We're going to zoom way out now and catch up to January 2021 in just three posts!! So hold onto your seats!
February 2019 found me stabilizing pretty well after a whole year of the roller coaster mood swings recounted in the previous chapters. I started holding monthly game nights at my parents' house, where I was living, which still continue to this day!
Through a friend at church, I even found a job quicker than I expected - nannying for her neighbors across the alley! I warned them that I had bipolar disorder and had been struggling with managing it for a while, and they still trusted me to care for their baby!
Baby V, as I've always called her online, was eight months old when I started caring for her. There's lots I could say about that ... but we're keeping it high level here. There were still moments when I struggled, spending usually 8, rarely closer to 10, hours a day with a non-verbal baby. But I listened to a lot of podcasts during that time, as well as rediscovering Christian kids music videos on YouTube that I had watched when I was young!
Additionally, I interviewed for and landed a contract job writing short promotional blog posts for an organization that one of my college roommates worked for. I was able to do that while Baby V napped, making pretty good money during those times!
Toward the middle of March, I received one of the best gifts I've ever been given - A CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I continue to praise God for the generous couple from my church who refused to charge me for the 1997 white Toyota Camry that they were done using. {Almost three years later, the car continues to run well, thanks to my Dallas "grandpa" replacing my battery & alternator and our church's teaching elder who faithfully changes my oil for me :)}
With the arrival of more moderate weather in the spring, I was so thankful to be able to take Baby V for walks. I learned their neighborhood pretty well while I pushed that stroller around! Occasionally my friend from church, her two kids, Baby V, and I would all go on walks together. We discovered a playground within walking distance, and there we met another family with kids who ended up coming to our church - so yay!!!
I enjoyed watching Baby V go from beginning to crawl to walking pretty steadily on her own, from drinking lots of formula milk to eating almost exclusively baby food. But by the end of May, I told her dad that I was ready to start looking for another job. Naptime turned into "update resume" and "apply for jobs" time! My first three applications were at a local seminary - an admin assistant job, a mail clerk job, and another one I don't remember. I interviewed, but none of those turned into anything solid.
In July, I took a break from nannying and had a fun adventure - traveling down to Colombia, South America for my "sister" Sarah's wedding!!! I was so very grateful to be by her side on her big day, and flattered to serve as her maid of honor! First wedding toast speech under my belt. {Sidenote, I also had the opportunity to go on a Colombian birding tour, including spending a couple hours at a hummingbird sanctuary. SO fun!!}
After I arrived back in Dallas, I worked one more week as Baby V's nanny, leading up to her one-year birthday. Then her grandmother came for six weeks, and I turned to full-time job searching, including going to Watermark's Careers in Motion, a weekly job search help session. In quick succession, I applied for yet another seminary job, as well as a seasonal part-time job that would have been with the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child processing location in DFW. Still nothing, even though I completed FOUR interviews with the latter!
Also in July, I started the re:generation program at Watermark church, which is an explicitly Christian version of the 12-step process from Alcoholics Anonymous, expanded to be helpful to people with all sorts of issues. My journey through that program would continue until May of 2020. Once again that month, I served as the photographer for my church's week of VBS.
In August, I took a huge step of courage and prepared an application packet to deliver in person to the head of Watermark's communications department, for what I saw then as a potential dream job listing. But at Watermark, they like to hire people who are already Watermark members. So that put me out of the running. At least the lady was nice enough to call me promptly and let me know!
Then came August 15-19!!!
It started with an email from Bob, my church's former teaching elder, who had retired while I was in college. He had been talking to a gal who also grew up in my church, who I had really looked up to / idolized just a bit when I was in elementary school and she was in high school / college. She had a position in her department at this place I had never heard of, called Christar, that she was really looking to fill - and Bob had recommended me! She sent him an email with the ministry description, which he forwarded to me.
In exactly five hours, I had fired back a resume and cover letter.
Less than 24 hours after Bob's email, I had sent writing samples in for my childhood role model to review, and I had an interview scheduled!! In the interview, I was pretty honest about what I had been facing for the past year and a half or so. {I've since learned that she knows all too well what being stretched thin on the field can do to one's mental health.} I knew that she really wanted me in the position - but I then had to fill out a formal application.
And then I waited.
Also, there was one small problem: It was a part-time job. So as I waited, I continued applying for other jobs, mostly from the Hope Center job board, that were also part-time.
"Finally," on Aug. 26, I received the official job offer from Christar!!!!
And so came to a close the awkward in-between season that had continued for what felt like forever, from April 2018 - August 2019.
This song is one I learned from a Louie Giglio DVD that Mary Britton had lent me, clear back in Uganda. It fits here :)
Written Jan. 15/16, 2022
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