You've done what???
Career is a very broad word, some people dream of it, some people experience it, and well, some just plain sell their souls to it. Can I really say that I have done all of these things and will probably repeat the circle a couple more times in life??? YES!
I guess it really starts when I was 14, I started working fast food, then I moved onto waitressing at a pizza joint. I started college and worked my way into the travel industry, starting at the bottom and by the time I ended my travel career I was managing million dollar travel accounts. I then sought out the hospitality industry, using past experiences to boast me to Sales and Management for big name chains furthering my experience in event planning, catering, and large group management, this was also my first real experience managing people and not events - talk about a change! After a change of heart and the desire for an industry that didn't hold me captive 24 hours a day, I went to work for the government and started my own company, AmbianceWeddings! I was able to land a position managing and scheduling aircraft for a flight operations unit of ICE. High stress and a lot of challenges - my type of gig! This led into other opportunities of training experiences, mission support, PR, requiring more time then I ever dreamed it would! Meanwhile, I had my own gig going on with the wedding business, which took off faster then I could keep up with! It grew so quick, that I was using every resource I could to keep my feet on the ground - Thanks Brent, Mom, Dad, and everyone else that worked into the 3AM hour with me so many weekends! Great $$$$ Horrible Mom! I had sold myself to the man!
And this friends is where my Career became REPURPOSED...
While I was living the "worldly" dream of a successful career, my husband was doing the same thing in the insurance industry. Brent never dreamed of Corporate America, he didn't want to be the "Top Dog", he dreamed of being a high school biology teacher and maybe teaching one or two college classes later in life... But the $$$ looked a lot better from an insurance company then from a school district and he was still a few classes short of that education degree, he had the biology, but didn't know how to turn it into a teaching opportunity. So we followed the $$$ and ignored our hopes and dreams and casual life that we had sought out to live...
And this friends is where my husband's Career became REPURPOSED...
We decided to stop the madness, God would provide, but we didn't know that ... in fact - we pretty much thought that we could do it on our own! So, we packed up and headed for a new life without a plan or a job.
God did provide, he provided us a school district that had a solid Christian base of teachers and administrators and he gave us a young child who had an appointment for Kindergarten screening on the day we arrived into town!
With the moving van, two dogs, two cats, kids sleeping in the car, and multiple vehicles in tow, we pulled into an elementary school parking lot for an appointment that we only had five minutes left to make to have our son Skye screened for Kindergarten.... we were quite the spectacle!
This is where we met the people that would mean so much to us and our dreams over the next year, but we didn't know that! They were Christian people, with love in their hearts, a helpful spirit, and curiosity to boot about the new "fam" in town! Networking started and later led to the opportunity for me to have a position as a school secretary and my husband was able to secure a position as a para educator for children with special needs.
All of a sudden we were plunged into a "career" where people loved, people cared, people believed... it was so different that three years later - we still are trying to catch our breaths! Because of these friends, colleges, and administrators my husband was provided the opportunity to finish his education degree and teach 1st grade! There isn't a day that goes by that Brent isn't smiling about his day! THANK YOU LORD FOR YOUR GRACIOUS HEART!
I recently have had my Career REPURPOSED... I am unable to work due to a sudden lose of vision, so I have become a stay-at-home Mom for the 1st time in my life! WOW - talk about a something new! Somedays I laugh, somedays I cry, somedays I love the quiet, someday I miss the loud lunchroom, but everyday I miss my friends!
I guess that is why I am writing to you, to share a story of how life's purpose can be something you never thought it would!
Keep swinging with me as I share our ongoing career challenges and I share my expertise with everyone on life's small and big changes!
Laurie
Career is a very broad word, some people dream of it, some people experience it, and well, some just plain sell their souls to it. Can I really say that I have done all of these things and will probably repeat the circle a couple more times in life??? YES!
I guess it really starts when I was 14, I started working fast food, then I moved onto waitressing at a pizza joint. I started college and worked my way into the travel industry, starting at the bottom and by the time I ended my travel career I was managing million dollar travel accounts. I then sought out the hospitality industry, using past experiences to boast me to Sales and Management for big name chains furthering my experience in event planning, catering, and large group management, this was also my first real experience managing people and not events - talk about a change! After a change of heart and the desire for an industry that didn't hold me captive 24 hours a day, I went to work for the government and started my own company, AmbianceWeddings! I was able to land a position managing and scheduling aircraft for a flight operations unit of ICE. High stress and a lot of challenges - my type of gig! This led into other opportunities of training experiences, mission support, PR, requiring more time then I ever dreamed it would! Meanwhile, I had my own gig going on with the wedding business, which took off faster then I could keep up with! It grew so quick, that I was using every resource I could to keep my feet on the ground - Thanks Brent, Mom, Dad, and everyone else that worked into the 3AM hour with me so many weekends! Great $$$$ Horrible Mom! I had sold myself to the man!
And this friends is where my Career became REPURPOSED...
While I was living the "worldly" dream of a successful career, my husband was doing the same thing in the insurance industry. Brent never dreamed of Corporate America, he didn't want to be the "Top Dog", he dreamed of being a high school biology teacher and maybe teaching one or two college classes later in life... But the $$$ looked a lot better from an insurance company then from a school district and he was still a few classes short of that education degree, he had the biology, but didn't know how to turn it into a teaching opportunity. So we followed the $$$ and ignored our hopes and dreams and casual life that we had sought out to live...
And this friends is where my husband's Career became REPURPOSED...
We decided to stop the madness, God would provide, but we didn't know that ... in fact - we pretty much thought that we could do it on our own! So, we packed up and headed for a new life without a plan or a job.
God did provide, he provided us a school district that had a solid Christian base of teachers and administrators and he gave us a young child who had an appointment for Kindergarten screening on the day we arrived into town!
With the moving van, two dogs, two cats, kids sleeping in the car, and multiple vehicles in tow, we pulled into an elementary school parking lot for an appointment that we only had five minutes left to make to have our son Skye screened for Kindergarten.... we were quite the spectacle!
This is where we met the people that would mean so much to us and our dreams over the next year, but we didn't know that! They were Christian people, with love in their hearts, a helpful spirit, and curiosity to boot about the new "fam" in town! Networking started and later led to the opportunity for me to have a position as a school secretary and my husband was able to secure a position as a para educator for children with special needs.
All of a sudden we were plunged into a "career" where people loved, people cared, people believed... it was so different that three years later - we still are trying to catch our breaths! Because of these friends, colleges, and administrators my husband was provided the opportunity to finish his education degree and teach 1st grade! There isn't a day that goes by that Brent isn't smiling about his day! THANK YOU LORD FOR YOUR GRACIOUS HEART!
I recently have had my Career REPURPOSED... I am unable to work due to a sudden lose of vision, so I have become a stay-at-home Mom for the 1st time in my life! WOW - talk about a something new! Somedays I laugh, somedays I cry, somedays I love the quiet, someday I miss the loud lunchroom, but everyday I miss my friends!
I guess that is why I am writing to you, to share a story of how life's purpose can be something you never thought it would!
Keep swinging with me as I share our ongoing career challenges and I share my expertise with everyone on life's small and big changes!
Laurie
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