Friday, April 06, 2007

Well, once again I've let several weeks pass without posting. And a lot has happened in those weeks!

Perhaps the biggest news is that I have a job! I have accepted the position of Director of Marketing and Community Relations with The Catholic Foundation. The Catholic Foundation is a nonprofit corporation, separate from the church but aligned with it, with the mission of providing a permanent source of funding for religious, educational and social service activities and ministries in the 23-county Diocese of Columbus. It is one of the oldest and largest Catholic foundations in the country.

I feel really good about this. In fact, honestly, I feel that I was meant to be here, and that God had a plan from the beginning. I had been moderately unhappy or perhaps uncomfortable at the old job for a while, but I wasn't taking action to leave. So God forced my hand. And throughout the time I was unemployed, I just kept praying that he would lead me to a really "right" new job -- not just a job, but a place where I felt like I belonged, where I could use my talents and feel at peace. I believe this job is the answer to that prayer.

Since my last posting Sam has had his meeting with the psychologist who gave the tests, and just yesterday we had the meeting with the doctor and Sam's teachers. Also, I read a book recommended by the psychologist and one of the strategies it recommended was having a coach for Sam. Well separately from all this, Sam had already been talking with the phys ed teacher at his school, with whom he has a good rapport, about whether there was some way she could counsel him a little. So I asked her how she might feel about taking on this coaching role. She was very enthusiastic, and is currently reading the book to better understand the issues we've identified and what the role of the coach is. So his classroom teachers are going to try to help him develop external structures to support himself and make some accomodations for his extra needs in this area, and are going to communicate with the coach so she can be effective in supporting him and holding him accountable.

The other big thing that's going on is that my mother is having back surgery on April 16. She was originally supposed to have it in February, but the pre-admission testing revealed a heart issue, which led to a cardiac catheterization. She is now stabilized on some new meds, and has been cleared for the back surgery. That's really important, because just in these few months the surgery has been delayed, the pain has gotten much worse. So we are all very excited about the pending surrgery. Of course, she's 82 years old, so I will admit I'm a little scared -- though she's been through all these tests and everything, of course the risks of surgery are a little higher for her. But we hope it goes smoothly and once she recovers, she will be able to remain active and pain-free.

In other news, my niece Jena just gave birth to a son yesterday. I don't know the height and weight, but she named him Aries, to her father's obvious chagrin. But my brother at least showed good humor about it. He adores his daughter, after all, and since her favorite screen name online is "hippiegirl," it's not like this name is an out-of-character choice.

That's where I'm going to wrap it up for today, except to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!