath built in the 1940's but updated inside.  It has a big fenced in back yard for Daisy to run and play, AND the best part it's 1.1 miles from my office!  I out a total of 34 miles on my car all of last week!  I go home for lunch pretty much every day and just love being that close.  It was exactly what I was looking for!  


That's really all the updates.  I've been extremely busy at work.  I have been short staffed for the last two months and I had to (unfortunately) let someone go right before Christmas.  I have been covering the holes and therefore have been very busy.  I had two new staff start last week so we should bee good soon! But that's been my life lately... working a lot and trying to spend time with people I love.  I will try to be better at my Thankful for TODAY postings.... even if I have to do them at work!


Here are some pics of my house!  Hope you like it!

The Front of my house!

My bed

My bedroom!

My new IKEA Dresser (All my bedroom furniture is new from IKEA)

Guest Bedroom!

Guest bed! You should come visit!

Bathroom

Dining room (from the living room)

My WORDS nook

Living room

Thankful for TODAY 10.23.11

*These will actually be the thankful for... the weekend!*


1) Camping!  This weekend I traveled up to Beaver's Bend State Park in Oklahoma with some dear friends.  We got into the park about 11:30 Friday night and set up camp.  I just love being out in the midst of creation.  I laid on my back that night after we said good night and I just stared at the stars through the top of the tent.  I laid there praying for the rest of the weekend!


2) God's beauty!  I was amazing over and over again on Saturday of God's beauty in His creation!  I woke up early and went on a walk with Theresa along the riverbed.  There was steam coming off of the water and the view was amazing! Later that day two of us went for a hike, we took our time and stopped at a few places to rest and enjoy the scene.  We finally stopped and laid on a rock overlooking the river.  We sat there for awhile, talking about what God was doing in our lives and enjoying the beauty!


3) Cabin's in Beaver's Bend! One of the friends I was with had family in the same area.  They had rented a cabin so we went and ate supper with them Saturday night.  It was so fun to meet this family!  I love meeting the families of my friends and being able to learn more about that friend.  It was fun to go there and ended up being such a blessing because of....


4) Thunder storms!  I love, love, love thunderstorms!  They are such a picture of who God is in my eyes.  They are so powerful and yet somehow calming.  We got news that a storm was about to come in and so my friend's sister graciously offered for us to stay at the cabin.  We went back and tore down camp and go back just as it started to rain.  We all put our sleeping bags out on the back patio and watched the storm for the next few hours.  It was the most amazing lighting storm and then the thunder rolled in and the skies opened and rain just poured down!  We all slept out there on that patio as the storm brewed around us.  It was such an AMAZING night! 


So again.... SO THANKFUL for the cabin and for my friend's sister who let us stay!  I don't think the tent would have survived!  


5) Family meals!  This morning I got up and made everyone breakfast.  I made french toast, bacon and eggs.  I love being able to cook for large groups of people and to be able to all sit down and eat together!  


6) AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING  friends!  It was so good to get away this weekend and spend time with good friends!  It was nice to be able to speak truth to one another and just have fun!  


I am thankful for another great weekend!  Here is a picture of us before the rain started!

Thankful for TODAY 10.16.11

What an AMAZING weekend!  I have been able to spend the last two days with some people I absolutely love and adore.  I sat with one of those friends this evening and we laughed and cried as we talked about what God has done and continues to do in our lives.  We laughed at the fact that it is next to a miracle that we are still friends.  We have done things to one another in the journey of our friendship that has wounded the other to the depths of our beings.  And yet tonight I sat with her and we thanked God for the redemption that He has done in our lives separately and in our friendships.  We spoke this evening about how so often we are walking through life experiencing the same peaks and valleys and how God draws us near to one another in those times.  


Earlier today I stood around a kitchen island with three of my dear friends.  We talked about how when the four of us come together God moves!  We stood around that island, tears streaming down our cheeks because we are each struggling in our own way and yet God spoke to each of us individually and allowed us to walk though those things together.  We talked about how God was moving and how we have to choose to walk in that movement.  I love that these women KNOW me, they know my struggles and they know my heart and I know these things of them.  I love how God has called us to walk through life together!


This morning I sat on the bed, eyes closed, head bowed and crying out to the Lord with these same friends.  We had gotten less then 4 hours of sleep and were so tired, and yet it was so refreshing to sit at the feet of the Lord with these women petitioning for truth to surround our lives on this day and the days to come.  We sat there in our brokenness believing that God is our healer and redeemer.  We sat there and rejoiced about what God has done in our lives!


Last night myself and 6 dear friends attended a banquet for a ministry that has dramatically changed the lives of two of those friends.  It was amazing to hear story after story of how God was redeeming people for His glory.  It was so sweet for my heart to be surrounded by people at that table who love the Lord and out of that love, love me well.  It was amazing to be in a room filled with 450 people, most of whom knew the depths of struggle and who were broken at the feet of Jesus.  It was sweet to feel the love in that room!  We ended our night at an amazing venue in Dallas  The Library Bar.  There is an amazing woman who sings there and it was such an fun place (Dallas got a few more cool points in my book!)  It was so good to just be with these sweet friends of mine.  To laugh and to enjoy each others company!  It was such a good night!


I am SO thankful  for these 3 women in my life.  Two of them currently live in Oklahoma and tears were shed as I said good-bye to them today.  I love how God works in our lives and it was SO encouraging to spend time with these sweet women I call my sisters!  So today I am thankful for these women and the true and authentic friendships I have with each of them!