An overdue update

Today is Friday, June 20, 2008. I haven't shared an update on this forum for quite some time, and since I have a few moments before I need to leave for work, I thought I'd do so now.
For the first time in a long, long time, I LOVE MY JOB!!! I work with great people, I'm good at what I do, and the hours are fabulous. What's not to love? The fact that I'm capable of so much more doesn't even enter into the equasion. On the surface, the job looks like a monkey could do it. Typing, filing, answering the phone, things a high-school dropout could probably do. But there's so much more to it than what's on the surface.
For example, our first Health Fair was yesterday. I've sort of become the "special projects" person, and people come to me with what they need doing because they know I can get it done. I've worked really hard on helping to put the fair together, and it was a big success. At the last minute the boss decided he wanted to have certificates of appreciation for all 40 vendors. So I had to create the certificate and print out the individual certificates and get them to the fair all in the space of about an hour. He forgot to mention certificates for the speakers at the event, but I remembered and did those too. He was impressed!
I know, it seems like I'm tooting my own horn here, but gosh...I'm allowed! And to know that I'm appreciated is a great feeling. No, the money isn't as much as I could be making, but sometimes the pay is not in the paycheck. And I'm busy all the time, with one thing or another, learning new stuff all the time, helping, helping, helping. I am considered "support staff" and that's just what I'm good at.
I've spent much of my working life doing jobs that I felt had a certain prestige, stuff in the "helping" professions, jobs I could crow about and that fed my ego. Volunteer fire fighter, prison visitor, counselor at a women's refuge, pharmacy tech. Status. And its not that I didn't enjoy those jobs - I did, pretty much. And now here I am, as an "Office Assistant," a job precious low on the status scale, and I'm loving every minute of it. Go figure. I actually look forward to going to work every day, and that in itself is rare I think.
Switching horses in mid-stream here....the one thing lacking at this point is a church to call home. The standards I look for in a church are not usually found in mainstream churches. I consider myself a "conservative liberal," and there are precious few Christian churches that agree with my way of thinking, and beliefs that I believe to be correct. I became a Christian because of Christ, not because of Christians. Many (perhaps most) Christians I know are uptight, judgemental, hypocritical and unbelievably narrow in their view of God. They refuse to look beyond the box they've tried to stuff God into. And I just think God is a whole lot bigger than that. So, while I continue to look for a church I can call home, it's tough going. One of the questions I ask myself when I visit a new church is: "Could I bring my brother and daughter here, and would they be comfortable worshipping in this place?" Usually, unfortunately, the answer is no. And ones they would be welcome at, are not usually Christian. It's a two-edged sword.
Next on the list is my digs. Chip and I bought a double-wide mobile home in a lovely park. It faces the field across the way and I can hear roosters crowing in the morning, yet we're only a block away from the major shopping area of Visalia. I finally have a cute house (because its a house to me), with a white picket fence...just what I've always wanted. Chip can walk the dogs (via power chair), and I walk them on my days off down to the farmer's field and around it. It's perfect. I'm close to family here, have a great job, a comfortable home with probably the nicest yard I've ever had, a hubby who's good to me and super dogs. I am one lucky, lucky woman.
Wishes? Sure, I've got a few. I wish Cora would visit more often. I wish I had taken the time to go north and visit my friend Claudia before now. I wish I had a little more time to quilt. But on the whole, life is good.
And now...it's off to work!