the ups and downs of my first week back

Coming back home was bittersweet. A lot of great memories trailed behind my last three months, and looking ahead, even though it appeared that my short-term plans and life in general seemed pretty empty and plain, I had hope and faith that God had something special in mind for this season of growing while Jonathan was away.

My first goal was to FIND A JOB! I was broke, without employment, and running out of resources. The family I was working--very part time--for, informed me the day that I left for vacation that they won't be needing me. The mom has realized how much she wants to be at home with her kids. Something I could never argue with... I would probably do the same thing in her situation. So needless to say, I was coming back home to zippo income.

I tried to plan some new interviews with Tyler Nanny Services, but not feeling very confident about it, or even sure if I wanted to keep going down that road while I'm in Texas.
I have casually been browsing through the Classifieds off and on for the past month or so, and found a few photography jobs that gave their email addresses to send in your resume.
So, on a whim and out of curiosity more than anything else, I shot them my resume and photo site and didn't think much more of it.

Within a few hours, I got replies from both School Portrait Photographer businesses and had two interviews set up for the next morning. Wow!
And yesterday, I got a call back on the Newborn Family Portraits at the hospital, too! (which I will call back on Monday)

I went to my interviews, feeling very confident and excited about the first one--
Lifetouch Photography--I drove up to the new state-of-the-art building, where they employ 50 people at this location that I'm aware of... Curt, who interviewed me, has been in the company for 15 years and I believe he is Christian... the company, which I was not aware of, is probably the largest chain in the nation, and very solid background and history--so there are possibilities of transferring if and when I move out of the area. They offer a lot of benefits and comparable pay, with a school-day schedule to boot! Curt, I felt, was very easy to talk to and warm and inviting... he took the time to tell me the history of the business, why he likes it, what the job entails, why I might like it and how I could further my photography career through it, and how the business has been proven successful over the years (they've already scheduled 400+ schools for the whole school year, and range from Texarkana all the way to Houston--about a 3 hour driving radius for those who don't live around here), and gave me a tour and more background of the building and equipment.

...and not so much confidence in the second interview--Interstate Photography, which was conveniently newly-located in the back of a series of warehouses across the street from some XXX porno sign on a building front. I felt I was being grilled with questions that implied "what can we get out of you for the least amount of giving back?" and something just didn't settle right after I left. I told myself that even if I got offered the job, I shouldn't take it or else I'd probably get screwed over.

So after that, I got new tires, wiper blades, air filter, oil change, spark plugs for my car, and did grocery shopping.

And after that, I started feeling icky. Which resulted in me having a fever, sore throat, aches and pains... the works of being officially sick for three days...

BUT the good news is... I got a call back on Friday from Lifetouch, and I'm hired!!!

WHOOHOO!!

I feel really good about this, and that God has opened this door to new experience, new people, and some financial stability (granted it doesn't pay a ton, but I'll have consistent work). I still have evenings and weekends to do occasional babysitting with the Nanny service, without worrying about relying on that as my main source of income.

I start training Wednesday, and will be out at the schools by the end of the month! Praise God! His timing is perfect!