She's gone already . . .

Wow - did that 2 weeks fly by! What a delight to have Kara home. We had a lot of fun, some heart to heart talks, and made bunch of memories.

She made it on all 3 flights today (she's flying stand-by). Albq to Denver, then business class from there to DC. She's about to board in DC to head to Sao Paulo (also business class). Hard to beleive she'll be on the beach this weekend after having a white (and very cold) Christmas.

I am blessed!

Surprise!!!!

They had me fooled BIG TIME! I was sad that Kara was gone for Christmas for the very first time. We were all meeting at Kevin & Jenn's last night to spend time on Skype with Kara since she was to be working all through Christmas. So we talked on Skype with Kara in the dark & whispering 'because Nayana was asleep on the couch'. I kept telling her to tell Nayana to go to bed so we could see and hear her better. Little did I know she was down the hall in Kev & Jenn's walk-in closet talking to us! Go to Kevin's blog titled "She'll be home for Christmas" to see the video about how they pulled it off. His blog is at http://millerreality.blogspot.com/ My Christmas is already complete!

There are no dream jobs out there . . .

. . .at least none that I can find. I met with the nurse recruiters on Monday and they told me about all the jobs that are available that I qualify for. There is no worry about being unemployed - for there are quite a few things for me to pick from. But there is nothing like what I do now - the place, the pay, the hours and the work have all been great. It looks like I will either take a pay cut and work 40 hours a week instead of 36 or go back to 12 hour shifts which will include weekends and holidays. It also looks like I won't be able to stay in the Kaseman area. At this point I am more inclined to go back to 12 hour shifts. I don't see how I could get school done in 2009 if I am working 5 days a week. But we'll see. I am asking God to direct my path and show me what He wants me doing.

I have my first interview this afternoon. It is for Care Coordination at Presbyterian downtown. It looks like it is a pay cut, 40 hours a week - salaried (code for fwork overtime for free). But I am going to ask if they might have something at Kaseman and see if 4 tens or 4 nines might be possible. That would at least be similar to what I do now. I will interview and then stay to job shadow for the reast of the afternoon - observing someone who is a care coordinator so I get a good feel for the job.

The other position I would like to interview for is 12 hour shifts at the Northside urgent care. That would be really different and something I might enjoy learning. It would be 3 12s which would give me 4 days off each week. That would certainly help with my school goals. I can definately keep up the pace for 12 hour shifts. It would just be harder to stay regualr with Curves and walking my dogs.

So it seems each thing I look at will have its pros and cons. I appreciate the prayers and will keep you posted!

Shocking news and a gift from God

Tuesday at work we were informed that all of our department (3 of us, since they cut our staffing) needed to be at a meeting on Thursday morning. We knew it would be big news since our 2 directors and the HR rep would be there to meet with us. I wasn't worried, more curious than anything about how they were going to change our department. I did not tell anyone else about the meeting - family or friends - just figured I'd wait until I knew what the news was.

Well Thursday morning they all showed up at 8:30 like promised. They really shocked me & Shelly & Linda. They have made the decision to close our department effective Dec 31. This has been my dream job with amazing coworkers for the last 2 years. So I'll be the first to admit I got a little choked up in the meeting along with Linda and Shelly.

At 9:00 the meeting let out and we went into my office - not Shelly's or Linda's. We were giving each other hugs and had tears running down our cheeks when my phone rang. It looked like an internal transfer so caller id did not tell who it was. As it rang 3 times I was saying - "No telling who it is. I really don't want to talk to anyone right now. What a bad time for the phone to ring." And in the midst of totally not wanting to talk to anyone, my arm reached over and picked up the phone anyway. It was Kara calling from Brazil!!

So here's the gift - She had no idea that I had a meeting that morning, in fact I usually am off on Thursday mornings. She was just calling to say hi! She had tried to get the connection 10 minutes earlier (when we were still in the meeting), and it would not connect. So when she tried again and we 'happened' to be in my office, Kara 'happened' to be able to connect, and I 'happened' to pick up the phone when I did not want to, God provided a spark of joy in my day. It very clearly spoke peace to my heart that God is in control.

Now mind you - I know that God is in control, but how amazing He is that He does things like that to reassure us! So in 3 1/2 weeks my dream job goes away. But I am at this point pretty excited to see what God will do. I am fully confindent He has a plan. He knows about school and church commitments and being grandma and things like that that matter to me. I have only had to work 4 days a week for the past 2 years at hospital rate of pay - no evenings, weekends, holidays or call. Really can't imagine what He could provide that will even compare. But this week I will begin working with the nurse recruiters to see what postions are available and figure out what might be a good fit for me.

So would you pray that I will continue to see God in this and not be anxious? I'll keep you posted as things progress.