Power Love Sound Mind

I have to make another decision. Yikes. I just found out that I have the oportunity to get a permanent position here. The job is great and I really like the people I work with. I feel so blessed to be here. But am I ready to settle? Am I ready for a career? Am I ready to give up being able to up and leave whenever I get the notion? The word "permanent" is kinda freaking me out I think. So this is how I feel right now... unless God makes it very clear that I should keep this job, I am going to keep the plans I had before and move to North Carolina to be with my brother and sister for a while.
It's raining today. It's been hot all week, and of course, the day that we are going to have the company picnic, it rains. Picnic must be somekind of trigger word for Rain in the heavenly places. So yeah, I'm going to the company picnic. Rain or shine. I've gotta stop being anti social. The people here are really nice.
I've got a good song stuck in my head: Power, Love, Sound mind is mine.

God is Good

I just read the coolest article in Catalyst (magazine put out by Minneapolis Foundation). It began with how a Hmong refugee family from Laos settled in St. Paul, but as concerns about crime and safety grew, they decided to move to a rural area. The daughter had been watching "Little House on the Prarie" on TV and learned that Walnut Grove was an actual town in Minnesota. So they decided to move there. They were the town's first Hmong residents..."modern-day settlers." The rest of the story goes like this, "Walnut Grove was a small town struggling to survive. As businesses closed and young families left for metropolitan areas, the town was facing school closures due to its dwindling population. Since their arrival [the Hmong family] started several businesses in town and has helped attract the settlement of new residents. The arrival of Hmong families--now nearly one third of the town's population--has led to a community renewal."
I just thought that was pretty cool.
Well, work is going well, and as you can see I am learning many new things. Today I volunteered to help out with a job fair we hosted and I met some really interesting people. One of which was this guy from Ethiopia, and he was such a character. He reccomended some local Ethiopian restaraunts that I'm anxious to try, and encouraged me to visit Ethiopia someday if I get the chance.
At this place of business they have a peer award they call the Holey Mackeral. It can be given to anyone or by anyone working here at Lifetrack for outstanding work or something like that. Someone gave me a Holey Mackeral today for volunteering! So that's kind of cool I guess!
I'm excited for tomorrow, because I will be taking a client out to apply for jobs around the area. I look foward to getting to know her better. She is SO incredibly shy. Her name is Khadija and she's Somali. How fortunate am I to hang out with people from all over the world every day! God is sooooo good.
He's been working me over a lot lately. It's a constant dying of myself that is so painful, but hugely neccesary. I've done a lot of crying and struggling. But God is good. After the storms are still, calm waters. He's so good.

On the Job

So I started my new job yesterday! So far it's been pretty low key, trying to remember the million things that go into this. I'm still just amazed that I have this job. It's a miracle. I am officially a job counselor for refugees who have been in the US for less than 8 months. How cool is that. I can't wait til I get my first client. It's going to be so interesting.

I feel like I don't get enought sleep though. It takes me over an hour to get to and from work now that I'm living in Chanhassen with my bro and his family. But hopefully soon I will be relocated closer to St. Paul. God's so good to me. I'm just flabbergasted at his faithfulness.