Employment, Work

Awake Staff Needed at BBYR

Awake Night Staff are responsible for knowing what children reside within the cottage during their shift, completing observation forms in accordance with overnight procedures, and conducting routine bed checks to verify each child is in their assigned room/bed. Awake night staff is responsible for waking the regular house parents to address any out of the ordinary needs of the children such as when a youth requires emotional support, becomes sick during the night, or is not in their assigned room.

Duties and Responsibilities:
• Assist in providing a safe, structured and nurturing environment for youth by providing a visible presence of safety/security throughout the night and alerting the regular house parents of any out of the ordinary activity during the night
• Possess general knowledge of children served, including any history of child sexual aggression, child behavior problems and/or victimization history
• Consult with daytime caregivers before each shift to ensure needs of youth are being met
• Provide daily documentation noting the events during shift
• Be able to complete in-service trainings successfully
• Be a positive role model for youth and co-workers while promoting positive work environment
• Must be willing to give and receive constructive feedback for professional development
• Must be able to work a flexible schedule.
• Responsible for obtaining and maintaining confidential information.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
Working Conditions:
• Works in a “home-like” cottage/house setting located in rural south Texas, approximately 40 miles north of Victoria,
• Must be able to use a telephone and computer.
• Must be able to stay awake during all eight to ten hours of work time.
• Must be willing to interact positively with children displaying inappropriate behaviors
• Must be able to interact with residents and other staff from various ethnic groups in a culturally competent and professional manner.
Qualifications/Requirements:
• High school diploma or equivalent
• One year of experience working with children, families or other vulnerable populations preferred
• Must be self-motivated and possess good communication skills.
*Must receive favorable results on background check*

~~~ Contact us for more information and a complete job description ~~~

4652 US-77-ALT S, Yoakum, TX 77995, United States

Devotions, Distractions, God, Habits, Quiet Time, Tired

BE

As I went to bed last night I reflected on my day…it didn’t start out great, in fact it was a grumpy and frustrating morning. I didn’t go to Sunday School ~ I just couldn’t put on my mask of EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE! After dropping Ron and the kidlets off at the church I went and got gas, stopped at the post office and then drove back to the church and sat in the van and played Tetris on my phone till it was time to go in for the worship service.

As I was walking from the restroom to the sanctuary one of the gals asked me if I was okay. I took a breath and said not really. She reached out and gave me a hug…I shared I was frustrated ~ frustrated with kids who won’t flush the toilet. I know it’s gross but it is what it is. Probably wouldn’t be bad but it’s not one kid, it’s four of them. And they are not toddlers…they are 5, 8, 11 and 14!! I know, it’s my issue and I can just flush the toilet…but dang, how hard is it to flush the toilet ESPECIALLY after you have pooped!! I’m frustrated with a couple of other things that don’t seem fair ~ I know, Life isn’t FAIR!! But it’s still hard some times.

As I replayed the day back I saw some good ~ four kidlets played outside most of the afternoon, birthday girl had a good birthday dinner of hamburgers, mac n cheese, tater tots and broccoli topped off with red velvet cupcakes. My sissy is out of the hospital and I am so thankful for that. Yes I was grumpy throughout the day but things did get better…three littles had their showers and were in bed at the set time, one went to bed earlier than expected and one was very responsible!! I was thankful I got to spend some time writing and crocheting ~ two of my favorite things to do.

And I was asleep before 10pm!!! Woke up more times than I care to admit in the night but my tracker says I slept more than 7 hours so that’s a good thing. Had a pleasant conversation with our night staff person which doesn’t always happen and spent some time in the Word! I would have loved to have a cup of coffee but have to get some fasting blood work this morning…so water it is!!

Back to the Word

Image result for psalm 40 2
and I am thankful that HE keeps me from falling too deep!

and I have been feeling like I am slipping and sliding into that pit of destruction YET HE reminded me this morning HE will keep me out of the pit that destroys me!

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And even though I MAY feel like I’m getting boxed in and there is no place to turn…GOD will not let me be destroyed!!!

And then the BE’s started flowing

BE intentional in giving thanks!!
BE kinder
BE less selfish ~ I can be selfish, just be less selfish
BE aware
BE a listener
BE there
BE present
and most of all ~ DON’T JUDGE

And now it’s time to get this day moving with the kidlet’s.

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What are you told to BE today?

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What Did I Accomplish this Week?

This is the question raised in one of my groups this morning…Dana wrote: Y’all are amazing and have your talents in just about everything. What did you accomplish this week? Got out of bed every day, even when you didn’t feel like it? I know what a gargantuan task that can be at times. Finish a project? Achieve a goal? Start something new? Tell us and feel free to leave pictures and links!

I was going to reply not much and then thought this is a good question for me to address on a blog post…

What did I do this week ~ I am going to do Monday thru Friday:

  • I got up each morning, twice even before the alarm went off
  • Put two baby gifts in the mail (can’t post pictures yet as I don’t want to spoil the surprise)
  • Started working on a project for Pastor Charles
  • Worked on a dress for AS which I have ripped it out so many times I can’t count but now I think I have the pattern going the way I want
  • Made dinner for 10 Thursday night
  • Made dinner for our 3 kidlets, Ron & I four nights
  • Took my meds each day
  • Attended a staffing for our 3 kidlets
  • Talked to my boss 2x
  • Got kids to baseball and softball practice 3x
  • Walked the dog 3 out of the 5 days
  • Visited with our housekeeper and shared a new recipe with her
  • Had breakfast out with friends
  • Did my Weekly Log Notes
  • Ordered our granddaughter her birthday gifts…can’s believe she is going to be 12!!!
  • Did devotions 2 mornings
  • Cleaned off my desk
  • Didn’t lose my cool when the 11 year old refused to do her math test

And I also:

  • Ate too much junk food
  • Didn’t drink enough water each day
  • Whined a lot about a situation I have no control over

Yet I feel like I haven’t done much this week. And if I thought about it for a bit longer I have probably done a bit more..oh yes, 3 kids laundry, 3 loads of our laundry, ran the dishwasher a few times

YET I feel like I am not doing much of anything…just functioning and doing what needs to be done, what is required of me and I feel busy most of the time

I also questioned why I don’t eat the way I know I should even in the face of seeing a friend end up in the hospital because she hasn’t done what she needed to do in regards to taking care of her health and yet I still chose to have a donut for breakfast instead of making myself something healthy to eat.

And this tells me that even though I don’t think I’m depressed I think I am in a depression of some sorts and I hate that…I hate that I don’t love myself enough to take care of myself…another friend recommended a book that has helped her to acknowledge why she doesn’t do what she knows she should do and that in reading it it brought awareness to her being able to make changes in her life. I thought about Tom T and him saying Awareness + Contact = Change so I ordered the book ~ it should arrive on Tuesday. It is

I also realized that when I was focusing on the 5 Simple Habits each morning I was doing better

  • Start each morning with 2 minutes with God
  • Drink 8 oz of water first thing
  • Get moving ~ for me this is being consistent on walking Joey each morning
  • Eat a healthy breakfast
  • Breathe deep for 2 minutes

So once again I am going to get back on track with doing these 5 things each morning and get back into my morning routine…I KNOW that when I take care of me physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally I feel better about myself and how and why I live my life and make the choices I make.

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So that brings me to my question of the day ~ How or what do you do take care of yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally?

Balance, Behavior, Habits, Memories, Mom Life

Little Things = Big Memories

Once a mom, always a mom…is how I responded to a friends post on Facebook and it took me down memory lane on a weekend in Post Falls, ID with our son, Brandon and his family. Brandon was there to coach basketball and we love basketball and seeing our kids and grands so off we went to Post Falls. We were in our motor home, in between jobs so a mini vacation sounded great!!! So off to basketball we went…after the tournament we found out that the only two roads in/out of Lewiston, ID (where Brandon and his family were living) was closed due to snow so onto plan B…find something for dinner for the boys and hunker them down at the hotel for another night.

Brandon took a count of the money the kids had which turned out to be almost nothing since they thought they were headed home…so mom mode kicked in. I made two big pans of spaghetti, bought some garlic bread, salad, oranges and milk…kids love milk and took dinner to the hotel for the basketball team, parents, coaches, the bus driver and even the hotel desk clerk. Lots of laughter and good eating was had by all.

Brandon along with the other parents thanked me for pitching in and I remember saying “once a sports mom, always a sports mom”…just this time it was a coaches mom. I love being a mom and Grammy and am thankful for this opportunity to be mom to our kidlets here at the ranch!

And now I’m a baseball & softball mom!!! AR is playing baseball…it is fun to watch him as he tries every position and throws the ball like he’s making a lay up on the basketball court BUT hey he’s trying!!! AZ is playing softball, well she will be once the practices start happening. They have been delayed due to rainy days and a sick coach but one day soon we hope to see her running the bases and having as much fun as her younger brother!

On another note life just keeps happening…this morning in one of the groups I belong to the question was asked

“It’s Friday…How was your week?

My response started like this: I would like to just be hibernating but have to be a responsible and flexible adult today and this weekend…one of the other HP’s is in the hospital…the doctor’s are trying to figure out what’s going on…and then it continued:

a few years ago my word was FLEXIBLE…then INTENTIONAL…and this year it is CHAOS TO CALMNESS…why oh why do I have to stay focused on all three when I would rather just be drinking coffee and crocheting and watching my crime shows…my eating has been terrible for the past few weeks and I’m supposed to get a fasting blood test on Monday and then see the doctor…don’t really want to see her…I don’t need a lecture!!! I need to get my act together but instead I just want to eat chocolate covered graham crackers!!!

And now I just want to cry…I am 62 years old and feel like I am just sabotaging myself….why can’t I just eat what I want to eat…I hate diabetes and depression….and I hate that my desire to get healthy is just not enough, that I need self-discipline and will power and motivation to get my act together, to make healthy food choices, to choose to drink water over a delicious cup of hot coffee…the rant continues…

My bestie and I have often asked “why don’t I/we do the things I/we need to do and what we know to do?” So I googled the question and this is the first response that came up.

It is by Jean~Paul Pangolas:

  1. You are trading short term pleasure for long term sacrifice. In other words, you are doing things that provide you immediate pleasure rather than focusing on the things that are hard to do but that will give you significant rewards in the future.
    The reason this is happening is because you don’t have a big enough WHY. You are clear on what you need to do to be successful but your WHY isn’t big enough. I don’t know your personal details but I will give you an example: If you are a salesman and needs to make 5 sales a month you will need to contact X amount of clients to close the call. If your why isn’t big enough to actually put in the work and effort your motive will not get you moving. If you had to get those 5 sales to feed your child every month, that is a huge WHY and will get you moving. In the other hand if you live with your parents and don’t need the extra money, your WHY will not push you to get the results you want.
    Okay, I can agree with this one.
  2. Unconsciously you are being rewarded for your current behavior. The activities and things you are doing now are giving you more pleasure than the pain of doing the things you need to do to be successful. Okay, I can agree with this one.

Then https://sarabest.com/know-eating-basically-dont-just/ states: I get that there’s a lot of confusion out there these days around nutrition. This friend is doing paleo and that one’s gone vegan. One day coconut oil cures everything and the next it’s giving you heart disease.

But all the alarmist Facebook and local news stories aside, we all (kind of) know what we should be eating and not eating, right? We all know that more fruits and vegetables are good. We all know that too much sugar and processed foods are bad. We all know that fast food is a no-no.

Okay, great. So why don’t we just do that then? Why don’t we just eat lots and lots of fruits and veggies, no sugar or processed foods and never again roll through a drive thru? Why, in fact, are we (as a species) getting fatter and fatter every year? Why is diabetes on the rise, to the point where the number of people diagnosed with the disease is projected to double over the next thirty years? If we all (basically) know what we should be eating, why aren’t we doing it?

I believe that a big part of the problem is that we’re focusing too much on the food (how to eat more protein, avoiding carbs, etc.) and not focusing enough on the root cause of our seemingly irrational poor food choices. We’re smart people. Many of us have built successful careers or businesses, we’ve raised children, learned all kinds of skills and navigated really tough and complex situations in our lives. And yet, when it comes to making smart food choices and creating the healthy life and body that we want, we fall short again and again.

There are two primary reasons for this and they both have nothing to do with food, and everything to do with your brain. The first is the fascinating way your brain actually works, and the second is the way that many of us have learned to use food to manage our feelings. How Your Brain Works Let’s start with the first reason – how your brain works. Many of our habits, patterns and cravings around food are the result of a series of neural pathways that have been formed in our brain. These are behaviors we’ve learned because we’ve just practiced them so many times that they’ve now become automatic and easy. Doing something different now feels awkward and uncomfortable. We also have to factor in the reward centre of our brain and its friend, dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter (a chemical in your brain) whose primary function is around reward-motivated learning. To grossly simplify some complex neuroscience, dopamine plays a big role in making you crave cupcakes when you see them on the party food table, or chocolate ice cream when your busy day is finally over. Thanks to dopamine, the reward centre of your brain remembers that these things felt good once so it pushes you to do it again.

Using Food to Manage Feelings The second reason we keep making poor food choices, despite knowing better is our tendency to use food to manage our feelings. You know how this goes. You feel stressed – you eat. You feel tired – you eat. You feel bored, restless, worried, unappreciated or overwhelmed – you eat. Over time, our brains have learned that eating makes us feel good (see dopamine connection above) and, as a result, we’ve developed a habit of eating whenever we have a feeling that doesn’t feel so good. We even use food to augment happy feelings. Again, our brains have learned that eating makes us feel good so when something fun or exciting happens, it triggers our brain to think, “this is great – eating would make this even BETTER!” By continuing to eat as a way to manage our feelings – good or bad, we actually develop physical neural pathways in the brain around these behaviours. We’re practicing these behaviours, in the same way you’d practice playing the piano, or mastering the perfect golf swing. After years (sometimes even decades) of practice, the tendency to turn to food to deal with our feelings has become second nature. We do it automatically and, even though we know it’s not serving our long-term goals, it somehow feels familiar and comforting, so we keep doing it and on and on the cycle goes.

But, here’s the good news! Recently, we’ve begun to learn more and more about a characteristic of the brain called “neuroplasticity.” Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to adapt, change and rewire itself. And it turns out that it’s something your brain is really good at. This means that, even long practiced behaviors like eating potato chips at night, or using food to manage our feelings, can be changed. Yay! Once you understand these two massive – and often completely overlooked – reasons behind our struggle to stay on track, and learn how to do the underlying work necessary to break the old wiring in your brain around food and create new wiring around new behaviors, the healthier choices start to feel natural and so much easier. Remember, it’s not about the food, it’s about training your brain to think about food in a whole new way. That’s the answer. That’s the true path to a relationship with food that feels healthy, balanced and easy. Okay this sounds great but can come someone please tell me how to change my mindset without having to buy into XYZ or watch a cazillion videos online which cost a $Cazillion????

Okay, enough rambling for today…I have a 5 year old that wants me to read to her…at least I know how to do that and it doesn’t cost me a ton of money!!!

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And Just Like that the Weekend is Over…

I can’t believe the weekend is over and back to work I am. It was a different kind of weekend for me…Ron flew out last Thursday afternoon to go to Tampa Florida to surprise our son, Brandon, for his 40th birthday!!! We pulled the surprise off ~ the three grand boys and Brandon were all pleasantly surprised to come downstairs on Valentine’s morning to see Grandpa drinking coffee!!!

My plan for the weekend was to stay home (no car as it was sitting at the Austin, TX airport) and crochet and rest and rest and crochet…which is just what I did…though I did get out at least twice a day to walk Joey to do his business.

I started a dress for Little Bit, didn’t like how it was turning out so ripped it out and started looking for another pattern…I think I found one.

I finished two little dresses w/matching headbands…need to get them in the mail this week so I can post some pictures and then started on an Virus afghan using country blue and yellow for a fundraiser that is coming up in April this year.

I am also working on three temperature blankets…

these are through the month of January…one is for Blaine, WA, one for Yoakum, TX and the third for Bonney Lake, WA….I will post February sometime in early March….

I am also working on a surprise project that I can’t mention who for or what because then it wouldn’t be a surprise anymore…LOL

So I spent my weekend, sleeping in, taking a nap or two, crocheting and watching all my crime shows on my DVR…I know Ron worries that I am up to something but I just keep telling him I’m learning what not to do…LOL

I have been struggling with headaches the past few weeks…one person thought it had to do with the barometric pressure but now I am thinking it might have to do with my left eye socket. My eye is irritated and very dry…guess I’m going to have to break down and find me an ocularist here in Texas since it doesn’t look like I will be going back to Washington anytime soon 😦

My writing has been nil, my drawing/coloring has been nil, my drinking water has been slim to barely one water bottle a day which I think is contributing to my UGH feelings and why I just want to crochet and sleep and sleep and crochet.

I’ve also been struggling with some weird dreams/nightmares and I’m not sure why…I have got my plans in my head for the IF THE…happens but the anxiety is high…which contributes to my nightmares and weird dreams.

I am so looking forward to my hubby being home this evening…I know that will help me to feel better and yet I am so thankful he was able to go to Florida and see B and the family!!!

So now that I’ve rambled for awhile I think I will close for now and get myself organized to start my new week off right tomorrow morning…back to my routine will be a good thing. Alarm is set for 4:45 to give me time to walk Joey, have some time in the Word and then be ready to relieve our overnight staff at 5:55a!

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My question to you today is …once you get out of sync with your schedule/your routine what do you do to get back on and in the swing of things?

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UGH!!!

Do you ever just want to go and hide, hibernate and ignore the world even when there really isn’t reason for feeling like that??

I’m tired, I know that but it’s so frustrating when I am working so hard on making healthy choices regarding food and walking and trying to be positive and yet all I want to do is go into the apartment, shut the door, close the curtains, grab my blanket and my crochet and snuggle in my recliner and ignore the world.

No one has done anything or said anything, life is good and I have no complaints…I just want to go and hide and hibernate and not take care of anyone or talk to anyone or look at anyone…

…today is only Tuesday…we have to work till mid-morning on Friday and then I can do just that…go and hibernate and only take care of me…

…so I am asking you as my friend to just say a prayer that my energy level will rise to what I need it to be, that I can be the loving mama that these kidlets need, that I won’t feel snarky towards people I come into contact with

AND to remember to love the way Jesus loves me, give GRACE the way Jesus gives grace and to remember today is just today and tomorrow dawns anew!!!

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A New Challenge!

I found a set of writing prompts called “Year of Writing Prompts” by WritersDigest.com and thought … um…I keep saying I want to write more but sometimes I have a hard time trying to come up with topics to write about and thought…okay here I go…so I missed all of January and here it is the 5th of February already so time is going by…

…the prompt for today is Poor Cell Phone Reception
You’re talking on your cell phone while driving into work one morning. All of a sudden your signal gets crossed and you start picking up another conversation. What is said in that conversation?

My mind was racing as I drove down the road in the pouring down rain but I had calls to make. The first call on my list was to the florist to order flowers for a dear friend who had just lost one of her fur babies. My heart was heavy and being 2000 miles away I thought flowers would be a little something to let her know I was thinking about her. The call was answered promptly and as I was explaining the situation to the gal on the other end of the phone static started coming through and all of a sudden the phone went dead and then all of a sudden I was connected again, or at least I thought I was. I started talking about the flowers I wanted in the arrangement when all of a sudden the gal turned into a guy and he started yelling at me “Lady you called the butcher shop! We don’t do flowers here!!! Why would you call the butcher to order flowers??” I started stammering and crying…butcher…no I wanted flowers…now what was I going to do…and then the phone just went dead!!!

Pretty lame writing I think…so who would you have been calling and where would the call end up?

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A Restful Weekend

This weekend found us going on a short road trip to Kerrville, TX. The first time we were there we were traveling to Hondo, TX to start our jobs as managers of Lone Star Corral which was in February 2011…nine years later we headed to Kerrville to meet up with an RV friend…I have been friends with Dana on Facebook for over 10 years…I first met her through http://The TicknorTribe and Nomadic Mama’s…this was the first time we got to meet in person…and didn’t even think to take one picture of us together!!! Hopefully it won’t be another 10 years till we meet again.

We met up with Dana and two of her girls at the http://www.kerrvillerenfest.com/ ~ Kerrville Renaissance Festival. Here are the only pictures I took:

The weather was beautiful. It was nice to be out walking in the sunshine, seeing Dana and her girls and we even ate a turkey leg…yummy as usual and brought back a few memories of when we were working/traveling with the carnival.

After hanging out in Kerrville for most of the day we made our way back to Yoakum and watched a bunch of TV shows we had on the DVR.

Sunday we slept in and then we have just vegged on the couch, taken Joey for a couple of walks, binge watched New Amsterdam and then the Super Bowl. I also worked on some of my crocheting projects, Ron took a nap and we have just totally relaxed.

What do you do to relax? How do you like to spend your time off from work?