Monday, April 28, 2008

The Wide Open Door

I wanted to share my good news with everyone! I was offered the Americorps Vista position at Kentucky Refugee Ministries in Lexington. I'm very excited because I will get to work directly with refugees, coordinate the ESL program and cultural orientation, help the refugees find employment and deal with legal forms and documents, and organize volunteer activiities. I will have flexible working hours and my own desk. It sounds WONDERFUL. Of course, the pay is very minimal, but I get direct experience in what I want to do and will be rewarded a hefty education award that I can use for grad school. Plus, the timing will work perfectly for me to start grad school in Fall 09. It really is a huge blessing! I will hopefully start at the beginning of June. I meet with the Vista coordinator on Wednesday to work out the logistics of getting started. I have to fill out all the paperwork and attend a conference in GA. The person before me is leaving before her term officially ends so there is some urgency to get everything done. My schedule at Eastern State Hospital ends in May so I will be able to put in my two weeks notice and not mess up the current schedule, which is good. I'm really happy about my new position and it definitely makes not getting into grad school easier to accept. Hopefully getting relevant experience will strengthen my application. And I can take classes at the Carnegie Center for free (which includes French classes). I am really happy that everything worked out so perfectly!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great news! So glad things are working out for you. Thanks for sharing!
"Maggie"

Anonymous said...

Good for you, Amanda. It's funny - I'm always amazed at how God works. He never ceases to surprise me. I tend to pigeonhole everything - I get fixated on one thing; like teaching; I thought that when I lost my job at East that God surely wanted me to teach somewhere else, so I kept applying at other schools, and thought that Amazon was just a summer job. It wasn't to be - and I was devastated at not getting a teaching job, but when I got promoted at Amazon, I realized that God had other plans to provide for Sarah and I - that teaching might not be what he wanted of me. It's funny, but God always gives us what we NEED, what is best for us, and not what we WANT. It's so easy to convince ourselves, saying "this is what God has for me" - we put God in a box, and then he the situation out of our control, and shows us that he is bigger than we could ever imagine. Anyway, I'm so happy for you and Justin! Have a great b-day.