Change (Note: This post has nothing to do with President Obama)

   Have you ever read those jokes about how many of a certain church denomination it takes to change a lightbulb? My favorite one is probably about us Baptists and goes something like this:  How many Baptists does it take to change a lightbulb?  -Change? What do you mean "Change"?!? This stereotype that we don't like change pretty much fits me to a tee, so it’s no surprise that it was a little difficult for me when I found out two of our four staff were leaving and would have to be replaced.  I can’t say that I was really close to either of the ladies that were leaving; the one girl I never really worked with since she was on the opposite 24 hour shift as me. But I got along with them and we all worked pretty well together when we did work at the same time. However, due to some scheduling difficulties they both decided to leave and we were left to find new staff members. Well, praise God, we had one new lady start last Tuesday and another girl is starting this coming Tuesday! We weren’t sure how long it would take to find people who were interested in giving so much time to children, plus have to raise their own finances to be here! But God provided quite quickly, and for that all of us are quite thankful.  There were a few days where there were only two of us to cover all the shifts, which made for a pretty chaotic schedule! Anyways… Change. Yes, it’s been interesting getting to work with a new lady. She has two kids ages 9 and 11, which makes her older than me by a ways, and it’s strange to be training in someone new in that position. Granted, most of the jobs are just being a mom figure, but there are still lots of little questions to be answered and jobs to be shown, and it’s strange when I feel like she must know what she’s doing way better than I do! And it’s just different to have someone that isn’t accustomed to the schedule of meals and medicines and have to walk them through that. The original four of us started out within a week or two of each other and have worked together to build the routine we now have, so it’s odd to have someone that doesn’t just know what to do! I think it will be great, it’s just gonna take a little getting used to all. For everyone. And then this other girl is coming in a few days, and it will be a little adjusting, but I’m excited to get to know these new girls and hopefully learn something from them and just watch God at work here through them and us as a team.
  Right now I’d say the thing that has me most frazzeled is that one of the girls I can’t understand very well. The other ladies that I’ve worked with were very good about speaking slowly when necessary and annunciating or explaining with different words to get their ideas across, but this new lady does not! Haha. So this has been/will be a bit of a challenge for me just till I get used to the way she talks and can understand her better. The other people here understand her fine, so I know it’s me and my poor Spanish, and I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse, but it’ll just take some time to get used to. Hopefully not a lot of time, because it’s hard enough to get used to someone new when they speak your own language, ya know? But it’ll all be alright. I just have to work on my listening skills. Anyways, it should be interesting to see what kind of new group dynamic forms. We also developed a new schedule so I’ll be working more day time hours but have more nights/evenings free, and every once in a while I get to sleep in! Which is very exciting! But also adds to the newness of things. But, it means that I will get to work with everyone on and off, and that’s exciting for me as well. So, while I dislike change in general, I’m am excited to see what the outcomes of this change will be. God has a purpose for it all, I’m sure, so I guess we’ll see!