Do the shuffle...

I returned to St. Thomas this past monday after a month of no work. It was nice to get back into the groove of things and see where the shift morale stood. We are trying to stay positive on my shift. One of my coworkers is loosing her husband very soon to cancer and another coworker is having some spinal surgery done to repair a nerve that is keeping him from having functionality in his left arm and shoulder. My coming onto the shift is also causing some friction. Everyone on my shift likes me (thank goodness!) but I found out that the way they brought me in was a little underhanded. Somehow they found out about me getting offered a full time slot with Smyrna. That is why I got the email from Paul offering me the full time slot again. It seems as though my shift supervisor was fighting for me a bit. (Thanks James!). So as soon as they found out that I would take the full time slot, they moved Mike off of my shift and moved him to the back end of the week. The underhanded part was that they did not ask Mike if he wanted to move; they told him he had to move. Now, they had good reasoning in doing this. The back end of the week has 4 catty women to 2 guys. One of those guys just moved to day shift so they wanted to put another guy on that shift to balance out all that estrogen! Now...if Mike found this out he would probably make a fuss about how unfair and sexist this is...blah blah blah...but its true...that shift needs some men to keep the women from all fighting with each other. My shift is happy about the move because Mike got on their nerves. The main person who won't like it is Michael who is out right now having surgery. Mike and Michael have been pals for about 30 years...So I'm sure when he comes back from sick leave and finds out what has happened, he will be none too happy...I will just try to stay out of the line of fire.

He did it!!

Ben took his Firefighter II test today and he passed!!! We are so excited. I am very proud of him!! This will put him in a great opportunity for future promotions as there are many people on the department who have not been able to get their Firefighter II yet.

Now all Ben has is his paramedic test. He is going to take that in February!

What's one more exam??

Ben found out today that he will be eligible to take the in house Fire Fighter II exam Friday Jan 25. If he passes it then he will get a pay raise!! Ben is one of the few on the department who has already been through the Fire Fighter II course at the academy but the department still requires you to pass their in house test. This will help put Ben further ahead of others when trying for promotions. Many of the guys are on a waiting list to get into the Fire Fighter II course at the academy because they only accept so many students a year. So Ben will have more training over the guys for quite a while. This will help him when he wants to move up the ranks to Driver, ladder driver, lieutenant, etc... So hopefully all will go well with the test. Unfortunately, Ben is also focusing very hard on studying for his paramedic exam and was asked to give a talk at church on Sunday. So his focuses are in many directions and won't give him a lot of time to prepare for the test. I think he's decided to prepare his talk and put his faith in God that he will do ok on the exam. :)

Following the Spirit = Blessings

***Beware long explanation for a brief understanding in the workings of the Spirit***

When I heard that Smyrna had a job opening a few months ago, I didn't think a whole lot of it. I figured I would send my resume out just for the heck of it. When they called me in for an interview, I only wanted to consider them on a PRN basis. I had my PRN at St. Thomas/Baptist and my semi fulltime job with Winchester. So I didn't want more than PRN with Smyrna. I took the interview very casually. I didn't care if I got it or not. They were very interested in hiring me on a full time status which, like I said, was more than I wanted. They enticed me by telling me that they had an end of the year bonus and that they could potentially put me on a day shift in the near future. The one thing I didn't like was that they wanted me to work an occasional Saturday while they were building out two extra beds in the lab. Once they went to a 6 bed lab they would take the Saturday shift away. I accepted the job and scheduled a day for training. I went to the training and immediately felt a pit in my stomach. I had a feeling I was not going to like it there but I couldn't pin point why. Ben and I had numerous conversations following the training about whether I would continue on with the training. He would ask me what it was about Smyrna that made me hesitant...each time...I could not give him a good answer...just knew it was not what I had expected.

Then Paul emails me and offers me the full time position, even after I told him a few months ago that I would not be pursuing a full time job with them. I had the impression that this was a good deal and I should take it. It was a good shift and good pay. This gave me what I wanted, so I accepted the job and decided to go no further with Smyrna.

Then yesterday, I found out WHY I had been so heavily prompted in my feelings about Smyrna. My co-worker, Ashlie, works with a girl named Shelly in Columbia. Shelly was also hired on at Smyrna. When I turned Smyrna down, they offered my full time slot to Shelly. Shelly accepted. She was talking to Ashlie last night and I asked what her shift was going to be in Smyrna. Shelly told me that she is working the Friday, Saturday, Sunday shift. I was shocked. When I accepted that job, I told them how important my Sunday mornings were. I made it very clear that I could be flexible but that I wanted to make Saturday nights a rare night for me. Little did I know that this is the shift they were going to put me on. This would have potentially kept me from being able to go to church for months as I worked that shift until they were done with construction.

The Lord truly blessed us in once again placing the opportunity for me to go full time with St. Thomas (even after I had turned the opportunity down). Second chances are such a blessing. I'm so grateful that I listened to the spirit. Now I will have a job which will allow me to go to church, work full time hours, and have my weekend to enjoy, or the later part of the week to work another part time job. Who knows, maybe when St. Thomas puts a lab in Murfreesboro I will be able to pursue the option of going to days again. I'm sure the Lord will provide. :)

Digi scrapbooking kick...

February

Paul called me today. They are sending me an official job offer in the mail for me to sign. I get to keep my PRN pay rate and all full time benefits. I will officially start Sunday February 3rd. I am excited to get some guaranteed work. Paul made it sound as though there has been some shift swapping. One person went from nights to days and I think some people are swapping which end of the week they work. I guess that is how I got an opening. I'm not sure who I will be working with now because of all the changes. I guess I will find out soon. :)