I have this thing about expectations – I try not to have them.  Self-preservation method?  Yes, but I’ve also learned that sometimes it’s easy to make the jump from expectations to judgments, and I don’t like to judge something until I’ve experienced it.

When I knew that we were going to move to Auckland, I started looking at houses and jobs and cost-of-living calculators.  I studied city maps and read up about different suburbs.  I started to read the New Zealand Herald.  I wanted to be informed.  In doing this, I started to develop some natural predilections about places to live and work.  I’d end up  frustrated because I’d find a place that looked great, then remember that we weren’t moving there for months and it would likely be gone.  I’d see a job posting and want to apply, but would realize that it would have to be a phone interview.  You miss out on the face-to-face communication, and I wouldn’t be able to tour the department in which I’d be working.  No thanks.

Fast-forward to now.  We have a great apartment in the heart of things, it’s within walking distance to Chris’ job, and… it’s within walking distance to my job!  That’s right – I have a job offer 🙂  And it’s not just any job offer – it’s a job offer working in the ER at the very hospital in which I wanted to work!

I’m also humbled.  Some people say, “You shouldn’t just pray that God will meet your needs – you should pray that He meets them in a fantastic way!”  I’m all for having my needs fantastically met, but I’m also happy just to have them met.  If we’d moved here and had found an adequate apartment and I’d been able to find a job, then that would have been alright.  We would have been in a better situation than many people are {I feel for all of you teachers out there who are struggling with lay-offs, and for all of you new college grads!} and we would’ve found things to be thankful for.  I might not have been dancing around the house, but I’d like to think that I could find a silver lining.

What’s even more amazing, in my mind, is that they weren’t hiring in this department.  There are no job openings.  So how did I get an offer?  I met a nursing lecturer from the local university while we were at church on our first Sunday here.  She knew that I was interested in the ER and arranged a lunch meeting with her, me, and the ER nurse educator for said hospital.  We had lunch and I got the manager’s number.  I called, and she phoned back in less than 2 hours, offering me an interview.  This, my lovely readers, after I had fairly well resigned myself to having to drive to work at a smaller ED.

The job offer is pending approval of my NZ nurse license.  I hope that there are no more hang-ups with that, but if there are, then I’ll just keep pushing through.  In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy my time off and try not to succumb to the temptation to overcome my boredom by going shopping.  I’m also going to try to remember that, sometimes, God does meet my needs in a fantastic fashion.  I’m not sure why, and I know that I don’t deserve it, but I’m grateful all the same 🙂