Amazingly Blessed

It is amazing how Christ manifests himself in our lives just at the right time. Throughout our marriage we have never really had anything not work out for us. The worst things we have experienced are pretty insignificant, like cars breaking down or not getting a bonus that would have been nice, but by no means necessary. We are both sure that the reason is because just when things look like they are going to be a disaster or set us back, Christ shows up right on time. Here are a few examples: 1. We were just weeks away from getting married and I still hadn't found a job in Vegas. Out of the blue, St. Rose Hospital calls me up and asked if I was still interested in a job that I had applied for but not gotten. ABSOLUTELY!! Plus, now, it wasn't the 16-20 hr/wk job I had applied for, it was a 32 hour/week job and paid more per hour than any other job I had applied for. Annndddd it was in the field of nutrition! 2. That same job offered me benefits only a few months later which included tuition reimbursement...also perfect timing, we just didn't know it. The following year was pretty tight for us financially and I'm not exactly sure how we would have paid for school without a loan. I am now just months away from my bachelor's degree without a dime owed in loans! 3. Once again, the same job said they were no longer going to work with school schedules. It was basically "This is when we need you...take it or leave it." It looked like I was going to have to take a cut in my hours because my school schedule just did not want to cooperate with my work one. Once again though, Christ steps in. We got a new director literally a month before I had to finalize my school schedule and he negotiated to get the shifts completely rearranged to ten hours rather than eight and/or four. I was able to keep my benefits, go to school, and still get the hours I needed...and even do it in less days. I know only have to work at the hospital 2 days a week rather than 4. And I was obviously able to stay in school. 4. Summers are pretty rough for Devan's job. Everybody goes on vacation and nobody wants to meet with their financial planner from May to August for some reason. One summer was particularly rough. Amazingly enough though the last piece of business that he wrote in May made enough money for us to live on through the next EXTREMELY slow months. That last client in May really came out of nowhere too. Dev was not expecting him to do anything with his money. Being a commission only job, Dev's is one of lots and ups and downs. There are of course many more blessings that we have received in the last 3 years that show up through Devan's job.

Alright...here is the final kicker. I have an internship that starts in July (hopefully) that is required for me to really get any use out of my degree. The thing is 7 months long, 40 hrs a week, no pay, and costs me $8000.00. YIKES!!! Since we got married we have tried to save up for this and come up with a fool proof plan, but life always throws you curve balls. So not only did we need to figure out exactly how to pay for this without completely depleting our savings, we needed to figure out how to survive with one less income, or least one of our incomes greatly reduced. Turns out....just at the right time....Christ pulled out all the stops. In Novemeber I was offered a job...out of left field...for my dream job at the moment. It is good money, completely works around my schedule, and lets me do what I have been going to school for almost 5 years to do. I still work at the hospital and still teach piano and still go to school full time too. But, despite the challenge it is and the sacrifice of my already limited free time, it is allowing us to save up so much money that we would otherwise not have been able to do. Now, as if that wasn't amazing enough...I found out the hospital is going to give me a minimum of $3000.00 to help pay for my internship. Possibly $5200.00. To qualify for this though I had to be able to work a certain amount of hours each week while also doing the internship. Having Sundays off and getting those hours in was looking impossible. But of course, things worked out, and I was told by the Director of Nutrition Services at the hospital that he would figure out a way to make things work. We rearranged my schedule...taking full advantage of broad phrasing in the union contract...and figured a way to get my hours in. And the cherry on top: the job that I just started in November has offered me a position as an RD next year after I finish my internship. (Of course, lots can happen in a year so I am not completely holding my breath, but still amazing!)

Like I said, AMAZINGLY BLESSED. Of course, most of the things I mentioned are related to finances and school. We have so many other things to be thankful for too, but at this stage in our lives, finances and school are our HUGE obstacles. And they are ones that we probably could not have conquered without blessing from above. As Devan always says, "That's some Jesus right there."