3 weeks

Today marked exactly 3 weeks until my last day of work. To honor this occasion I thought I would introduce you all to what it is that I do...or at least attempt to explain :)

I work for Penn Foundation, which is a community mental health organization. More specifically, I work on an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team. Basically, we work in the community with people who have severe and persistent mental health diagnoses (schizophrenia, bipolar, etc). My job is absolutely insane, busy, and requires way to much paperwork. Despite this, I love it. I love working with a population that is under served, specifically by the Church. I love getting to help people everyday and giving them hope that they can be more than they have been told.

This is also the longest I have ever been at a job. I have worked in this position for 4.5 years. It is such a long time, and because do the nature of my work, my co-workers and I have formed a second family...dysfunctional as we may be. I will miss them, and in some ways I will miss my job.  I will not miss working full time hours and then being on call. I will not miss the paperwork. I will not miss the frustration of dealing with a broken welfare system that is set up to discourage people from working and bettering themselves.

It's been the experience of a lifetime. I encourage you to click on the link about for ACT. It is a pretty good explanation. It does not include the awesome stories I can tell. We joke all the time at work how you just can't make some of this stuff up!

But only 3 more weeks. I have a pile of treatment plans sitting on my desk I need to finish. I have a client who will be homeless Friday that I need to figure out housing for, and a whole mess of progress notes. Should be a fun 3 weeks....or not :)

42 days

My hubby informed me today that we are moving in 42 days. It feels far off yet rapidly approaching! Lately I have been feeling a little sad about the move. Sunday was emotional for me.  There was communion Sunday at our church, and I will forever be in awe of how gracious God is.  After church we went to the Philadelphia Zoo with my in-laws.  It was such a fun day, but I couldn't help but be a little sad that we will be living far away from them.  I grew up living within 10 minutes of both sets of my grandparents, and it makes me sad my kids won't have that.  My kids, especially my 3 year old, have such a special relationship with their Grandma and Grandpa Kiser.

Eli butting in to see whats going on.  He is just so curious!

Eli's first swan boat ride!

Eli with his Grandpa.  I love this picture

How our sweet Ellie-girl took in the day

A Sad Goodbye and a Family Fun Night

Part of our moving process is getting rid of a lot of things we won't need in our new place. One of those things is my 3 year old's toddler sized car bed. In our new place he's going to be in a full-sized bed, and I'm having fun gathering ideas for his Mickey themed room. Facebook has all these yard sale groups that make it easy to sell things. Needless to say, his car bed sold within 2 days!  I warned him when we were in the car on the way home that his bed was gone, but his reaction to going into his room and seeing it gone was so sad!  I had gotten a great deal when I bought it, and I actually sold it at a profit...can't beat that!

A boy and his daddy.  Doesn't get better than this!

Anyways, the boy needed a good distraction to his heartbreak. Thankfully, the neighboring town was having a carnival!  Eli had so much fun going on his first roller coaster!  It was so nice to have a fun night as a family. It has been a while since my hubby didn't work late on a Friday. It made me so thankful that will be changing when we move and there will be so many more moments like last night!  The fair is going on in my hometown this week, so next year we can do this again next year!

such cuteness!

Off we go!

Eli's first roller coaster.  He told me I couldn't take a picture

Tomorrow we are off to the zoo with my in laws after church. I am so looking forward to a day making some lasting memories we can take with us!

When God moves

Parenting two small children while working full time is hard.  To be honest, its much harder than I ever imagined it would be.  I spend most days feeling overwhelmed.  Steve's job has crazy hours.  They are never the same, and he works 9 hour days.  He could work 4am-2, followed by 10-7, only to work 3:30-close the next night.  I don't remember the last time he had a Saturday and Sunday off back to back.  It's rare that we even have one weekend day off together (I work a weekend every 5 weeks, a later shift every Tuesday, and have on call duties thrown in the mix too!).  We had a pretty good system down with Eli, but things have been so much more difficult to juggle since having Eliana.  We are SO blessed to have family near to help with childcare, but lack of quality time as a family unit has made us weary.  Besides Steve's crazy hours, our biggest challenge has been insurance.  The insurance through Steve's work is just terrible, and my employer has great benefits.  This made it pretty much impossible for me to work anything less than full time.  We began praying for a solution.  First, I applied and interviewed for a different position at the community mental health organization I work for.  I ended up not getting it..which I was fine with because I wasn't sure it was a good fit in the end.  I actually love what I do (definitely another blog post), it is just too hard to do while being mom to small children.  We began to pray for Steve to find a better job.  A job at a company he could grow with and have a career at...and a job with good benefits.

Sometimes, when God moves, it isn't small...its HUGE.  In this case...God is literally moving us!  While we were on vacation mid-July Steve had a job interview, and last week he got the call offering him the position.  That's right...the Kisers are moving to Michigan!  Steve is taking a job at Gordon Food Service.  I am just so proud of him.  My husband has put up with difficult work conditions and a terrible work schedule for 4.5 years without ever missing a day..not one!

Sometimes we are granted the desires of our heart.  Pennsylvania has been good to me.  It has given me a husband and two great kids, along with pretty great in-laws and extended family.  But Michigan is and always will be home.  There are so many things I can't wait to experience with my kids.  I can't wait for my kids to get to know my parents and grandparents on a whole new level.  I can't wait to live by my cousins and raise our kids together.  I can't wait to be back at the church I grew up in.  Most days I can't believe this is happening.  It is so surreal..but it is VERY real!  Steve starts his new job September 22.  We are headed out there the weekend before he starts.  I'm starting the job search process...I forgot how much I hate it.  I have no idea where I will end up or what I will be doing...but I know God is faithful, and I know He has a better plan than I can every dare to imagine.

 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen

  Ephesians 3:14-17

Life is about to get busy...so I'd better get packing!

Let's start from the very beginning...

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
 Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
    over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psalm 37:3-7

I have struggled with these verses for the past couple years.  The past 4.5 years have brought the most joy and the most sorrow that I have ever experienced.  I will try to give you the short version:  Steve and I decided to relocate to be near family and to help with a church plant.  We figured that if God was in this, jobs and selling our house would fall into place.  Within 3 weeks of sending out applications, I had a job offer, and we were moving!  Steve hadn't found anything yet, but we were confident the right job would be found.  Someone from the church we were planning on attending ended up helping Steve get a job as an assistant manager for a McDonald's store.  The pay was much better than we'd anticipated, so we figured it wouldn't be half bad!  Right before we moved from Scranton we found out we were pregnant with our first baby.  We were so excited.  This was exactly why we were moving...to raise a family by family!  We had our first appointment once we'd moved.  The doctor thought everything looked great..even saw a little heartbeat!  Shortly after we had started telling people the good news my greatest fear became a reality.  After experiencing a lot of pain we headed to the ER, where we ended up losing our precious first baby.  I had always told people that was the one thing I would never be able to handle..and after all, God never gives you more than you can handle, right?  Wrong...God does allow us experience more than we can humanly handle...He wants us to learn to depend on Him!  Everything I learned during that time is a whole post on its own that will keep for another time.

Fast forward 3 months, and we learned we were expecting again.  That winter we learned we were having a boy.  While I struggled with the loss of our first baby, Joshua 24:15 always stuck with me: "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  I could cling to my hurt and my despair, be angry with God..or I could trust that the covenant keeping God of the bible was LORD of my life and had a bigger plan.  Because of this lesson I learned, we named our little boy Elijah...the LORD is my God.  His name is my memorial to this time of struggle and growth in my life.

2.5 years later we welcomed Eliana Jane into our lives.  Her name is also derived from my struggle.  After losing our first baby I felt a kinship with Hannah in the Bible, who pleaded desperately for a child.  Eliana means My God Answers.

Here are some recent pictures of our kiddos.  They are absolute miracles

This boy just melts my heart

Her joy is infectious

I just love how they love each other

we are just so blessed!

When I was younger I had a picture in my mind of what my life would be like. Of course, life is never how we imagined it, but I think in the end it's better. There are little moments that are are priceless. They are glimmers of hope that everything will be ok in the end. There are big things happening in our little family, so I am starting this blog so I can remember these little moments that make life what it is!