And there's your sign....

This story takes place on Saturday, August 31, 2013. I woke up, took Dustin to his friends house to carpool to work. I came home and showered. While I was in the shower I was thinking... I ALWAYS do my best thinking in the shower. Sometimes I pray there too. Well I was doing a combination of the two, thinking and praying, and I came to think about a promise I made to God. I promised that if I got a teaching job this year that I would donate $100 to St. Jude Children's Hospital with my first "teacher" paycheck! Well I wasn't expecting my first check till end of September but I received one at the end of August. (That Friday before.) When I thought about this promise I thought of what I would have to do to honor it. We don't have a working bank account right now so we don't have checks and I know St. Jude Children's Hospital does not take cash. The only other option I could think of was a money order. I told myself I would look it up later on the internet and decide what way I would do it to ensure I would honor my promise!

A little while later...
So, I leave the house, go pay rent and then come home for a few minutes to pass time till I met my friend Wavie for lunch. In the 30 minutes I was home the craziest things happened to me!! First, when I went pee (TMI, sorry) and flushed the toilet, the toilet started making some weird noises. When I turned around I see that the toilet is overflowing. I jump back and flip the rug out of the way then grab the plunger and start plunging. Water continues to pour out onto the floor then all of a sudden I hear this horrible gurgling noise and BOOM all the water is sucked back down and the toilet goes back to normal. We have lived in the apartment for 2 years now and have NEVER EVER had ANY issues with the toilet or plumbing at all! I pick up the rug to take it outside to dry because the corner is a little wet. As I open the door I see a BRIGHT flash of lightning that felt like it was right in front of me and immediately after that I hear a HUGE CRASH of thunder! It scared the crap out of me! The CRAZIEST part of all this.... it was SUNNY outside! There was literally no clouds in the sky AT ALL!! As I take the rug back into the bathroom to hang it on the tub I look at the towels mopping up the water on the floor and start to think maybe God is trying to tell me something. I think to myself, "Maybe God is trying to tell me to stay home." Maybe God is trying to keep me home so I don't have an accident or something." After contemplating a few moments about whether to call and cancel or not, I decide to go. I didn't have any bad feelings so I felt I was doing the right thing.

I got to Chili's first and while I am waiting for Wavie I notice something on the wall for a wristband that is $4.00 donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital. I thought to myself, "Hmmmm. I will ask about that." Well when Wavie gets there and we get seated the first thing the waitress tells us about the "Create a Pepper" fundraiser. You all have seen it, I am sure. You color the pepper any way you like and then you can donate some money! Well I already knew this was God's way of saying, "Ok, Kelani I gave you these two weird and crazy signs to get your attention.... HERE IS YOUR SIGN!!" Sometimes I can be a little slow on the uptake.... I proudly colored my pepper (looked horrible- but I tried, LOL) and wrote $100 in the donation box. Wavie was shocked, I told her my story and she said that is a testimony right there. When the waitress came to give us our bill she asked about our peppers. Wavie told her about hers and then said, "You have to hear her testimony (pointing at me) behind her donation!" When I hand her mine and she see the $100 bill she takes a step back and gets teary eyed and says, "Tell me your story." I told her EVERYTHING above that you have just read. She is holding back tears and says, " I have to tell you that this means a lot to me because St. Jude is close to my heart." She said her son was born with an extra chromosome (not down syndrome but something else) and her husband is in the military and is deployed often. She said that St. Jude has put her in a house during times when her son needed medical care. She said she knows families who have lost their children and St. Jude pays off their medical bills. She said she knew she was blessed because her son would live a long life with few limitations compared to other families who weren't so lucky. Her story touched me.

As we were leaving a manager and 2 other employees came up and thanked me for my donation. I guess she had went back and told coworkers my story. I know she was having a hard time containing herself while talking to me. It really touched my heart.

(Had I decided not to follow God's signs I would never have heard her story.)

I didn't do the donation for anyone other than God. I wanted to honor my promise to Him. I wanted to show Him that I will follow Him and try to LISTEN as best as possible. It is hard for me sometimes because... well I cant put into words why.... Other than it is hard trusting someone other than yourself. Especially a Higher power...

I wanted to share this story because it touched me in so many ways.
1. I was proud to honor my promise to God. Proud that I trusted Him and LISTENED to Him.
2. I wanted to share that I feel BLESSED because God did communicate with me and I was OPEN to it. Before I would have ignored it all.
3. It really touched my heart to hear her story.

Bloom where God plants you!

As I was fed up from working the usual 15 hour shift this weekend I said a mini-prayer, "Please God, if I am not meant to be in the school systems please let me know. Let something else become available! I do not know what you want me to do but please put it in front of me!" I have been so determined on getting a teaching job and into a classroom that I haven't stopped to think what God wants for me or where I am SUPPOSE to be! It is kinda funny that I was trying to lead my own life... I had to step back and regroup.

That was Sunday. Monday I got 2 phone calls for interviews! Tell me that is not a coincidence! I had an interview today at an Elementary school BUT it is only for a part-time position for after school care from 3 pm-6pm, HOWEVER, it will get my foot in the door! The interview went AMAZING! The lady, Mae, I interviewed with was spectacular!! She told me to call her back after my interview with the YMCA tomorrow!

 This brings me to tomorrow- I have an interview with the YMCA. It is full-time, benefits, and decent pay AND it would work with BOTH my Public Relations degree and with children (which I love). Feels like this would be the right job to go with everything I have worked for to this point!

If you know me then you know I believe in signs. I believe everything happens for a reason! While I was interviewing with Mae today, I was praying for a sign... Something to PROVE to me this was the right path! Well when I went out to my car, it wouldn't start! I called Dustin and he came up there put some gas in my car because I was low on fuel and parked on a hill. We thought maybe that would fix the issue. NOPE! Then we tried jumping the car... NOPE. (Mae came out to help suggest stuff,) BTW- How embarrassing is it to break down right in front of where you have an interview?!!! Tried pushing it and double clutching it to get it to start, NOPE! Called a friend because her husband is a mechanic- he said the problem may be a starter. We call pep boys they say same thing and give us the price of $350 plus $49.99 for a tow! We start calling other place to see if it could be done cheaper! Eventually called the 1-800-PepBoys number  to get towed and it was busy. Then called another tow place and they said it would be 2 hours before they could come. SIGH. About this time Mae and another lady walk up (can't remember her name), we tell them everything we have tried. The woman says, "Pop your hood, lemme see what I can do. I am a jack of all trades!" I popped it. She sees that the battery terminal is corroded which I had just cleaned off a little bit. She asked Dustin if he had some pliers to clean off the rest of it. He did and when he touched the battery terminal he saw it was loose! He tightened it and LOW AND BEHOLD the car started!!!

Now you tell me, is that a sign? Or just bad luck?

So here I am... I have the YMCA interview tomorrow. I am going to see how it goes and go from there. I want to make the right decisions but I never know what the right decisions are at the time. So what if I get offered both of them? Then what?? Either way I don't feel like I can go wrong! I have been praying about it non-stop!

All in all, lesson of the day was.... I need to be the passenger and God needs to be the driver!