An informational update on the time that has lapsed during my break from blogging:
On December 1, Michael and I wrapped up our life as houseparents at the Barton Home with a birthday celebration for one of the girls.
On December 3, I moved into my new office in the Vera Lloyd administration building as the new House Supervisor & Training Coordinator.
Michael began a several week process of getting our Barton apartment packed up, our new home purchased, and all the details that went along with that. Michael had planned on job hunting after Christmas for something to hold over before going back to school in the fall. During December, the Computer Lab teacher at the Vera Lloyd On-Campus school (which hosts all of our DYS youth and short-term/shelter youth) decided she would retire at the end of the semester if the right person could take her place for the rest of the year. The principal made a call to Michael immediately, and it was settled. Michael was the new Computer Lab teacher for the spring semester. This was the final provision and confirmation my heart needed to boldly walk in the path God had called me. And I had no idea the other blessings it would bring. Michael was very excited to have something as well as to get to stay on the VL campus. The principal also talked to him about getting to help in Math because the Math/Science instructor was an elementary-certified teacher and struggled with the class of boys who did upper-level math.
We returned home at Christmas time for the wedding of Mrs. Alicia [Pavkov] Brown & her true soul mate...
...as well as some much needed time with family...
...and friends.
We were able to move into our new home after Christmas in Warren, AR. It's about an 18-minute drive to Vera Lloyd.
I jumped into my new work. I am LOVING it. In fact, the parts of the role I felt the least prepared for are the parts I have enjoyed the most! God's further confirmation that He is doing a good thing here. Here's the lowdown on what I am doing: I have two homes on campus that I supervise. That means, I am the case manager for all of the youth in those homes as well as the supervisor for all of the staff of those homes. I am also the supervisor for 5 more staff members that work in different homes on campus. Both of my homes are boys' homes which is a change for me. One of them is a DYS (Division of Youth Services) home which has 8 adjudicated youth who are serving time in our therapeutic group home program for a charge they received. Basically, the judge or court system looked at their case and judged that they were deserving of the opportunity to receive treatment through a program like ours rather than in a detention environment. If you haven't guessed yet, this was one of the parts of the job that I felt the least prepared for! My other home is a DCFS (Division of Children & Family Services - foster care) home with both long-term and short-term youth. Other than the fact that they are boys, this home is run much like what I did at Barton. In addition to those roles, I am also in charge of coordinating and planning all training for new and current employees. We have bimonthly In-Service trainings for our current employees that I present or arrange for an expert to present, and we have two week Pre-Service trainings whenever new employees are hired to work with the youth. I, as well as the other supervisory staff, take one weekend a month ON-CALL where I do crisis intervention in the homes and help support the staff in dealing with the kids. As you may be able to tell, my greatest challenge in my new role is time management and getting it all done. However, it is exactly the kind of challenge I crave! And though I never would have considered a degree in Criminal Justice, I am LOVING my work with the DYS boys almost if not more than the side of campus I am used to. It can be discouraging, of course, as many of the boys just want to serve their time and return to the life they were living prior to their arrest. However, there are enough opportunities to see hope and life-change to remind us all that it is worth it. I wish you could come and meet these boys. The Barton girls stretched me for sure, and I joke and say we saw a little bit of everything during our time there. But Barton was the doorway for me to work the youth I am working with now, because I couldn't have imagined it a few years ago. My intimidation level would have been 100% higher than it is now. At any one time, I will probably have 2-3 gang members and a few drug dealers on my caseload. I know right now I have a preteen that stole a very expensive truck. I have now used hand-cuffs. These boys are aggressive and angry sometimes, but they are also little boys in oversized bodies. Most of them have never lived with their fathers. Almost all of them have had one huge significant loss in their life that no none has helped them heal. They are assigned to anywhere from 3-10 months at Vera Lloyd, so its not enough time to heal all hurts, but its enough time to share Christ's healing love and inspire hope for change and confidence for good. Just yesterday one of my boys gave me the second rap he has written since I've been his supervisor, but this one is being saved forever. I don't know, ya'll, God is trying to tell some crazy story with my life!
Another huge witness of God's provision is in the fact that everyday, 8 of the 24 students Michael works with are on my caseload. It was difficult to transition to working apart again as we really enjoyed working together, and it was even more difficult to think about us not both being a part of the Vera Lloyd daily life. And then, God put us both in places where we are exercising our personal gifts and abilities with the same kids everyday and have common passion and stories to share when we get home. How great is our God.
We've spent the rest of our time settling into our new home and figuring out how to live on this kind of schedule again. Our evenings were way too quiet at first, but I have learned how to enjoy them. We've done quite a few projects already, and Michael has begun working on building some furniture that he has been wanting to for a long time but never had the space or tools for. He has now built me a dining room table and another table and kitchen island to sell at my Marketplace booth.
We feel so blessed to be walking this road and with the ways the Lord has gone before us. We are praising Him that a new couple has been hired and is being trained right now for the Barton Home. The girls are really missing the structure and attention that comes from having a couple in the home. I was becoming really distraught after several dead ends with couples and then a long period with no applicants, but then God flexed His muscles again and called a couple from within Vera Lloyd. One of our Floater (substitute) house parent's wife found out about the opening and felt called to leave her position as a PTA to join her husband's work here. They are going to be so awesome with the girls, and I am so excited for them all!
Moral of the story: Turns out 1 Corinthians 7:17 is so true. Only God knows the best He has in store for each of us, and we have to walk trust and fear of His name alone to uncover all the glory.
"Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called Him." -1 Corinthians 7:17
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