On Sunday,
February 3, 2013, I was thinking about my former Mission President Milton C.
Mecham. Amanda and Jake recently bought a home that is kitty-corner to where
the Mechams used to live, and recently I have been led to think about them and
my experience in the Mission Office during the last seven months of my mission.
While I was pondering, it was as if President Mecham entered the room. I
recognized his presence with a greeting and asked if he had a message for me.
He simply said, “It’s time to serve a mission.”
A couple
weeks prior to this, JaNae and I had decided we had been under-employed long
enough. Ever since our move to Boise, I have been working at positions
considerably below my level. Though JaNae had a couple of solid jobs, both ended.
One ended when the company shut down; the other was very difficult on her
spirits, and she quit. In summary, the goals we had set to quickly get out of
debt and establish a firmer financial position were not being met. So we
decided to have a family fast. We asked our siblings and parents on both sides
if they would join us in fasting and prayer on a specific date hoping that our
combined faith would lead us to know what to do.
The family
did join us, and within the next week we had three new opportunities present
themselves. One was a CFO position at Health West, the company for which Mark
works in Pocatello. One was an office management position for Pacific Dental in
Meridian, Idaho. And one was a theatre teaching position in Idaho Falls. The
first was the next logical move in my career progression. The second was more
of a sideways move from former medical management jobs. And the latter was an
adventure back into the hobby I love so much.
As I
began the interview processes for each, I took the time to look at other
possible teaching positions in Idaho Falls. The theatre job was definitely
intriguing, but it really didn’t pay enough to meet the goals we were seeking
to fulfill. In the process of looking, I ran across a house parenting position
at a boarding school in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I showed it to JaNae,
and we were both intrigued. We began the application process and now had four
jobs “in the hopper.”
On
Sunday, January 27, 2013, JaNae and I visited our bishop, Justin Bailey, and
his wife, Holly. We did this for two main reasons: 1) we wanted to keep the bishop
in the loop since any decision to leave the area meant the need for him to find
a new counselor in the bishopric, and 2) we specifically wanted to hear his
counsel in our behalf regarding the realm of possibilities we thought would
soon be available to us. This was a very good, important visit. During it, we
learned more about our own feelings regarding the various positions. In short, talking
to the bishop and Holly helped us see that we were really leaning toward the
position in Pennsylvania.
Interestingly,
after this visit our options diminished quickly. Within a couple of days, we
had heard from Health West that, due to a nepotism clause, there was no way I
could be hired there. Pacific Dental responded a few days after I had had a couple
of interviews with them that they had decided upon another candidate. And
several days after that, the theatre position (at a charter school) announced hiring
another candidate, as well.
Meanwhile,
the hiring process at the school was continuing strongly. We had turned in
an online application, had completed a 1st and 2nd telephone
interview, and had been exposed to a preliminary background check. All had gone
positively, and we were next invited to an on-campus interview on March 21st
and 22nd.
Flex houseparents work in homes on campus with 8 to 13 children.
They are care-givers for the students, living with them in campus homes. They
oversee the children’s daily lives, including the start of their day with a
healthy breakfast, appropriate dress, and getting them off to school in a
timely manner, as well as upon their return from classes, with healthy dinners,
homework help, chore supervision, driving to and from extra-curricular
activities in school vans, and getting them to bed. Houseparents are also
responsible for administrative duties, home management, meeting participation,
and training attendance.
Flex houseparents
actively engage with the students as they oversee them and the home so the
children can live and learn in caring and well-structured homes. Houseparents
also partner with the students, teachers, health professionals, administrators,
and students’ parents/guardians to ensure students reach their full potential.
Flex
houseparents work in a “flex arrangement,” working in a variety of homes until
placed in an assigned home or quad of homes. The position is a year-round
position where we would work 12 days on and have 3 days off. Private apartments
for the flex houseparents are provided. The
hiring process takes a minimum of 2 months, and the tentative start date for
which we were interviewing as Monday, May 13th.
As we
approached the interview, we realized we had focused a
great deal on wages and benefits, as well as the enormous wealth of sites to
see in the eastern area of the United States. Now came the burning question, “Can
we really do this?”
We were
so pleasantly surprised at our visit. We were worried about struggling with
unruly, difficult kids. We were also concerned that we hadn’t raised any
children together, so we really didn’t know each other’s preferences and
tendencies toward discipline, etc. But while we were there, we began to see how
thoroughly the houseparents were trained on watching over the children. We
stayed with a houseparent couple that has been at the school for 5 years. We watched them exercise the rules they had been given as
they monitored behavior and presented consequences to inappropriate actions.
When it was all over and done, many of our fears were relieved, and we began
seeing ourselves in a houseparent position. At the conclusion of our on-campus
interviews we were “tentatively hired” pending a final private investigator
check in our own home in Boise and a drug screen/physical.
Then came
another spiritual experience. On Wednesday, March 27, the impression came to me
from the Lord that it was time for me to say “good-bye” to the medical field,
not just for a time, but forever. It was quickly becoming clear that this was a
position we were to pursue with our whole hearts.
Today is
Sunday, May 12. We have now been officially hired and are staying in a motel
while we await the arrival of our things from Boise. JaNae and I spent the last
ten days saying “good-bye” to friends and family and traveling across the
country by car.
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