Hello All! You are probably wondering what the photos are from. The top three are from a camping trip I was just able to go on and the others are from an event called "St. Baldricks". I have been so blessed to be able to do all these different events and help out with different things at church. But, how do I have all this time to spend doing these things, you might ask. Which is what this blog is all about. After resigning from a job as a leasing consultant I got a job with three different families as their nanny. I had been doing that for about a month and just truly loving working with the kids and just loving my job. One day about two weeks ago I made a very bad decision to take one of the boys I nannied for across the street to a park in my car without a car seat. This was of course a big mistake and a dumb move on my part. His mother caught me and fired me on the spot, of course. It was so weird how it happened and funny how I had a way out, to be able to turn around or go back to the house once I started feeling convicted. But I chose to ignore those feelings and keep going. I realized the devastated look on the mother's face and understood my actions completely. It reminded me of a time when I was living in Chicago with my mom and I snuck out to go camping in my friends back yard that lived down the street. As I was walking there my mom drove by in her car and I saw the horrified look on her face and how scared she was and I ran to my friend's house so that I could catch up with my mom and let her know I was okay. It is just something that you cannot take back after it's done and something I regret doing so much. 

As I left their house to go home I knew that I was going to also need to tell the other two families that I worked for what had happened. I went home and wrote them an e-mail thinking with a maybe 1% chance that they would actually fire me as well. But sure enough I received an e-mail back from them that stated they would no longer need me as well. 

I was in shock the entire day, I couldn't believe in a matter of hours I had lost all three of my jobs and was currently without. I put out this story on craigslist.com to ask parents if I should ever nanny again and what their thoughts were on the subject. I put it on the San Diego craigslist and the Indianapolis one as well. I received about 15 e-mails from the San Diego craigslist and nothing from the Indianapolis one. 14 of the e-mails were very uplifting and most from fellow christians just explaining that there will be people to forgive and forget and to press forward. Some said that because this event happened that the Lord definitely has something a lot better out there for me and just mainly a change of pace. I was very happy to hear from all of these fellow believers and also just regular people-strangers in fact that I should try for another nanny job. But of course there was one lady that said I should never nanny again and that she is scared for anyone that would trust me. I e-mailed her back though and just explained that the Lord would direct my steps and we will see where he would have me. 

More than anything though, the LORD has been most faithful. Continuously speaking to me in His word, reassuring me by who He is, it's been very good for my walk with Him. He gave me the verse in Jeremiah 29:11-13 from about 5-6 different people by now and just explaining different aspects of what it means to me. It is a very popular verse, but it spoke to me directly, here it is, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of PEACE and not of evil to give you an expected end (or some translations say to give you a future and a hope). Then shall you call upon Me and you shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hear you. And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart." I mean of course so many things in the verse, but one thing that stuck out so much is the PEACE. I have had such tremendous peace throughout this whole time of waiting and seeking for another job. It's funny too because a lot of people will say this verse from memory and say 'thoughts of good and not evil' instead of peace. It doesn't say good because the opposite of evil is not good it is peace, it is calm, it is 'no worries, be happy' you know. Everything is not good all the time as a christian, well in the main scheme of things it is all good because of Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose," but it's not all rainbows and smiles I guess is more what I am saying. It's not all bloated bank accounts and fast cars, it's not what the world calls good. It is hard times and faith building testimonies of the Lord's provision, that is the christian walk. Then it is also faith building-JOY! I am so joyful now not having a job and having to be so cautious and prayerful about what money I should and shouldn't spend. But then the Lord showed me that this is the way I should always act with my money whether it is in abundance or not, Ephesians 6:18 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.." 

So that's that, I still do not have a job but have put out my resume so much and went to about 3 different staffing companies. I hadn't really looked at nanny jobs too much, but then I got an e-mail from one of the nanny websites I am registered with and they had a perfect job for me, Mon-Fri and everything. I have an interview with them tomorrow but I'm not really expecting anything, I of course will tell them what happened before and explain everything. Actually one of the families that fired me is going to still give references for me if I need them so it's not too bad. We will see what the Lord does. 

But other than that, since I have had some free time I have been able to do some more ministry things. St Baldricks is a cancer foundation that raises money to keep perusing a cure for children's cancer. Why there are so many bald heads is because people shave their heads to be like the cancer patients that have lost their hair, then they will donate money for the haircut. They made $100,000 in New Mexico because they were in Santa Fe and made 50K and came to Albuquerque and made the other half. It was so hard to see kids just so weak and feeble carrying around their IV's and fluids with them. There was one particular girl that really stood out to me, she was a beautiful probably 13-15 year old and she looked really athletic and had beautiful long hair. She was one of the ones carrying around an IV and then also she had to wear a mask because cancer breaks down your ammune system. Just to think she was probably in middle school when she found out and how hard middle school is already and then having cancer. It just tore me up, but I know that the Lord does have a plan for her, even if she is not seeking after Him. It's just hard to see, but it was such a great experience and I wouldn't have been able to if I was working. Then going camping with all these amazing christians and just getting to spend time with the Lord on the edge of a cliff in front of a enormous lake, it was just really cool. Everything was really cheap too because there were so many of us so the whole weekend (Thursday thru Sunday) was $40 for everything; gas, food, housing, etc. The Lord really stretched our food and we had a huge abundance of food left over it was just crazy. 

But anyway these are the recent events that have been going on. Of course I got my pup and he's so great, he always is teaching me things and I just love him to death. He's great and such a smart boy, he went camping with us and I had no problems at all. He got bit by an ant the last day and whined a lot from that but I got him calmed down and he was fine. He couldn't wait to get home though and see his friends here, my roommates two dogs. 

In closing, I guess these are my prayer requests and praise reports as well. I am very blessed and so happy to be where I am, exactly where the Lord has me. I will write again soon I hope and let everyone know what the Lord does with my job situation. I love you all-Keep in the Faith. 

God Bless