Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Where DOES Mom Work Anyway?

Normally this blog focuses on family antics, but since mom's job is a part of the family's Adventures In Williams-Land, here's an update from the working world.  One day when the kids are grown up, they'll read this blog and say "OHHHH, now I get it!"

One year ago, we made the decision to prayerfully seek where God would open a new career door.  Williams Changes started happening, and our family began a six-month pre-planned process of changing jobs and moving to a new town.  We re-committed ourselves to continuing my hospice career as a God-given ministry, and re-committed to Bryan continuing as a stay-home-dad.  I accepted a job with Providence Hospice in the tiny town of Mt Angel with the plan to start a brand-new hospice with me in the leadership role.  We made a difficult but purposeful decision to be a Long Distance Family for the first part of the transition.  Mom worked in Mt Angel during the week doing all the background work for starting a hospice, and came home to the family in Bend on the weekends.  In record time, our house Sold...Now What? and we quickly were Moving Up The Moving.  We were happy to be back together again and start our new adventures together!  Mom had a beautiful country drive to Mt Angel--we had morning mommy-cuddles, and evening family time together.  Kaela even got to come to mom's work for Take Your Child To Work Day.

Kaela doing all mom's work for the day

A few months ago, our soon-to-be hospice was hit with a surprise road block when we discovered a severe wait-time for our Oregon healthcare license--the first step which would allow us to see our first patient.  After months of waiting and no end in sight, it was decided to temporarily move the hospice staff to other departments--all of my staff stayed in Mt Angel and worked for home health (similar to hospice work, but also different.)  I was presented with an opportunity to fill an interim need with the Portland branch of Providence Hospice--our Mt Angel hospice's big sister.  So in August I started commuting to Portland every day (one hour of freeway driving both ways) working with the "access" department of hospice.  The simple explanation is that this department is essentially Hospice Grand Central Station......it's where everything hospice starts and ends--and EVERYTHING in between!  Little did I know for the past 12 years, everything I had learned in my hospice leadership had been preparing me for this role.  As God would have it, I've had past experience with almost every aspect of this new leadership position.  So I was able to catch on to the faster pace, larger magnitude, and deeper responsibilities of a huge hospice.  Recently, I transitioned into a permanent position--at least for now--as our wait time in Mt Angel is likely to be a year or more.  And I'm loving this new position!

So my current schedule is on an earlier shift--I start at 7am...which means leaving at 6am...which means a 5am alarm clock.  (This is the one part I'm not overjoyed with.)  But I get home in the late afternoon in time for kid-taxi, after-school activities, family dinner, and bedtime tuck-in.  The kids think it's funny that I go to bed now at the same time they do.  We are having to adjust our gas budget for the daily commute, but the actual drive is not bad...especially in the early morning when the sun is coming up over Mt Hood.  And I love being part of the big hospice!  I even decorated my cubicle so my co-workers will understand my priorities....

"Dear coffee, I love you, that is all."

Someday....when it's in God's timing....I will eventually go back to Mt Angel.  But who knows--God might have a different plan in mind and if so, we'll walk through whatever that door is, whenever the door might open, and whichever direction the door swings.