Of new jobs and new cars...(somewhat overdue)

So, as per above title: I have a new job and a new car. Granted, this update is overdue, so I've had both for just over a month now.

Re: the Car
It's a 2001 Silver Saturn. Standard. I drive it very well now after two weekends of practice with Tim and four weeks of taking it to work every day on my own. I will admit though, it makes for considerably increased stress levels when driving through downtown Hamilton. Anyone driving with me will hear frequent curses flowing from my mouth at the other drivers...eg. "No you idiot stop slowing down for the green light...don't turn there you dummy...*honk!!!*...Stupid driver!!!!!" Granted, I used to drive this way before the standard, but it's gotten significantly worse since then.

Re: the new Job "Team Assistant, Intake & Referral Team extended hours, Community Care Access Centre of Halton"

Translation: "Team Assistant" I work on a team of several case managers. I do data entry of client information, faxing to service providers, filing, making up of new client charts, answering some phone calls depending on how busy we get, and other miscellaneous jobs related to "assisting the team".

Translation: "Intake & Referral Team" We're the people who new clients get in contact with when they're coming on for services with the CCAC. We also provide random information for people who call and need help with something we don't necessarily provide help with. We also do the intake assessments to determine whether or not people are actually eligible for our services...(I'll explain what those are later.)

Translation: "extended hours" My shift is from 1pm to 9pm. Everyone else goes home at 4:30ish, but me and three other case managers and another TA stay until later to keep the phones open.

Translation: "Community Care Access Centre of Halton" Basically this is home care, ie. nursing, rehab like physio, and personal support care within the home for people who can't get to clinics or hospitals where they could normally have this kind of care. It lets people go home from the hospitals to free up beds there for people who really need them. We also have a department devoted to getting kids with various disabilities help at school, and a department for admission to long-term care facilities (nursing homes).

So that's my new job. I am currently on contract for one year to fill a maternity leave; however, there is a new opening for a permanent position with daytime hours that I am looking at applying for. You may find that the job description I just gave changes at some point over the next month or so. We'll have to see.

Anyhow, those are the two big things that have happened over the last few months. I hope this hasn't been too boring of an update, and maybe one of these days I'll get better at posting more regularily. Till then...

Oh the midnight shift...

Sorry so long since updating. I confess, I haven't really felt interested in updating, mostly because there's not much to say. I am currently half-way through the fifth hour of my midnight to 8 shift. If I ramble or make no sense, that is why. I find myself without anything to do at the moment and I figured I might as well update.

I've been working a number of shifts lately. Actually had 60 hours on my last (biweekly) pay cheque. Quite good considering when you sign the contract they only guarantee you 7.5 hours in a biweekly period. I would say I'm doing a good deal more than that. I can't say that I particularly appreciate all my hours though, as most of them have been on the night shift, and the rest of them a random mix of 8-4's and 4-12's, never the same shift twice in a row...except for the past three nights that have been midnight shifts. As much as I love my job, I long for some stability and dream of the day when I might work for an organization that actually closes at some points during the day. I had a rather bitter shift a couple of weeks back when I had to choose which shifts I could be available to work over Christmas...and I mean holiday shifts like Christmas day etc.

Actually, in a bit of bright news, I have an interview next week for a job at the Community Care Access Centre in Burlington. I am praying very hard that it goes well, as it sounds like a great position and I am rather anxious to have a job with stable hours.

In other news, Tim and I got ourselves a kitten a couple of weeks back. She is the absolute cutest thing as anyone who's met her will agree. She keeps me company when Tim is gone on his runs, and she is definitely great entertainment. Now if only I can teach her not to jump on my head when I'm trying to sleep...

anyway, I'm sure this is getting long and dull, so I'll close off. Till next time...

Plugging Along

As I type I am once more at work. I warned you that posts would be sporadic due to lack of internet access. It seems that I've been working a great deal lately. Four shifts over the weekend and I'm picking up more during the week over the next while as one of the full-time staff is out with an injury. I've decided that I strongly dislike working on the weekends and sincerely hope that I can find a different job for during the weeks. It's a terrible dilemma because I love my job, but hate the hours. I've also received a stern lecture from both my husband and his best friend stating that I am most certainly not allowed to quit my weekend job for any other job that doesn't use my Redeemer education...leaving me with a significantly diminished list of options. The Lord will provide...and I must cling to that bit of hope.

I'm reminded also of how much I absolutely hate living on my own. Not only do I miss my husband dreadfully when he's gone on the road, (he's a truck driver for all who are unaware), but I find myself very creeped out in our apartment when I'm all alone at night. Daytime, no problem. Night-time when it's dark and there are funny noises coming from the apartments above and around us, I get spooked easily. I admit, I'm a baby. So sue me. Working during the week helps, but it doesn't happen often enough in my opinion.

Anyway, I can't honestly say there is a whole lot new happening, besides the standard car troubles. We won't go there. I see a new used car in the near future...

The Married Life

Apologies for the long absence from posting. I can truthfully say much has been happening in my life to prevent me from blogging, and so I will update you, hopefully as non-verbosely as possible...(if that's a word...)

I am now officially married, and while I am changing my name and therefore technically should be forever now known as Marleah Wiersma (that's wierd to type), I have not yet actually gone through the formal process of having my ID's changed. What a hastle if you ask me. So eventually it will get done and then I will officially have a new name, instead of just technically.

The wedding itself went quite well. The weather was beautiful, there were no major catastrophes that I know of, except that I couldn't breathe very well in my dress. A word of advice to all future brides, when you go for your fittings, make sure you take a deep breath in when they take in the sides. If you don't, the dress will fit great as long as you're not breathing, but when you do try to breathe...I wish you luck.

I do not have pictures yet that I can post, and when I do, I doubt I will because that seems to take more time then I usually have when I've got access to the internet. At this very moment I am updating you from work as we do not have internet capabilities in our new apartment. We also don't have air conditioning, which makes for a rather long summer given the heat and humidity we have been experiencing over the past couple of weeks. I have learned never to take air conditioning for granted again...you shouldn't either.

Other than that, I can't think of what I should say. My new husband is gone fairly often overnight as he is a truck driver and unfortunately drives quite some distances from home. My friends, I may call randomly some evenings in desperation for company...now you'll know why.

I should get going before this gets overly long. Hopefully I won't be too long before updating again...hopefully...

The rumor mill spins round and round...

It is with much pain and a heavy heart that I continue what could well end up a series of blog entries concerning the issue of rumors and gossip. I must admit that previously the problem of gossip wasn't one with which I was much concerned. Truthfully, I admit that I have on occasion engaged in idle chatter about people and their problems without thinking that I should be minding my own business.

Who would have thought it would take being the one gossiped about to change my ways?

It turns out lies are now being spread about me as well as the person I spoke of in my last post. To anyone who knows me, these rumors are ridiculous and laughable. To anyone who doesn't, what's to say they're not true? My heart aches deep within me that this should happen. I feel this incredible weight on my shoulders knowing that our reputations are being tarnished in this way.

Why now, four weeks before the wedding? Isn't life stressful enough without this?

When gossip hits home...

I am not a person who angers easily. I may get hurt, upset, frustrated, but rarely angry.

At this moment I am so angry I am shaking. Mad is too tame a word to describe what I am feeling. In fact furious is probably closer yet than angry.

The reason for my ire: gossip. I have just heard the most ridiculous lies about someone whom I love...

I now know where they coin the term "blood began to boil". My blood is boiling.

It is incredibly difficult for me to put into words exactly what it is about this situation that pisses me off the most. In the end it all comes down to gossip and hypocrites. The people who passed on these lies are supposed to be Christians... I could kill someone right now! Is this what a Christian community is supposed to be like? This back-stabbing, this ridiculing, this slander, this blatant lack of respect...this lying?!

How can we ever hope to be a witness in the world when within the safety of our own Christian community we can not even trust our fellow believers?!

More fully me

I've continued to feel very introspective over the past week or so. Long commutes and quiet days at home have contributed to this, as well as a renewed interest in probably my favourite author, Madeleine L'Engle. Most people would know her as the writer of A Wrinkle in Time;however, she has also written numerous other books both for young adults and general readers. There's something about her characters that draws me in, helps me to feel, to heal, and to be me more fully me. She has a way of creating within me a sense that still waters really do run deep, and that maturity doesn't always come with age, that sometimes it comes from experiences, and sometimes you're just born with it, this innate depth of character that is who you are. I find peace within her stories. I cannot profess to be particularly widely read, though I have read a good many books in my so far short lifetime, and it strikes me that there is a great difference between secular authors and Christian authors (whether their books are specifically Christian or not). Ms. L'Engle is a Christian, and while her books are not specifically Christian, there is a sense of hope in her writing that I do not usually find in the writing of non-Christian authors.

On a completely unrelated note, I've given Homestead my two weeks notice and am currently completing my second last shift there. To be completely honest I cannot say I have particularly enjoyed working here. My eyes have been opened to many things, and I've learned a great deal here, the main point being that I don't like working single-shifted, nor do I particularly appreciate having spent four-years at university to spend my entire time cooking and cleaning for people. Granted, I knew this is what I'd be doing when I signed on for the job, but I did not anticipate having my patience so tried. I'd like to think I'm a fairly patient person, but man! Anyway, I will not be sad to be done here.

Thoughts

After reading some thought-provoking and inspirational blog posts, I felt the need to express some recent thoughts and feelings of my own. To say that life has gotten less hectic now that school is over would be a complete untruth. In fact, it is quite possible that my life is now twice as crazy as it used to be. I am now balancing three, almost four jobs, none of which is in the same city, as well as trying to plan a wedding and maintain relationships with my fiance, family, and friends. There are many times throughout the day when I question my sanity for trying to do it all at once. Granted, I'm handing in my two weeks notice this weekend for one of those jobs, and two of the others are short-term for the next two months...but it does make for a crazy lifestyle of back and forth driving between Chatham and Hamilton, a commute I am rapidly becoming tired of given the dull stretch of highway that it covers.

To be honest, it isn't my busy lifestyle that has me thinking lately. The stress weighs me down occasionally, but for the most part I've learned that this is a necessary part of my life for the next two months until my wedding is paid for, and following that hopefully things will slow down. No, these are not the thoughts that fill my mind. Rather, I find myself pondering many of the same questions that Dan blogged about (see earlier link), open doors and finding God's will. Last night at work while reading through a file I was suddenly and inexplicable struck by the realization of how much I have let my relationship with God slide over the past year. It made me sad to realize this. I began to long for the peace that I once felt knowing that He is completely in control of my life and that I do not need to worry because He is always with me. I had to wonder what had caused me to neglect this essential part of my life for so long, and I didn't like the answers I came up with.

As I was driving home from work later on, my thoughts were once again on this matter. I turned off the radio to pray, when it hit me. In the silence of my car I understood that my life has been too full of noise, business, distractions. I have not been taking time out of my day to simply be still and quiet in the presence of my Lord. No wonder I can't hear His voice. I'm not taking the time to listen.

I hope that knowing this will prompt me to re-evaluate my priorities. I hope that I will begin to set aside specific lengths of time when I can be still before God, both in prayer and listening for Him. I hope that God will re-kindle the fire in my heart for Him, that His joy may fill my life and spill out into the lives of those around me. I long to be a witness for Him, to feel His peace, to share His love, and above all, to do all I do for His glory and not my own.

I pray God gives me strength to do this.

Bittersweet Endings

It is hard to believe that I am done. After four long years my time here at Redeemer is come to an end. I can't figure out if I'm sad, ecstatic, relieved, thankful...or maybe all of the above. My last exam was Tuesday night, I handed my mailbox key in on Wednesday. Final act to come is Grad on May 28. To be honest, there are many things about this place I will not miss. The classes, the papers, the exams, the exorbitant price of tuition and textbooks, the leaky roofs, the alternately cold and hot classrooms...my list could go on. What I will miss are the fun times with friends, the choir practices in the squash courts, late night gab sessions with roommates, pizza at any and all times, procrastinating by any means possible, puddle-fights after rainstorms, random hugs in the hallway...again, my list could go on.

They say it's time to meet the real world. I only hope I'm ready. One thing I surely know, it is God that has brought me this far. I pray I may be as richly blessed and strengthened in the years to come.

Peace my friends.

A quote...

"Hope has to do with looking directly at the circumstances we're dealing with, at the challenges we must accept as finite and vulnerable beings...and recognizing the limits of our very interpretations of what we're committing ourselves to and still go on..."

We read this in my social work class the other day. In this day and age it seems to me that hope is a scarce but much-needed commodity. Would that Christians could step up to the plate and share with the world the hope we find in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved." Eph 2:4-5

This is the source of my hope.

Reformed Engaged Encounter

Tim and I just had a wonderful weekend away in Holland, MI at a Reformed Engaged Encounter weekend. For anyone who is engaged or considering marriage, I highly recommend this weekend...(although you might want to find one in Ontario). It was an excellent opportunity for us to get away from wedding plans and work/school to discuss various aspects of our relationship and making marriage work. We had some good times playing Dutch Bingo with other people from Ontario and who'd lived in Ontario before. Some of the Michigan couple got right into the game... All in all the weekend was a great success, and I am so glad that Tim and I had the opportunity to be involved.

Misquoted

I never said that I have scabies. Just so you know. This is a nasty rumour being started about me by my oh-so-maybe-not-so-wonderful roommates, Lisa Bierma and Laura Stewart.

I demand a retraction from both parties.

Life: A shadow and a dream

Do you ever have those mornings where you wake up and for some reason everything feels off? Even though you may have had a decent sleep the night before, you're awake an hour before the alarm is supposed to go off and for some reason you can't get back to sleep because the feeling just nags at you? This happened to me this morning. I don't even know if I could say why, but today I feel a bit like I'm living in a dream. Everything seems fuzzy, as if I'm walking a completely different life than I was yesterday. Maybe I'm having one of those introspective days that pop up every once in a while. Those days that make you take a look at the way your life is going, and you try to understand how you ended up here of all places.

Maybe it's the weather....

I got a job!

Yes, that's right, I got a job. It's at Homestead Christian Care in Woodstock. A bit of a drive I know, but it pays well and it's in my field and I really need the money so beggers can't be choosers right? I start training Friday and I'm very excited.

I need a job

well, the new year has begun and a new semester is underway. I thank the Lord everyday that this is finally my last semester. Don't get me wrong, I love Redeemer...if only it weren't for those pesky classes and all that reading I fully intend to do yet know I'll never get to. I am not a student at heart.

I have also come to the distressing conclusion that I have no money, and therefore must find some sort of part-time work to pay for my tuition and rent for the next four months. If anyone knows of anyplace hiring, let me know. (And yes Stew, I know Pita Pit is hiring...it's on my list of thinking abouts...)