An Amazing Week

Okay, so I can talk about this now that it's official: I got a new job!

Starting October 24, I will be the Executive Assistant to the President of the Commonweath Fund for KET (Kentucky educational Television/PBS)!! It's the normal assistant/secretary stuff that I've done before but also some event planning and volunteer coordination thrown in for fun.

I am SO pumped about this!

I'm pretty sure I've got a touch of adult onset ADD because I need to be busy. And at this job, I WILL be.

It's been such a week. I guess I should start at the beginning.

Tim and I went to the Irresistible Differences conference on Friday night. It was nice. Nothing earth shattering. Stuff we'd heard before but you can never hear "too often."

Since the conference was in Lexington, we went home Friday night. Mistake. We had already planned for Tim to skip part of the conference on Saturday morning to go to Noah's soccer game.

Well, I woke up Saturday morning and realized that our house looked like a bomb had gone off. I started in about how we shouldn't go back to the conference. However, I'd already booked a hotel room for that night (date night) and we both realized we wouldn't have "date night" if we didn't finish out the conference. I also didn't want to hang out by myself as some of the time for the soccer game would spill over into the lunch hour of the conference, so, not only would I be alone -- I'd be lunch-date-less!

Well, I finally had an inspired thought and said, "I'll just skip out with you and go to the game." And that's what we did. We went back to the conference, skipped out for the game, went back to the conference and then had "date night." The hotel was marginal -- I do not recommend the Four Points Sheraton in Lexington, Kentucky -- but the company was exceptional!

Sunday was an amazing day at the conference. The sessions were informative and meaningful. We learned early on in the conference about a book entitled, "Sacred Marriage: What if God designed marriage to make us holy, more than to make us happy," by Gary Thomas. We wanted to buy it but it was already gone so we back-ordered it. Today I ordered a devotion to go with it.

At the end of Sunday's sessions, we had a time of covenant. There was actual text for it in the workbook. We had the option not to say the words. We had the option to say them but not really mean them or even listen to what we were saying. We did neither. We said them and MEANT them. For me, I meant the words of that Covenant more than the vows I made on our wedding day. I walked away truly changed.

So we went home. And Monday night, after a long Emmaus Board meeting, my friends Marty and Judy and I were at Samaritan hospital with our other friend (aka sister), Susan. I only took my car keys and phone into the ER with me. The phone was in my pocket . . . the last I knew.

I went home from the hospital with a headache but feeling I'd been where I was supposed to be.
Tuesday morning was my interview at KET. I went and, on my way there, was going to call home for some odd or end and couldn't find my phone in my purse. I figured it was just still in the pocket of my pants from the previous night. Well, I got through a delightful interview (seems oxymoronic, I know) and went home to wash my face (I don't usually wear much make-up) and change into khakis.

I looked for my phone.

Searched for my phone.

Turned the house UPSIDE DOWN for my phone.

And. . . I never cursed under my breath. I never blamed my husband. No one was there to hear me, but I didn't scream or throw a fit which, I hate to admit, was like the "old me."

I actually hesitate to write this all out because I know some people who will actually want to hold me accountable for my future behavior . . . but there it is.

All day I KNEW I had lost my phone. And I did not react. I felt calm. I was calm.

Wednesday I got new phones for me and Tim (we were both eligible to upgrade and I have hated his LG phone since he got it). I was late for GROW (Get Revived on Wednesday) at church. I was not frantic. I simply drove to church. Late as I was, I chatted with the people I saw in the lobby. Got up to my small group and basically told everything I've told you.

I have had groups of people praying for me about this job for several days. And I know my friends pray for me EVERY day. I am feeling it.

You will say I'm nuts -- but I'm a different person today and that's how I know. Prayer works.

So, last night (Thursday) I got the call. Michele, in San freakin' Diego! I wanted to call Tim and confer but he was on his way to soccer practice, music blaring, I'm sure. So, after a couple of attempts, I called Michele and accepted. Tim and I had already talked about it and agreed we wanted it. I'm pumped!

This morning, Tim went out to the store for a couple of things we needed and I was there with the kids.

This is usually bad.

Very bad.

I'm trying to get ready for work. I have added stress because I'm thinking about what I'm going to say to give my "two weeks' notice."

Suddenly I hear raised voices. The girls are in Noah's room.

"What's going on?" I ask.

Mary (her hands rifling through Noah's dresser) says she's looking for the shorts she bought that are actually boy shorts.

And I say, get this: "It's a little early, Noah just woke up and he's a bit groggy. Why not come out of there and give him five minutes? Just five minutes. . ."

First thing is, she DOES it!! Grumbling but she comes out of his room.

The next thing that happens is that Noah starts looking for the shorts and finds them! I call Mary back, give her the shorts and say, "see how nicely that worked out?"

No shouting, no sore throat from screaming, no stomping. It was a dream. And all about God. He is SO working on me! I'm blown away by this!

I know, you're laughing. "What an idiot!" you're thinking. She must have been awful! I don't think my friends would say so, but my family, who bore the brunt of all my broken dreams and disorganized frustration, would say I was. I could NOT change -- God did it. In the words of the old hymn, "He touched me."

He touched me, O, He touched me,
And O, the joy that floods my soul.
Something happened, and now I
know,
He touched me and made me whole.

It's so amazing. And Tim agrees with me. He has noticed I've changed. I know I'll lose my temper. It's happened already. But it's nothing to what it used to be.

I'm amazed. I'm blessed. I want people to know they can be too. God is good. All the time.