Electric Woes and Work?

August held a few extra adventures for us.  Do you remember back in July when we lost power for a few days and the electric company came out and replaced our transformer?  Welllll, that's about to get a whole lot more interesting.

While the kids were gone (fortunately) - I think it was Friday, I woke up at 5am and heard a really crazy sound.  It sounded like someone was dragging metal trash cans across concrete; amazingly, I heard it through my ear plugs.  I woke Dave up, and we both listened intently, trying to figure out where in the world this sound was coming from.  And then we noticed that our fan was running at full speed, then dying down, then full speed, then dying down.  Dave thought our electrical was out of whack so he turned off the electricity in the house from our circuit breaker.

Good thing, too!  We put two and two together that morning when our neighbors didn't have electricity.  In fact, it was only a portion of the neighborhood (not sure how many houses it affected).  But all our neighbors connected to us lost thousands of dollars of stuff.  The family that lives behind us woke up to find smoke coming from the computer in her son's room!  Can you imagine if it had caught on fire?!

The electric company was called (they told my husband that nearly everyone on the block called!) and they came out pretty quick.  There was something exposed that wasn't supposed to be exposed...yikes!  Since then, we've found a few weird things that were affected, but nothing major like our neighbors...phew!

And the final crazy thing that happened...Before the kids and I went to Georgia, my pastor called and our conversation went something like this:

D:  The Children's Director is leaving the church...good story, excited for her.  However, we need someone to fill that position.  Would you consider working with Nancy (his wife and a woman I adore) to job share this paid position?

Me:  Stunned silence

D:  We don't know what this would look like, but pray about it and let me know.

Me:  Uh...ok!

My husband (when we talked about it later) YES!  DO IT!

This is a part time job (8 hours) and mostly administrative, although I do take some additional responsibility for the younger kids.  And I love it!  I love, love, love working with Nancy and all the volunteers at my church.  We're very blessed to have so many with servant's hearts.  I brag about them all the time.

Oh, but that's not the end of the story!  Remember how I ended up in the hospital after my Georgia trip?  The day I got out, while I was still in a lot of pain, I got another call.  This time from the Student Ministries Pastor.

M:  Hey Natalie.  You've been on my mind.  I've seen the way you work and how organized you are (with the volunteer position I'd taken over) and I'd like you to consider being my administrative assistant.

Me:  Stunned silence

M:  Think about it, pray about it and let me know your thoughts.

My hubs (when we talked about it later) YES! DO IT!

I'm quite humbled that I would be trusted with such important tasks.  And I'm thrilled to be working for such wonderful people.  Everyone is more concerned about my spiritual and family well being than being in the office.  And it's a smaller campus, so it's got that family feel.  Even though I'm only working 18 hours, and the kids are at school the entire time, it's still been a tough transition.  I eased myself into it by starting the children's role first, and I just started the admin role this month.

Life has been busy!  I'm off to sign an offer for some land now...more on that when I get caught up!