It's been a long 10 days, crazy busy, up and down, but OMGosh does the Lord provide and when the doors open and stay open, it does one well to walk right on through and see what's next!
About 6 weeks ago, my girlfriend and I decided we were going to look into becoming Certified Nursing Assistant's through our local Community College. It's an amazing program, incredible reputation and would allow us to work in a hospital setting once Licensed. We looked at the material and realized that some of the dates didn't jive, so off went emails and phone calls.
Have I mentioned that I have a very limited income? So does my girlfriend, how the HECK will we do this? Financial Aid doesn't pay for this so we investigated a program here in Oregon called WorkSource Oregon. Devised by the Employment Department, it's set up to assist out of work people with training and resources to get a new job. IF you need funding, and you jump through all their hoops, they may be able to help you with that. So 3 weeks ago we went through their Orientation program. I completed the required computer testing for reading and math, filled out all the forms and papers etc. We did our interviews and such. In the meantime, we signed up and completed our BLS Healthcare Provider Course course, basically 7 hours of intensive CPR practice and testing. We get home from that class and there is a phone call for us saying that the College is holding a mandatory Orientation on Monday the 26th at 3:30pm. Not a problem ~ except that my son has a critical appt at that same time, which by some miracle was able to be moved to 1pm. Do you see the Lord working here? We go to this orientation and we're told that there are ONLY 2 spots left in the Program that starts Monday, May 3rd. YIKES!! Tuesday is spent completing the WorkSource paperwork, Wednesday we sit with our Funding Advocate and go through everything, we find out that if approved, we will each receive $2500 towards our training. Total cost (minus gas and food) ... $2517! Holy smokes Batman! They may be paying for EVERYTHING!!
So we submit everything, we are told that the paperwork will be presented to the funding team on Thursday morning, we HAVE to register by Friday at the latest IF the positions are still open. Can you hear the stress and such?? Yes, we said some prayers. On Thursday at 11am we got the call, WE'RE FUNDED!! We call the School and find out that the 2 spots are still open! OMGOSH! Friday morning I picked up our vouchers, they've never had something process this fast (Thank you Lord again). I take my son to another critical appointment (this was truly the week from hell~it was his birthday also). I go drop him at school and let them know I'm picking him up at 2:15pm ... yes, only 4 hours of school Friday due to appts. My girlfriend and I drive 35 min to pick up our uniforms, it took 45 min to get back due to an accident on the road, we picked up my son and dropped him w/ my parents for his birthday w/ them ... then we hightailed it to the College Bookstore to get our supplies, arriving there at 3:30 we learned they close at 4pm. So we picked up everything we needed, ran to get checked out and even though we had some glitches there, we were done at 3:50pm. Absolutely unbelievable! We are starting on Monday, we do an intensive 6 week program that includes 3-36 hr weeks in the classroom and lab and then 3-36 hour weeks in the clinical setting. We finish the week before the kids get out of school. Phew!
If you're still with me, congratulations ... now for the downslope of the roller coaster week.
I've told you about my cousin Bryce who went missing on Jan 31, 2010. His mom and dad both moved to Savannah GA last weekend so that together they could work to find him and bring him home. Tuesday morning they received a phone call to head down to the river near the school. The local Marine Unit was doing a search w/ sonar, they arrived and soon after Bryce's truck was located, unfortunately, Bryce was in it also. Blake and Michaella felt that they couldn't be alone to continue the search, so he asked for a transfer from the Navy base he was at ... they needed to be where Bryce was until they found him. Well they did, he was buried on Sunday May 2nd at 19 years old. Bryce is finally home.
Whew ~ it's been highs and lows, I've cried and prayed, I've laughed and celebrated. I start school full time in the morning and I am so excited about the future! I don't know where I'll be in the blogging world, there's a ton of work to do for the program, but I'll be around and I will definitely covet your prayers during this time. The willingness of the Lord to open these doors has been AMAZING! Let me be a witness to His goodness in the weeks to come, for without him by my side, guiding me, I know that these opportunities would not have revealed themselves in such a manner.
Thanks for sticking with me, I'll be in touch soon!
In HIS name,
~M
