One of the teachers at the tutoring center recently got a job at a Christian school teaching high school math. I was sad to hear she was leaving but happy for her new job, especially since she's getting married in October. Little did I know how her new job would impact my family!
My daughter A has been under her father's health insurance ever since I stopped working. She turns 26 the end of this year, which means she will no longer be covered under his insurance. Her father has been hounding her ever since her birthday back in December, telling her she needs to get health insurance before her birthday. She has looking, but health insurance is expensive, especially for a young single woman. For those who think that government insurance is the answer, think again. Even Obamacare is costly. Since she was working two part-time jobs and neither one offered health benefits, she knew she would have to come up with a way to get affordable healthcare, and her options weren't very promising.
Her dad called her about a month ago asking once again if she had found insurance yet. When she told him she hadn't, he told her not to worry about it, he had found a way to keep her on his insurance and she'd only have to pay him $100 a month. Now, if I know anything about this man, it's that he can't resist a scam. I didn't know what he was up to, but I did know one thing for sure: whatever it was, it was illegal. He doesn't care; as far as he's concerned, it's not illegal unless you get caught. Well, that was NOT what I wanted for my daughter. Of course, with J, it's his way and that's that. But he doesn't know the power of my God! My daughter and I began to pray that God would provide her with insurance that would be more affordable than what J was
A week after we started praying, I got home from grocery shopping to find my daughter extremely excited. It turned out that the girl who was leaving had contacted her. The school where she was going to start working needed an English teacher, someone with a degree in English, and they needed someone right away. She immediately thought of A and asked if she was interested. The school would take care of getting her certification. The part that had her most excited? The job would pay her double what both her part-time jobs paid, and she would receive 100% paid health benefits!! She could hardly contain her excitement! She was happy and nervous at the same time, and asked me what she should do. I said hey, go for it! God is sending you this opportunity, you'd best take it! She interviewed that same day, and they offered her the job on the spot. Turns out they'd been needing someone since the school year had finished, and no one - absolutely no one - had applied for the position. She was the first person to apply, and school was going to start in one week. The thought of it made her even more nervous, and she said she needed to pray about it. She spoke to her pastor, her friends, and of course mom. We looked into the school and the church. This church has been instrumental in planting many of the churches in South Florida, and their ministry is extensive. All her friends (many of them teachers themselves) told her they'd be there with help and advise. We all agreed, this wasn't a coincidence, it was a God-incident. So she accepted, got her training and certification, and this week started teaching 9th and 11th grade English (including an AP class) along with middle school journalism. She is the happiest she's been in ages! Everything has fallen into place so perfectly, that we know it has to be the hand of our ever faithful God! We are so thankful for this new step in her life!
Of course my bosses weren't as happy as she was. They were left without two teachers for the fall session which starts next Monday. But once again, God has provided. We have three new teachers coming in that got trained this week. It was rough for my daughter, because she doesn't like to disappoint, but the opportunity was too great to pass up. It's been hectic with her church job too, but she's such a trouper. She's getting the work done, and getting all her school assignments done as well (she's working towards getting certified as a pastoral counselor). God is blessing her hard work, and I can't wait to see what else He has in store for my little girl!
As for me, I've been on an organization kick - or more like a frenzy ;-). It started in the master bedroom, moved into the kitchen where I've been organizing the pantry and cupboards, and now it has continued into the bathrooms. I've been throwing out anything that is expired (you'd be surprised what you find hiding in a medicine cabinet) or that doesn't get used, and putting things away properly. I've shopped at Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree and Amazon for organization tools and containers. I've also done some deep cleaning before school starts up again, which is on the 24th. I'm off from work this week (yay!) so I've been able to get loads of stuff done. I'm very much a type A personality, and having everything streamlined and organized makes me feel relaxed. I'm loving it!
I took my youngest son E for allergy testing. Not only were his allergies getting out of control, his eczema was spreading. Both his arms were covered, his eyes were dry and irritated, and below his chin it was starting up. It seemed the medicines the dermatologist had ordered weren't enough, so I had to take the next step. He had to get off his maintenance medicines for 5 days so the tests could be accurate. It was the most miserable 5 days of his life! He literally needed a trash can next to him to drop all the tissues he was using because he was sneezing so much. When we finally got to the doctor's office for the tests, they got delayed because E was having a mild asthma attack. See, the day before we'd gone to see Hillsong United in concert, and it was held outdoors in a park. The outdoors are my son's enemies, unfortunately. He was coughing but he wasn't wheezing, at least not heavily, so I hadn't detected it, but the doctor noticed right away. Once he was breathing normally, the doctor proceeded with the tests. Thankfully my son has no food allergies. He does, however, have a ton of other allergies, all environmental. Trees, grass, mold, plants...let's just say, he's allergic to Florida. The doctor put him on prednisone and gave him an inhaler, along with eye drops, nose drops, and instructions for taking care of the eczema. He also suggested I get an air purifier, which I ordered the very next day. I'm happy to report that his eczema is almost completely gone thanks to the creams he's using (Vanicream is the best, I highly recommend it), and I haven't heard him sneeze in days. Oh, thank You Jesus!
We found out he's also allergic to pet dander, particularly dogs and cats. This has created a dilemma for us, because we can't get rid of Molly. Not only because we love her, but because she has cancer, and she's dying. The second tumor on her belly has started to grow, and we don't think she has very much longer to live. We know no one will take her in her condition, and if we take her to the humane society they'll put her down. We've decided to keep her until the inevitable, which J is against (he's wanted us to get rid of Molly since day one), but honestly I don't believe we will have her for much longer. It breaks our hearts to even think about it.
Sorry to end on a sad note (I didn't realize it till I looked back) but life is like that; it has its ups and downs. We thank God for the good, and we thank Him for the not-so-good. In all things we praise our God and Father and trust in His decisions. Hope you do too.
