"The Time Has Come..."

Well, I must say that if I could have bottled up last weekend in a jar, I would have. Only I can't so encapuslating it here on my blog will have to do. I love weekends to begin with because it means I don't have to work, but this past one was an extra bonus since we had Monday off for Labor Day.

On Saturday, we went to the mall and looked around & had lunch there. Seriously the Chambersburg Mall leaves a lot to be desired, but it was still fun. The rest of the day we just spent relaxing at home, and I perused some websites to find styles of dresses I liked for my sister's wedding. She finally set the date- July 19, 2008 (a week before my 29th birthday)- and selected the church & reception site. She is letting the girls in her bridal party choose their own dress, as long as it's the same color and relatively the same length.

Sunday we were at church all morning, of course. In the afternoon after lunch, we took a drive to do some exploring of the area and ended up in the mountains. At one point we got out of the car to take in the view. I'd forgotten how much I missed the wooded outdoors living in Florida, where the highest point is the causeway that goes over the river! We must have spent nearly two hours driving through the mountain and came out on the other side nearly 20 miles away from Chambersburg. We made our way back to town and stopped for ice cream at C.R. Bucks, which in addition to being a short order restaurant and creamery, is also a mini-golf course, playground and white-tailed deer attraction. After we finished our ice cream, we took a walk around the back of the building to look at the deer who were enclosed in their natural habitat by a tall wire fence.

On Monday after stopping at Sheetz for bagels and coffee, we picked up charcoal for our picnic we were having later that day at Walmart. At home I packed up hamburgers, chicken, salad, rolls, drinks and utensils in our insulated Thermos backpack and Gregg put grilling tools and other stuff in another bag. We put Tess in the back of the SUV, along with jackets and our collapseable chairs, and headed off to Bear Valley State Park. It took a while to get a nice hot fire going in the BBQ pit, so in the meantime I spread out a blanket on our table and set it with plates, condiments and stuff . Gregg let Tess run around off the leash, which she loved, until she spotted a Boxer with its owner a hundred feet away and went tearing after it. The weather was just perfect and after eating, we sat in our comfy chairs by the fire with Doggie by our feet. We were reluctant to go, but it was getting late so we packed up all our stuff and headed home.

We had to give Tess a bath when we got back because she had been playing in the brook and in the dirt. Afterwards we took showers ourselves and snuggled on the couch together watching tv. The whole weekend I tried to put work out of my mind because I didn't want it to interfere with being able to relax and enjoy myself. I had been really struggling at my job, to the point where I didn't want to get up in the mornings and go. I was becoming sick and tired of driving 40 minutes to get there, being so far away from home and filling up my gas tank again nearly every other day, not to mention the clients and administration that were sucking the life out of me. I couldn't stand the constant cussing both from the clients and my employees either. Many nights I came home from work in tears, so stressed that I couldn't even make dinner. It was not a good situation, but I wanted to hold out and see if things got any better when the center hired a new clinical services director.

They, in fact, got worse. The first week he was there, he called me into his office to say that the rate they were paying me was too high for my position in a program that was losing money quickly since the state found itself in a financial crisis and placed a temprpoary freeze on our funding. They weren't going to lower my pay, but he suggested I consider moving into another position within the agency that they hadn't been able to fill. It required me to have my social work license, so I would need to study for the exam and shell out $275 to take it. It sounded up front like a much better job than the one I'm currently doing, but I soon found out that the girl who was in it before only lasted a month and I wasn't guaranteed a pay increase if I did happen to get my license.

A week ago Steve, the director, met me in the parking lot on my way back from a meeting and told me that the program was tanking big time and he had made the decision to move one of my staff to another position in the next three days, leaving me with all of her clients. I nearly sank into a puddle right then and there. I was having trouble with the ones I already had because a large amount of them are just are irresponsible and manipulative. And I was trying to run the program at the same time, too. That was the last straw. I turned in my resignation on Friday after accepting a position at another agency the previous day.

I'll be starting at Family Care Services on the 20th, which is a foster care and adoption agency literally three minutes from our house. To make things even better, my direct supervisor attends King Street Church and there are four other employees who go there as well. Within a month or so, I can even begin working from home because I get paid by the caseload I have and not by how many hours I'm at the office. I'll also be making more than I am right now at The Mental Health Center and we'll save about $3,000 a year in gas since I won't be traveling 20 miles back and forth to work 5 days a week. Gregg was very happy I got this other job because he sees how much the job I'm at now wears me down. It was definitely time to leave!

So I'll be spending the next week and a half transferring my cases and getting all my charts in order for the next person. I'm looking forward to working around the corner from my house and having more time to spend with my husband since I won't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn anymore and come home so late in the evening. Ironically, last week's sermon was on how to respond to difficult work situations. One of the points was that you can get out but only as God leads and in His timing. I sent in my cover letter and resume to Family Care on August 29 not even knowing if they had an opening. I had prayed "God, I don't think I have the experience that would qualify me for a job here", and I heard Him say back to me "You just send in your information, and I'll take care of the rest". And He did! God is awesome. :)