Houses and Renters and Jobs.. Oh My!

Dorothy thought lions and tigers and bears were horrifying... but that's because she never had to buy a new house, while already being a home owner.

Selling our current home isn't looking likely, wrong time of year, not enough time for us to wait. So, we think we've found the ideal renter. If all works out by the end of today, we'll be good to go on that. It is really scary to think of us owning two houses at the same time, but sometimes you've just got to put on your big girl panties and do what you've gotta do.

Renting our house will allow us to move into our new house.. here is the pic I snagged off of the real estate website. Not a great angle.. but if you can pretend that you have Superman vision and look through the tree, then you can have a good idea of what the new casa looks like.

On top of a new renter and a new house... I'm also preparing for *another* new job. I know, I know... I just can't stop, right? This one is super cool, though. AT MOST I can only work 8 days a month, which rocks. And, the work is fast-paced, exciting, and fairly familiar. Dispatching at the police department.

Now, when I was first approached about becoming a fill-in for the PD, I literally laughed... out loud. I also immediately said, "NO!"

Most of America can't appreciate this job... it's the unseen job. The voice behind the cops, the firemen, the ambulance, the wrecker... and in our city it's ONE voice. One person sitting in what's referred to as "the hot seat" waiting for the 911 phone to ring, waiting for a wreck to happen, waiting to tell pretty much everyone that needs to go somewhere quickly, exactly where to go. Yeah.. no pressure at all, right? Hence why my initial responce was to say "No way, Jose! Ain't gonna happen!"

I finally agreed to just go sit in and watch for most of a shift.. and what-do-ya-know... I was hooked.

I sat in for two shifts before I felt comfortable enough to even try to answer the regular PD phone. Three before I would answer the 911 phone and talk on the radio. Last night my great "teacher" Tricia basically forced me to sit in what I deem as her seat, and do all of the work. I was so scared! Thankfully she guided me through every step at first and then slowly walked away and let me handle it. I did okay - but wow, there is so much to learn!

Speaking in 10-codes is basically like learning a new language. I feel like I'm stuck on a small island and everyone speaks Polish except for me - and they're all looking at me waiting for instructions in THEIR language. Slowly but surely. Very thankful that I know 90% of the cops already from hubby because I think our friendship helps them not get uptight if it takes me 3 hours to look up and call back the requested driver's license number they called to me. So, I'm exaggerating, but seriously, this stuff is hard! I do love a challenge, though!

In between all of the hub-bub our kids are doing awesome, and we should soon be open for foster care. I'm pushing to get Emily with us as a foster placement due to her not doing so well where she is right now. Looks promising - so we'll keep our fingers crossed on that one. 

Life is going along swimmingly! God is showing off like crazy, which is always cool. Just when I start to freak out about something, he just comes to my rescue. He's definitely the most amazing knight in shining armor!