Seananigans

So I'm extremely busy in the best way ever right now. I have been blessed with two awesome jobs, which are both challenging and rewarding in many ways. I work every day Monday through Friday, and the best thing about being so busy is 1) you learn time-management because you value your time SO much more. 2) it helps to feel a strong sense of accomplishment 3) challanges you all the time, and you grow.

I've never felt so much growth, challenge, reward before in my life and it is all happening so quickly. All I can attribute it to is grace. For this isn't my own doing.

Grace is a funny thing - having a desirable outcome happen for something you didn't expect or neccesarily work for. Despite some very hard things in life, I think God's amazing grace sustains us and pulls us through. Think about this, some people have a lot of bad things happen to them in their life (it could be a bad childhood), some people have drug or alchohol addictions. But you hear stories of this grace, that despite all of this happening something pulls them through it.

I know in my life, despite my intentions (or lackthereof) I have been sustained by some force greater than myself. And I choose to call that force God.



More examples of grace in my life include my roommate situation. I had a bad group of friends growing up, and this led to a lot of issues in my life continuing into college. I was in a dark place in my life, when I was placed with 2 other Christian roommates my sophmore year (one of whom I still live with). I didn't work for it, and I'm not even entirely sure how it came to be. But I see graces very real evidence in my life. Beyond coincidence or good-fortune which some may be tempted to think.

Enough with kids! (for awhile).

I have another job that I don't talk about a lot, but it has been such a blessing too- in it's own unique way. I work for my uncle in Wimberley doing "maintenance". When people ask what I do, I tell them I do "maintenance".. But there is A LOT more to it than that. The job I was hired to do, is take care of my uncles business which is called 'Poco Rio'. It is a series of different buildings he has rented out, including: massage therapy, art & architecture, seafood resteraunt, lawyers office, antique shop, amoung others.. There is a miniature golf course that surrounds the area (which is no longer being used), and 2 man-made rivers that run through it - that look very real. Fish and all of that.

Now what "maintenance" consists of is: Cleaning the streams, the pumps, the bathrooms, the gutters, the ground. One of the main things I do is blow off all the leaves of the entire place which takes well over an hour, especially now that all the oak trees are loosing their leaves. Now that it is spring - I mow every week. I have learned to fix and run a sprinkler system, I have trimmed and cut down all the plants that died during winter, I have replaced the granite gravel walkways that the water had corroded. Pretty much whatever needs to be done, I do it. I enjoy this job b/c I learn all sorts of little crafts and things as I work.

Lately, I have been working at my uncles house that he is trying to sell. A beautiful 2 and half story house on about 50 acres of land. If any one needs a place and wants to drop aroun $700,000 let me know... :)

My uncle is probably the hardest working person I know. He is demanding, but I have learned so much from just being around him. He expects me to do everything well, and while he can be hard to work for, I would have it no other way. I feel God is using him to teach me a lot about life. To be successful it takes DAILY hard and diligent work. Seeking it out, and not waiting around.


This will be helpful to me as I get into Social Work..

So that is my other job. In case any body wondered.

Oh and one random picture of two fairly ridicously good looking young gentelmen (who are single I might add).

Sean out.

If you have talked to me, you have probably heard me talk about my new job working with kids (which I have to be back at in 15 minutes).

What I am learning is that this is not an easy job. There is a lot to it to do it right and do it correctly. What it takes is more than just patience and putting up with kids. It takes more than just telling them what to do, and not to do.

There is a balance between being a friend to the kids, and also a role-model and someone who has to guide these kids in activities. I am not, and can not ever be a replacement for the parents, but the fact is, is that I am with these kids for about 8 hours of their day while their parents work, so I DO have a big impact on them. Some of these kids don't have the best home life, and you can quite often see that reflected in their behaviour in the class room. So one has to be constantly aware of these things, and understand where they are coming from.

I am just learning these things, and quite honestly there is a lot of room for me to improve. I have a hard time getting the kids as a group to all listen to me, and obey what I tell them to. Individually is not a problem. That is what I enjoy about my time. The individual relationships I get with the kids.

For now, Adui. More later.

Shift change.


So I went from having a part-time job working about 15 hours a week, to having two jobs working over 40 hours a week. Working every day, Monday through Friday. Getting back into school this summer, taking 6-12 hours and amoung other things I'm just trying to get my life managed.

I feel very blessed with this job @ Calvary Kids, but it is also very hard. I want to do my job well, and this will require me putting in a lot of time to lay down leadership and vision, and getting a solid understanding of how I want to interact with the kids.

I will be working all through the summer with these jobs, and I know that it will be tough. But at the same time, this is a perfect opportunity for me to learn time management and leadership skills. I am so happy to be doing this, because working with kids is challenging and rewarding. I work with 3-year olds in the morning, and they always come running up to give me a big hug yelling, "Mr. Sean!". What love. But it is tough to try to address the individual needs and problems of the different kids. Many kids have difficult upbringings that you can tell affect their behavior in class. But that is part of it I guess.




Sometimes things are hard, but what hurts, instructs as Benjamin Franklin said. And the harder it is the greater the reward.