A New Season

“If I knew your name and address, I would send you a bouquet of sharpened pencils...”  A line from one of my favorite movies, “You’ve Got Mail.” Fall has begun and our little family is entering a new season of life. We moved into our two-bedroom apartment about a month ago and things are finally starting to feel like home. Almost all of our boxes are unpacked, Parker has his own room, and there is plenty of space for the three of us. I have started teaching part-time Kindergarten at Naperville Christian Academy, Parker and I have established our morning routine and he has a lot of fun at the babysitter’s with his new buddy, Levi.

Throughout these changes, Ryan has been through a whirlwind of interviews, evaluations and physicals leading to his new career as an Arlington Heights Firefighter. He applied for the job in May of 2010, took a written test and a physical test is June and July, and then did not hear back again until May of 2011. He had his first interview on June 22nd, and found out he was 3rd on the list shortly after. He was called for another interview that took place July 28th, took a polygraph on August 16th, a Psych Evaluation on September 1st and a medical physical on September 13th. He was officially offered the position on September 15th, was sworn in the 16th, and started the fire academy on the 19th. Sounds crazy huh? This has been a huge answer to prayer and we can see God’s hand through all of it. It was the first and only fire job he’s every applied for, it is one of the best departments in the suburbs, they will pay for him to go to Paramedic school (which will be MUCH cheaper than us paying his way through PA school,) the benefits are great, and the timing is perfect – as God’s timing always is. When he first applied, I was not very keen on the idea, but God has really softened my heart throughout the year and I could not be happier for Ryan. He gets up super early in the morning and is excited about what he is doing!

Ryan with his mom and grandma.

Excited about a new career.

The academy is from 8-5:30 everyday, but he has to be there by 7 in order to get everything ready to go by 8. The training is in Glenview, which is about an hour from our apartment. Knowing these details, I was a little anxious about getting Parker ready by myself in the mornings (because Ryan had been doing that for the first few weeks of school), getting to school on time, playing, feeding him, giving him baths and most nights putting him to bed on my own for nine weeks. Once again, God has shown me that He is in total control of even the tiniest details, and will take care of me. Parker usually wakes up around 6 and we have to be out the door around 7. It’s hard when he wakes up early because I’m still getting ready and he needs to eat breakfast, etc, etc. Well, this week he woke up between 6:45 and 7:00 every morning, which allowed me to get completely ready, then give him breakfast and go. He has not put up a fight getting in the car seat, I have been very productive and had lots of energy, I checked out a new Karen Kingsbury book, and I have been overflowing with God’s love! I was telling a co-worker about Parker sleeping in, and she reminded me that last year when I started at NCA, Parker started sleeping through the night after my second day. She then said, “The Lord is really looking out for you.” I get tears in my eyes just thinking about that because he TOTALLY is. Ryan and I have still been able to spend some quality time together when he gets home and it’s been really fun listening to his stories about different drills and tests.

Moral of the story….God is so so GOOD!