Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Next Big Thing in My Journey

Boat Parade
After hearing the news that I didn't have a job to go back to in Colorado, We got the house ready for Christmas. Since we didn't have to rush back, mom decided she was going to have her traditional Christmas. We started planning for our grand festivities getting the menu in place, seeing what Grandma and John were going to bring, finding out when the Annual Boat Parade party was going to be and what we needed to bring for that, and finally get our invites out to our family, neighbors and friends. It was going to be a grand event!

Mom didn't want a lot of help with the meal and decorations. She liked things a certain way, and she wanted to keep those details together for her to do. So, the main meal would be oven roasted turkey with mom's stuffing, the traditional green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, dinner rolls, Grandma Marj's Cranberry Jello salad, Cousin Sandy's Yam Yummies and for dessert pumpkin pie, mince meat pie, apple pie and anything anyone else would bring to share.

The guests would include our neighbors on each side, Dan and Lesley (with son Daniel) and Rhonda and Leonard (with sons Alec and Curtis), mom's close friend Liz and her husband Salvatore, my friend Kathy and her husband Scott, our cousins Jim and Sandy and their daughter and son-in-law Christy and Jon. Of course, grandma and John, mom, dad and I would be there too. All together, there were usually the 20 of us in my parents house for appetizers, dinner and dessert. Most people had so much fun just gathering together that it was near impossible to get them to go home.

Christmas Dinner at our house.
But, we finally had the house back to just mom, dad, my grandparents and me. I was usually in a lot of pain by this time and was heading to bed to lay down flat in hopes to make the pain go away. Dad was usually watching t.v. and my grandparents were trying to help my mom finish some of the dishes before they left. Mom was trying to complete what she could before she headed off to bed. Christmas was a fun day for us, but it was also a lot of work for my mom and she was always extremely exhausted the day after.

The last few days of the year were just lazy days for us trying to recoup our energy for New Year's. This was always a day of football and the Tournament of Roses Parade for our family. Being from So. Cal. meant watching the parade early in the morning and being ready for football before noon. The first few days of the new year were also spent watching football bowl games and mom would go about her normal days of running errands including a little bit of after Christmas/New Year's shopping sales. Sometimes I would go with her just to get out of the house and see some new scenery for a change.

The second week of the new year began with a little glimmer of hope. I was on Facebook looking at some updates and messages from friends, when I ran across a message for a former boss who was no longer with the company either. He and I began talking a little back and forth. He wondered if I was back on CO, if I had a job and was working, if I wanted to work, if I was going to come back to CO, etc. All of this was leading up to a potential job for me.

This was exciting. I was not sure where he was working or what he was doing, but if he could find me a job back in CO, I would be elated. Within two weeks, I had a phone interview with the general manager and an offer to begin working in February as Family Talk's Senior Email Specialist. It was just over 1 year from the time I was told my co-worker was now my manager and I was going into surgery that I was now interviewing over the phone for a job position to a company I wasn't even sure what it was. God certainly has a sense of humor. When I thought my work life was over and I was more than useless, He comes through with a job prospect out of left field for me.

So, mom and I got everything together and made the journey back to CO with a Jeep full of stuff. I was heading home again getting ready to launch into a new adventure in this crazy journey I was only along for the ride on. Isn't God good?

Next..."A Six Week Change."

Reflection:
God can (and does) take your circumstances that seem so bleak, and turns them around when you aren't looking. He is always faithful to you. He desires nothing but good for you. But, He also desires you. He wants you to spend time with Him. Sometimes that only happens when we are brought to our knees (literally) and have to rely on Him to get us through.

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27:14

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