Over the years I've started many posts with this phrase, "What a week!" I think having so many people in the family is why that phrase gets used so much. We have 9 living here now and those 9 lives represent a LOT of life. That's not even including my daughter and her husband's life and now baby to come! With my older son alone, who has been looking for a job for months now, we have been praying, watching, waiting and seeking jobs alongside him. He's gone through the depths of discouragement where he literally says, "I hate my life" to moments of hope where he gets an encouraging tip or meets a person who prays for him. I have to admit, though I am his biggest cheerleader, I've also had moments where I ask God, "Why? Why aren't you helping him?" But there's always this thought in the back of my mind, "Thank me. Thank me for even what you don't know." So, by faith, I always stop and try to thank God for his unemployment. Then I've seen almost right away all the ways he has helped me or my husband and all the ways we couldn't have accomplished what we needed to do if he hadn't been around during the harvest season as he's so strong and he's helped my husband so much.
He could have had a job this summer, but he quit to write the MCAT for the THIRD TIME. Writing it once would have killed most people, but three times he's written it now. He tried to have a job and study the first summer, but that made him very sick because of the stress, so the last two summers he's studied full time and then written it. He went back to work last year after the MCAT, but this time he knew he had to quit working at Marineland and get more experience in the medical field in order to get in to med school. He's applied to over 40 positions. It just makes no sense, but again, there's this nagging feeling that maybe just maybe God is purposely testing him, keeping him humble, always trying to show him He has something better than we could ask or imagine and that He's ON PURPOSE keeping his resume from the eyes of certain employers so that he doesn't get the jobs he's applied to.
Finally this week he had an interview at an ophthalmologist's office. Tomorrow he'll get his final interview where he meets the surgeon. This job is ideal. My son is pinching himself if it works out. First of all it's close. That matters these days with gas prices. Also, it's in a doctor's office where he would be alongside a highly respected doctor in Canada who is one of a couple doctors who performs certain surgeries. This doctor apparently is amazing to work for, loves to train and mentor his employees and is just a good guy it seems. My son came back from his first interview and was so excited about the opportunities this job would give him. The techs who interviewed him said this guy will get him into med school. Well, we'll see about that, but it sure gave him hope! They were fascinated by my son's experience in Africa alongside a doctor who did eye surgeries in the bush. Looking back, of course, you can see how God prepared my son for a job like this. I just love how you never know why you do certain things and then you see later how they all come together. So, we'll hopefully know tomorrow if he gets this job. I'm already praising God, but I have to wait for official word.
That same son, in the name of getting volunteer experience, has started coaching basketball at a local church. This is hilarious as he's not a basketball player, but because he's 6 ft. tall and the kids he's coaching are 8, he appears to be an expert. There were no spots for my 12 year old son as they had no programs for his age, but miraculously, they said, "Just bring him! He can help coach!" What?! I couldn't believe it. He now goes in with my older son each week and helps "coach". This is also truly hilarious as he's no expert, but this is the BEST thing for him, getting him out, helping younger kids, giving him responsibility. I just love how God has my kids in the palm of his hand and is literally guiding them each day and putting things in front of them I could NEVER have planned.
Back to job hunting and that full day....My other son, who is 16, got a job on the same day as my older son's interview. He's also been looking for work. We don't like sending our kids to "regular" jobs. There are certain environments that are so toxic and dangerous. We also love sending our kids together, which isn't always easy. But this time, it worked out really well. My older daughter works at a bakery/cafe where she works for a Christian family who run a business together. My daughter has been watching how they do things and has been very impressed with their success. I kept saying, "Could J work there, too?" Well, now it has worked out. My son was interviewed last week and then they asked him to come in tomorrow and possibly Saturday. Again, looking back, it's amazing to see how my son was prepared. At camp this summer we volunteered in the kitchen together and he prepared all sorts of food alongside me. If he had had his way, he NEVER would have gone and he was so socially anxious that he HATED his first few days there, but I saw it as a spiritual battle that had to be won, so I persisted in the darkest of times and by God's grace, we made it through and my son thrived. That experience is what got him the job I'm convinced as he learned to work under someone else's direction not just mine. And, the best part is, he will be with his sister, working together at times, driving in together, maybe even being trained by her. I look up at heaven and just say, "Thank you!"
That's just two kids. I'm telling you, I could go on and on...
RM and I see God's hand in just about every person who comes to our trailer. We had a discouraging day a couple days ago, the first day in weeks where we didn't get anyone coming by to buy wine. But that same day we sold our Pilot, the vehicle that had been sitting on the property for nearly 3 years just taking up space. Out of the blue my husband saw on Instagram an ad saying "We'll buy your junk cars". He applied online and the next thing you know someone was here buying it for more than we'd ever been offered before. It'll be picked up today or tomorrow and we already have the cash. We feel like we are slowly, with God's amazing help, getting the clutter off the property. It feels like we are going from one broken down space to another and making it great. The stained glass studio is an example. I never thought I'd see the day that that was done. It's a whole new space! The shed where the truck was parked is going to be great, too, and that's where the winery making equipment will ultimately go. It's all happening so fast.
At the end of the day, we still try to sit around and debrief. We always say, "Come and sit for 5 minutes please", but it always turns into an hour long discussion. This week it's been all about the Grand Opening. Our kids shake their heads at what we take on, but this week another lady came by and I always ask where the people come from. She said she used to live around the corner and then mentioned the name of a local winery. That winery is beautiful and super successful and I couldn't understand why she would have left it and moved away! But she said, "Oh, I didn't live there when it looked like what it looks like now. I was only a teen. If I'd only known what I could've had!" That really hit me. We talk about selling every day. Sometimes seriously as it's so much work to live here. Sometimes in jest as we just want a vacation. But then I picture my kids driving by when they're 40 and seeing what someone else managed to do with our farm, rebuilding it, making it beautiful and I don't want them to drive by and say, "That's our farm? That beautiful place was where we used to live? I had no idea it could look like that! I wish we'd never left." So, we asked them yesterday to once again, hang in there. We have a vision of victory! We are doing everything we can to make it beautiful and it is coming along, it's taking time, but it's happening.
So much to do before our Grand opening, so we will be scrambling, but we had to make a date. We had to force ourselves, otherwise it never would have happened. I'm curious how it will all come together, but when I see what God has already done, I'm sure He'll be in this, too!
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