God's timing is impeccable...

"Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise." 

--Nehemiah 9:5

"Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you."

--Exodus 23:25

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."

--John 1:16

We got settled into our little apartment just a few days before Christmas and right from the start it was perfect. We had cut our square footage in half and yet our space had doubled. For you see our place back in Benton was just a house, not a home. Most of the memories in that place were horrid. We got Beckett settled in and then Duncan (our retriever). I think Duncan is still getting used to not having a backyard, but that won't last too much longer.

Meagan and I would often go to the men's/women's homes. I had developed such a strong relationship with Nick over the past few months, that I wanted Meagan to get to know Ms. Ana. Ms. Ana and her husband, Pastor Gerald Salamon started the Men's home in Ft. Worth over 20 years ago. Pastor Gerald passed away around 2 years ago and that is when Nick took over the men's home and Ms. Ana stayed over the women. 

Meagan and Ana hit it off immediately. I think the fact that Ms. Ana fell in love with Beckett probably kick started that. We all hung out pretty much every night. And at some point during the day usually stopped by to say hi to each of them. God began to use Meagan with the home's. She began volunteering one day a week at the administration building doing whatever was asked of her. I was so proud of her obedience to the call of God. She also began doing artwork for the men's home and then the administration building. 

Everyday was a new adventure for us and we loved it, still do. This whole time I was vigorously looking for a job. I had what I thought were a couple things that were locks. God didn't see it fit for me to do these things and he closed those doors. For the first month we were down here the job hunt was somewhat dead. We were not desperate for me to get a job right away and we just enjoyed our days together. 

After the first of the year I really cranked up the job hunt and right away had two different interviews on schedule. I went to them and immediately I knew that was not what God had in store for me and my family. Over the next several weeks I went on several more job interviews, most of which were to just get the experience and then the "one" came up. It was a firm in Dallas where the pay was great, the benefits were great and the time off was even better. It was the one that Meagan and I wanted. This being said after a week or so had passed they called to tell me they had selected someone else.

During this time, my good friend Bobby came into town and I headed over to hang out with him. Out of the blue he asked me if Meagan knew how to use the program AutoCAD. I called her and she said yes, it had just been a while. Bobby's partner owned a landscaping business and needed someone to come up with concepts for multi-million dollar backyards. She was skeptical at first even though the money was great. We had decided that she would stay home with Beckett pretty much no matter what.

She went and met with what is now her boss. He explained that she could work from home and do it on her time. Wow, God is so amazing. Bobby also called me not long after that and told me he had a guy he wanted me to meet. The guy he spoke of was a director at a rehab in Azle, TX. We will call this guy Robert. Robert and Bobby met at one of the monthly luncheons at the men's home back when Bobby was still in the home. Bobby kind of became a liaison for Robert. When the men who just couldn't seem to get it after three months at Robert's place, he would call Bobby and he would help him get to the men's home for 6 more months. 

Since Bobby had moved back to Oklahoma he wanted me to introduce myself to Robert and somewhat fill this role. I gave Robert a call on a Saturday and after a great conversation he wanted me to come out and see his rehab. I went out on Monday to have lunch. My first impression of the place was...WOW. It was huge with nice leather chairs and huge bunkrooms, the kitchen had granite counter tops and it looked like a culinary school's kitchen.

Robert and I sat down and chatted for a while and we talked a lot about this blog which he had read. We also talked about the fact that I was vigorously looking for work so that I could provide for my family. He thought that was crazy because they were looking for someone. He said they weren't really advertising the job but believed that God would bring someone to them. God is amazing.

A week or so went by and Robert called and told me his partners would like to meet and we set up a meeting for the next day. Robert informed me he would not be there. When I got there I met with the other 2 partners and 2 of the counselors. It soon became a job interview filled with questions. I could tell they were kind of skeptical of my short sobriety time. But like I told them, when I got out of rehab the first time I was all about getting my 30, 60 and 90 day chips at AA meetings and all that, but now I didn't really think in time frames. I was just clean and sober and that was my life, it would never go back and it didn't matter if it was 9 months or 9 years to me.

I left there feeling pretty awesome about everything. In the mean time I had gotten another interview with the "perfect job" company in Dallas and it was coming up in about a week and a half. During all of this we went to Benton for Beckett's birthday. We figured it would be a lot easier to have 30 people meet there than all drive 5 hours away. By the time we went to Benton it had been a little over a week since I had heard anything from the rehab. We had a wonderful time with friends and family but were very glad to get back home to Ft. Worth.

I got a call the night after we were back in town and Robert said that I needed to call one of the other partners in the morning to talk specifics of the job. After a week of prayer they had decided to over look my short sobriety time and offer me the job. I will be going back to school to work on my masters and will hopefully get my doctorate as I become a licensed counselor. Two days later was supposed to be my interview with the company in Dallas, but God had made it so clear to me that I was to take this job and decline that interview.

I started the job over 3 weeks ago and I love it. I get to spend time, minister and just help these guys out. The hours are long and odd but I get to be home every weekday to spend time with the family. The money is great and on top of that we still have 3 or 4 different side jobs going on. Our life is so incredibly simple and so overwhelmingly amazing. I wouldn't change one thing about our life. God has blessed us beyond belief and we praise him daily for his grace and mercy. I am able to do more than just provide for my family and I owe it to Jesus.


Beckett is with his grandparents in Benton this week for Spring Break.  He stayed with Todd's parent for a couple of nights and then, switched to my parents for a few nights.  I'm nervous to see how he acts when he gets home because he has been SOOOO spoiled!!!

He loves bananas!

My dad said this was his favorite "toy" today.  Notice the HUGE knot on his head!

First experience playing on the playground in Chick-Fil-A.  Needless to say, we have an issue with hitting other people right now!  Oh goodness!