"David found a bee, and he kissed it."

Yep, that's what I heard. Or thought I heard, anyways. Turns out, Josh had said "They have been found to be inconsistent" when we were talking about someone's tendency to mix metaphors. (It was late - what can I say?)

Say it fast....you can see how I got what I did. :)

On a different note - the job search has gotten wild and crazy, all within a matter of days. Here's the chronological breakdown of events:

Monday, the 15th - Josh calls me from work and says that Ginny Geiger, the new director of A Door of Hope (the local crisis pregnancy center) needs a receptionist. Could he pass on my name? I said sure - having met Ginny the week before at church, I was excited by the possibility. The center is moving from a rural/suburban area to a new building by the university and another one in downtown Wilmington to better serve women in crisis. Two seconds later, she calls me in for an interview that afternoon. It went well, but I wasn't sure it was what I wanted to do. They have very few clients now, so I'd be answering the phone a little, and organizing pamphlets and filing a lot. They needed the help though so I didn't rule it out.

Wednesday, the 17th - I made a bunch of calls to the Delaware Autism Program to see if they had any teacher's assistant positions open. I was already set to to tour a classroom of a lady at church on Friday, but no one had gotten back to me if there was even a possibility of a job. I'd decided that if there were openings, I'd pursue them; if not, I'd take the job at A Door of Hope. Easy as that. (Ha! I need to stop saying that.)

I finally get in touch with a supervisor, who says.....she doesn't know. Apparently there's a hiring freeze on paraprofessionals til the end of July due to a budget crisis. Send in my resume, letter of interest, and application from their website anyways, and they'll consider it then. I agree to it, but in the back of my mind, I'm already ruling it out.

I go to their website, and I find two different applications...one for next year, and one for their summer program. Deadline for the summer program? May 17th - today! Why had no one told me about this?! I begin a four hour marathon of redoing my resume, writing a letter of interest, filling out both sets of applications, and flying over to church to fax it all in.

Friday, the 19th - I spend the morning observing the high school high-functioning autism class. Delaware Autism Program is part of the public school system, and it has a main site called the Brennen School. It also has several satellite classrooms at many of the area schools, and that's where I was visiting. First of all, the local high school is pretty ghetto - a lot like Richmond City Schools. The classroom itself was not too bad though. They were working on a lot of vocational goals, and everything was being done independently. So different from Magnolia! My first impression of the program was so-so. A Door of Hope seemed better and better.

Two hours later - The phone call comes from the Brennen School, asking me to come in on the 22nd for a tour of the main school and for an interview for the summer program. Hmmm...now both jobs are possibilities again. I figure Monday will bring more answers.

Yesterday - The tour and interview takes a total of 15-20 minutes. That's it. And I wasn't interviewed by a supervisor of any sort - I think it was a teacher and some other staff member. The school is much nicer than the high school site, and the kids didn't seem nearly as severe as some area people seemed to think they were. (I guess I've gotten used to a lot over the years.) Lots of great programs, therapists, etc. The weird thing? They are really big into PECS, which is the picture exchange system for people with communication problems. Boo! It's not bad as a very last resort, but I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of these kids could be reading, writing, and talking, using the Association Method. I mean, I've seen it happen so many times. (I'm biased - I know.) I still could see myself working there though, and they said they'd let me know in a week or two.

Final decision? I liked the Brennen School enough to decide to pursue it. It doesn't start til June 19th though, so I called Ginny to let her know that I wasn't going to take the job, but that I'd be willing to come in to volunteer a couple times a week until they get a permanent receptionist. She liked that idea - so that's where we are!

Whew!

It's a wonder I'm even thinking straight after all that. Let me tell you - this whole thing has done wonders for the prayer life. Funny how that works! ;)