Trip to Reno

As many of you know on Monday I flew out to Reno, Nevada for a job interview. In a small town called Fallon an hour outside of Reno. The job appealed to me for a few reasons. First it was working with pediatrics which you all know is my passion and a gift that God has blessed me with. Second it was in a school district which means I get 9 weeks paid vacation to go to Haiti.



I know you may be thinking…well can’t you find a job like that closer to home? Yes, probably but this job kind of fell into my lap threw a series of events. I could not pass up the opportunity to go check it out. I had mixed emotions as I prepared for this adventure…I had feelings of excitements and I was nervous. I do like a good adventure though. Thank you to all you who listened to me and helped me prepare for the trip!

Tuesday Morning I was picked up by Debora the owner of the company at my hotel at 9:30AM. She took me to the outpatient clinic that she owns in Reno and I got to meet the staff there, got a new employee packet, and she showed me around the clinic. It is a nice small clinic with PT/OT/Speech that services both pediatrics and adults. We then headed down to Fallon to the school district I would be working at. The school district is an hour drive from Reno. The drive there it was very desert, not a lot of grass or trees and pretty desolate. The small towns we went threw were cute little towns. At this point I was leaning towards I don’t know if this is the job for me.



While in Fallon I got to meet 3 of the speech therapist I would be working with and who are contracted from the same company. They were all very nice! The OT that I would be working with was not there so I was unable to meet her, but I plan on talking to her on the phone Monday on my way to Haiti. I have a lot of questions I want to ask her about being an OT in the school district there. I got to see 4 schools and 3 of the schools I got to see the OT room that I would be working in. I also got a feel for the equipment available and the space available. I was surprised at how much space the OT was given to work in. Many schools in PA the OT does not have a room at all and have to work in the hallway or find a closet. So I really like the spacing situation. I also like that all the schools are within 5-10 minutes of each other so there would not be a lot of travel once I got into Fallon for the day. At this point I was like well the school set-up is great….I could probably do this.

Next Debora was telling me she may have another school district in Carson City that needs an OT she is not positive yet though. So she drove me to Carson City (an hour away from Fallon). Carson City and the areas around it are much more green than Fallon. Then we drove around and I got to see the towns of Garderville, Miden, Genoa, Dayton (spelled wrong more than likely). On the drive Debora was telling me all about what there is to do around there. She talked to me about all the lakes to go skiing on like Pyramidal lake, Bocadam, the 5 lake area, and Lake Tahoe. She told me about the train you can take threw the mountains to Sacramento. From Reno I would only be 1hr from Sacramento, 1 to 3 hours from Gaseminy National Park, 6 hours from Palm Springs, 3 hrs from San Francisco, 25 minutes from Napa valley and only 20 minutes from Lake Tahoe. We drove all over. I got to see so much of the country and I loved it. It was about 4 or 5 when we got back to Reno.




We then stopped at Deborah’s house to stretch and get something to drink. She has 2 beautiful cats (you all know I am a car person) and she also had a nice dog. We then headed to Lake Tahoe. It was such a beautiful drive threw the mountains. We climbed from around 4,000ft. altitude to over 9,000 feet altitude. I was in awe of God’s creation the whole time. I was speechless! Debora let me be a tourist and take pictures  We drove to the California side of the Lake and stopped at Sunnyset restaurant so we could eat and look over the lake. We then headed to Squaw Valley (where the winter Olympics were held in 1960). It is a ski Resort now and one of Debora’s friends works there. He gave me a tour of the village and showed me some of the runs for skiing. If it was earlier he would have taken me to the top of the mountain and let me ride the ski lift. The drive from Squaw Valley to interstate was also full of amazing scenery. Parts of it reminded me of Cook’s Forest. The whole time we were driving threw Lake Tahoe I wished my mom could have been there. She would have loved it! If I move there we are definitely going to have to go there. This is a huge selling point to me being only 20 minutes from Reno. You all know I am how much I love being in Nature. The song Indescribable by Chris Tomlin kept coming to my mind. I can’t put into words what I saw. I did take some pictures and will post them on here.



Debora told me she has a friend who all she does is hike and knows all the trails in the area, Debora bikes a lot and was telling me where the best places to bike are, showed me all the best places to snow ski, and told me the good places to water ski. I love how much outdoorsy stuff there is to do here.

As you can tell, we spent a lot of time in the car yesterday. I highly enjoyed the conversations Debora and I had. We talked about our faith, our favorite Christian authors and books, she was telling me about her church and said she would help me find a church, we listened to Christian radio (they even get K-LOVE one of my favorite Christian radio stations). I of course shared Haiti a lot with her, I bet none of you could have guessed that one ;) Towards the end of our time together we talked about how wonderful it is that when you have faith in common you have so much in common. Faith in Christ was something that really brought us together and gave us tons to talk about.



Before I left for the interview I listened to song Jesus Lover of my soul (the song on the post below this post). Song talks about how everything is about Jesus and everything I do is for Him for His glory and Fame. It is not about me as if you should do things my way. He alone is God and I surrender to His ways! This was my prayer before I left for the interview. I really want to be used by God. I want to be His hands and feet in this world. I do not want to waste one day doing my will instead of His. I know that where I work is huge and I want God to choose where I work. I also read Jeremiah 1:4 “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knewa you,before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” The Lord knows the plans he has for sense before I was born…He has great plans for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me. HE KNOWS! That was the comfort He gave me. It is not up to me what job I take it is up to Him AND He knows I just have to be willing to listen.



All the things I listed so far are good things. There are still things that turn me off from this job. Moving so far away from my family & friends, not being around to see so many of the kids in my life grow up, not having my parents be a drive away to help fix my car, have dinner, go camping, go to church together, etc.

Leaving the known to go to the unknown is never easy…leaving those you love and who have been integral in your spiritual growth and journey is hard, finding a new faith community is hard, starting over in finding friends is hard BUT if it is God’s will I know it is possibly and he will give me favor, will guide me to the perfect church, a wonderful group of Christian friends, give me new opportunities to be a light for him, AND undoubtedly I would grow in my faith as I would have to rely on Him more than my family, more than my friends, and more than my own strength.

Please pray for me as I discern where God is calling me. Pray for God to open doors that should be opened and close doors that should be closed. Pray that He will give me wisdom on what to do and where he is calling me. Pray that my ears would be open to hear him. Thank you all for your prayers, support, and love in this process. I love you all and thank God for placing each of you into my life.