Moving through and a valuable lesson learned

Thank you to all who prayed for me. Somehow, I made it through to the next stage in the process. :) My interview is scheduled for Tuesday, January 13 at noon, so here I go again asking for your prayers. I think it will be a roll play scenario where they throw things at me and see how I prioritize and handle the situation. I'm not as scared as I was for the test, but it's still not fun being put on the spot. I also don't know how many other people have made it through to this stage, so I just need to be the best ME I can be that day. Very exciting!

Now, about this lesson I learned. Monday hadn't been the greatest day for me. Sunday night I went to bed early like any good girl would who had to start getting up early again for work the next day, only to be rudely woken up at 2:25 am by the sound of an avalanche and my house shaking to high heaven. I sat straight up in bed with a panic in my heart and listened. What the heck was that? My first thought was that someone was breaking in. I had my phone in my hand and listened some more. Nothing. After some inspection and thought, I figured out that it was the snow loosening and sliding off the roof of the house. Sheesh! Scared the crap out of me. If it was that loud just from the little snow on my roof, I don't even want to imagine what an actual avalanche would sound like. Terrifying. My thoughts went to those snow mobilers that were caught and what they must have gone through. Slowly, I fell back to sleep ... only to be woken up again about 40 minutes later. Heart pounding I started to worry if the roof was going to cave in on me. Ok, your mind goes a little crazy at around 3:30 in the morning. I was woken up 2 or 3 more times that night from the same sound, therefore, was not very well rested the morning of my test. I looked out my window and didn't think it had snowed enough to need shovelling ... I was wrong. There I am ready for work and I'm out there shovelling at 6:45 am. Ugh!

Anyways, I wrote my test and although it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, it also wasn't easy, so I really had no idea how I had done. That was a little frustrating and left me unnerved ... plus my arms were still aching from shovelling that morning. :P By the end of the day I was ready to leave my workplace behind and not think about it all evening. That's when the good lesson was learned.

I had received an email from the lady who I had just house sat for asking me if I had left a little package behind (when have I EVER moved out of a place without forgetting something?) hidden in her piano bench? "What?" I thought. "No, I don't think so." She said, "Maybe a cache of 20 dollar bills?" NO WAY!!! I had given up on that money. I thought it had been lost or stolen and would NEVER see it again. I had hidden it so well I couldn't even find it myself. There was $290 in that envelope!!! Whoo Hoo! Thank you, Lord. That was a nice New Year's present. Anyways, when I went to pick it up from her we chatted about their drive back through the mountains and I asked her if she was happy to be back. She gave me an answer I think I can honestly say I've never heard before. She said, "I'm happy wherever I am." Wow. You know, there are people who I wouldn't have believed that from, that like you to believe nothing ever goes wrong in their lives and always put on that happy face, but I believe she was genuine. We chatted a little more and then I said my goodbyes.

Next I went to see my friends who had been on a 3 month furlough from Singapore. They were packing to head back and I chatted with my old roommate for awhile and watched her pack and figure out the puzzles that were their suitcases. She had layed out all their treasures from Superstore of things they can't find in Singapore (looked exactly like my suitcase when I went to see my sister in Malaysia last time). Awhile later her hubby came up from watching the hockey game and I absent mindedly asked him, "So, are you happy to go back and get back into a routine?" to which he answered, "Sure, but I'm happy to be either place." WHAT? 2 people in a span of an hour giving me the same answer!? I again knew that his answer was genuine. I just thought that was an amazing lesson to learn and remember to be happy no matter where you are and what the circumstances. I should stop grumbling that I need to shovel. I should stop thinking about the exam I wrote and be happy I had the opportunity to write it and leave the rest in God's hands. I need to realize that when my VISA payment is a little higher than I thought that maybe I need to cut back on some spending and if I'm a good steward of my money, God will provide.

What started off on a bad note ended to be a really good day.

P.S. Today's my friend, Pam's, birthday, so I just want to give a shout out to her. Happy birthday, Pam! Hope you have a great day. Love ya!