Last Sunday

As I walked into Church this Sunday I was greated with "you know that they have bought these amazing cakes for you." I had two cakes one pink and one purple. I kind of laughed becasue I am so not a pink person but I loved it.

My time at Chapelwood is ending tomorrow and I cannot believe it. Above is my adopted mother and I being caught talking. I am going to miss Sally. But more than that I am going to miss my crazy girls (pictured Cat and I)

NC beaches and Houston townhomes

This past week the head pastor, at the church where I am working until the end of the month, gave me some time off and told me to go home and talk things through with my family. I decided hay if I get a week off and I am going to NC I am going to the beach. So I went to NC on Wednesday.


My mom and I headed to the Writesville beach on Thursday. We had a blast just sitting on the beach and wading in the ocean. My father joined us Friday and the three of us went out for seafood, which I miss so much. Gulf Coast and East Coast seafood are very different. I like East Coast. I was just relaxing and not really focusing on everything that has happened over the past few weeks. I felt wonderful!


While I was at the beach I got a call from one of my Events and Adventures friends. She is a head hunter for a job agency. She called with an amazing job opportunity. Working as a Program Director of a community service that helps people find jobs. I sent her my resume, she sent it to the community service center and they responded within five minutes. My interview is tomorrow please pray.


So I am now back in Lake Jackson. The official email declaring that I am no longer going to working at Chapelwood was sent out to the youth. So I decided it is ok now to go look at the townhouse another person in E&A is renting a room out in. Erin and I meet tonight at her townhouse and had our little dogs meet as well. It was fun and cute and best of all we decided it would work out and I am moving in. To make things even better I called the apartment office before I went to meet her and there is a woman who wants my apartment, so I will not have to pay the rest of my lease!

Searching

So I never realized how hard it is to find jobs that a person with a masters degree would qualify for. Yes I know I have an MDiv thus I qualify for like nothing. However, I have applied to around 15 jobs in the last three days. Since Saturday I have been searching monster and career builder to find jobs that I might qualify for. I have also been searching some hospital sites and then some ministry sites. Yes I know I am really only qualified to be like Christian Ed or Youth Minister right now, I have some clue of what denomination I am changing over to, and I am so not ordained yet. To put it down job hunting is hard. Luckily my dad is helping me put together a business resume to send along with my other resume when I fly back to NC tomorrow for a short trip. I know I cannot afford it right now, but I need to talk with my family about what my next steps are going to be.

Will I ever

Tonight as I watched Army Wives I began to realize that I am going to miss ministry. As Sarah Elizabeth was dedicated I started remembering why I was called to the ministry in the first place. I was called to be someone, something good for others. Someone who would lead with love, beauty, integrity, and truth. With these attributes Sarah Elizabeth was dedicated. I began to wonder if I too could be dedicated to those things. If I could once again stand firm on my beliefs and find a way to fulfill my calling from God.

So Tonight I dedicate myself to be trying to be a better person. To be more truthful, loving, to have more integrity, to see all of God's creation as beautiful, and to hear God in all the sacredness of quiet times. This I will do whether or not I am practicing ministry.

And It is Done

As of today I am no longer a candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church. Where will I go from here? Maybe non-prophet and be something like a director, Changing denomination is a definite but ministry (unless the church ordains by call) maybe not, hospital chaplaincy residency is still available as a option for me, and maybe back to school to get a degree in social work or some other helping field.

Now turning to an idea from Sarah. What makes me smile? Having good friends who will go out to dinner with you, find good BBQ because they know you miss it, go bowling and dancing at the same time with you, buy your alcohol because you lost your job, and then let you sleep it off on their couch. I love my Events and Adventures friends. A Special thanks to Bich, Tenisha, Amit, Terri, Carrie, David, Steve, Jose, Christina, and Jan.

Lost Job

This past Tuesday my head pastor came into my office on my request to talk about the college/high school worship service. As we talked I could tell he was very relieved that the Youth Programing Committee and I were taking action, but something seemed off. Wesley went on to tell me the SPRC and himself were looking at my job. They were 50/50 as to if they should keep me on or not. I was kind of surprised by this since I had just meet with the chair of SPRC and he said everything was going amazing. Wesley told me to start looking for another job. He said to make things easier on the youth and myself that we would make it look like I was moving on to better things. I asked why it was happening because I knew there had been a few issues, but bad enough not for this to happen. Wesley told me that the associate pastor and christian education person are asking the church to fire me. Also the church is $40,000 in debt for the year already. He did not want it to look bad on my ministry, so I needed to seek out other work.

The SPRC chair called me later in the week and said what Wesley told me was not true and they want me to stay on. The way I am seeing it is that the staff do not want me on. The SPRC wants me to stay. Most of the youth want me to stay. However, the big one is I don't think I want to stay. If I do I am afraid that I will not be given the chance to find a new job and will just be fired.

So I have started sending out application to hospitals in the Houston area. One has contacted my friend Annette, who is a chaplain at Duke, and said I will more than likely get on her staff for residency in August. Please pray for this situation and that I get a job or that things turn around at Chapelwood.

Happy 4th

So today was a good day. I was able to get up early clean a bit, bake some cookies for a party, and be out the door by 11am. I was so very excited. My friend Sally had a 4th pool party and it was a blast. The pool was warm, yet cool, and the food was great. To make it better Chris was there and actually finally acknowledged our dating relationship in public! That has taken a month for him to do. Next up getting him to hold my hand or hug me. He is not a touchy feely person like me. Now I am home showered and off to dinner and fireworks with my SPRC chair and his family. Chris said he would drive down to see the fireworks with us, but we'll see if that happens.