Wow! I haven’t been on my own website in almost 7 weeks, and it feels a little bit foreign to me now! To catch the reader up, I have been working 70+ hours per week, two jobs — in West Michigan. I have a full time job at a retirement living community, meeting with residents in their little “apartments” and in the day rooms — individually, since they cannot have group activities during COVID-19. Since they also cannot have visitors, I do a lot of talking and listening, but I also do some crafts with them, play some games, and take some of them outside to walk or just enjoy the sunshine. For some of the ladies, I also paint their nails and lotion their hands with a little massage treatment, lol. On my two “days off” from that job, I work at a private home, staying overnight with an Alzheimer’s patient. Needless to say, I have been quite busy — and my laptop has sat untouched for over a month now, only getting it out to transfer photos from my phone onto the hard drive.
NOW, I am at the library in my new little “home town”. Yay! I am hoping and praying to find a cheap place to live nearby and SOON — just a little room with a bed, desk, and shelves — and wifi! So far, I’ve just been sleeping in my mini van, parking at the local hospital or at a national forest trailhead that is only 8 miles away. I DID take almost two weeks off to travel and visit all three of my sons and my Mate, returning before the 4th of July. I miss my Mate already (sniff, sniff). But I really do not plan on going back to Texas to stay until October or November. My boss up here says I can return next summer — she will “pencil me in for June” and I said, “Make it May!” LOL. She also said that if this website does not do well for me, I should consider doing HER job — being an Activities Director like her and like my own sister in Iowa, heehee. Maybe… but my goal now is to get some certification for counseling — CARC through ARCS (lol), which is a national certification that allows me to work with abuse survivors and those recovering from addictions, either in person or online (or both) — so I HOPE to build myself a new little business in which I can incorporate some art therapy, music therapy, and dance therapy, along with the counseling — perhaps establishing a client base up here in Michigan (meeting with them April to October) and in Texas (meeting with them November to March). I would LIKE to do it as a little traveling thing, meeting with people in their own homes or at libraries or such near their homes… then eventually also have that small town mixed-use building I have been wanting, as a walk-in “art clinic” of sorts. Or something. We will see what God provides. I am SURE that His version of my story looks quite a bit different from my own, but I trust Him completely! He has provided me with a good, reliable vehicle that is even able to be my little “mini home”… AND He has provided me with a job and good contacts right here in this lovely little town in the part of Michigan that I call HOME. THANK YOU, LORD!! Lead on! :D