Things are getting better and better

The past few months have been challenging and busy. Writing updates has been a little low on my priority list – an issue I hope to remedy as of this week. During the early part of the year Kylie and I have faced what seems like some of the most difficult experiences we’ve previously encountered. I’m pleased to say that we seem to be moving beyond that now, and things are improving almost daily.

In August last year I chose not to pursue further work at the University. My contract had expired and my efforts at negotiating fewer hours had not worked out. They wanted me on board at least four days a week or they would award the contract to someone else. Given my business goals that wasn’t going to work, and after prayer and thoughtful pondering I let go of the University work. They continued to employ me casually until December (after not awarding my contract to anyone else at all), and I slowly eased my hours back so that in December I was finished. And during the time that my hours were dropping at University, I attempted to figure out how to build my business.

From January to March I essentially had zero income. A writing contract was made semi-permanent which improved things, although $300 per week is hardly enough to put fuel in my car, let alone pay the mortgage and feed the family. Nevertheless, we were grateful for it. Then a training opportunity arose, and another, and another. Lots of avenues opened up. Some led to dead ends. Others led to work and income – and the opportunity to influence others.

Just over two weeks ago the sprinkling of blessings became a deluge. Two awesome bookings came through in the one day. First, I got a call from a PR company that looks after DVD releases for 20^th Century Fox. They want me to do media interviews for a new movie about grandparents looking after their grandkids. And they’re paying me to do it!

The second booking was even better! The people I have a writing contract with have taken on a commercial client who wishes for me to provide eight articles per month for a campaign they’re running. The articles are all about parenting. And the pay, in addition to what I’m already receiving, is almost enough to entirely provide for our family! We feel so grateful. I almost wept when I received the call. And I’m excited because if things go well there is already discussion that the contract will be renewed for a total of three years!

In addition, more training avenues are opening up which I’m presently exploring. Two organisations have asked for proposals and I’m awaiting their responses. I’m applying to get NSW Teacher Institute endorsement to run courses for teachers for their professional development (which is great because if they have to complete those hours, they’re almost a captive audience!), and I’m dipping my toe into other training opportunities. I still appear on The Project regularly, although things have gone a little quiet with the TODAY show. But I’m getting plenty of media, and am delighted with the ongoing opportunities coming my way.

I love my work. Building a business is challenging for me. I really still have no idea what I’m doing and feel as though I’m just muddling through. But Heaven’s grace has definitely been on me, and I feel blessed and amazed at the work I get to do each day.

In relation to family, we feel incredibly fortunate. Our girls are amazing, and our family is strong. 

Chanel is growing so fast now. With only 6 months until she turns 14, Chanel is nearly as tall as me. She consistently pushes boundaries, but does more than her fair share around the house and is a beautiful big sister, particularly to the two little ones. She is funny, articulate, and in love with too many things that all the other teen girls love. We wish pop-culture wasn’t so influential. But her heart is good. She has a great deal of love and empathy for others. And she loves her family, and especially her grandparents. Chanel is now excelling at the piano – she really loves it and we have to force her to stop playing, especially when chores need to be done. And she recently begged to go back to swimming lessons. She swims in squad a couple of times each week and is a little fish. We call her ‘Excep – Chanel’ (exceptional).

Abbie is getting close to 11 years now. She has a wonderful laugh that is authentic and full of life. Abbie’s smile is infectious and we see it a lot. We are told that she is one of the best students in her grade at school (year 5) and we cannot get her nose out of books. Abbie is soft, thoughtful, and remarkably dedicated to everything she does. She is transparent too, which we love. Abbie started playing the clarinet recently after deciding she didn’t want to be like her sisters. Her abilities are improving all the time and we love hearing her play – although we seem to be buying new reeds every second week! Abbie is also swimming and seems to be really getting the hang of it. We call her Fabulous Abulous. And she is fabulous.

Ella turned 9 in January. She is a pocket rocket – a real little dynamo. Ella has more energy than we can contain. She loves to race around the neighbourhood on her bike, and after several years of difficulty in social circles, Ella has made a couple of really good friends around our nearby streets. They play for hours on end. She spends her time teaching them how to play the guitar – Ella returned to lessons recently after assuring us that we would never have to hassle her to practise again, and so far she’s made good on her word. Her guitar playing is actually getting better than mine (although mine was a pretty low standard). Ella is a book worm as well, and swings from going a million miles an hour to having her head in a book on a regular basis. She keeps us on our toes. Her teachers assure us she’s a genius, but her emotional regulation still provides all of us with challenges. We call Ella “for she’s a jolly good Ella” – and she is.

Annie is our delight. She turns 6 in a few months, and started school this year. She is going well, although her soft heart has been hurt a few times by some of her peers who have teased her for the way she talks. We are resolving those issues through some speech therapy and through conversations with the school. It is terribly challenging to see our baby girl hurt by others’ taunts. But Annie is loved and she knows it. She recently was diagnosed with eyesight issues and now wears glasses, which was quite a shock for us. But she loves the glasses and wears them as a status symbol! We’re working on a nickname for Annie. It has to be cute though… last week she called out to Kylie and assured her, “Mummy, I’ll never ever run out of kisses for you.” She melts our hearts.

Lilli turned three years old last week! We cannot believe that our precious baby is so big now. She is a non-stop talker, she is assertive, and she is possibly the cutest little girl who ever was born. Lilli loves hugs, loves sleeping in bed with her big sisters, and loves to say “hate”. She cracks us up with her ‘hate’ talk, although we don’t like to encourage it. But she’ll say “hate that” as soon as she has had enough of something. She’ll talk on the phone to someone she loves but when she’s had enough she’ll say “hate that person” and hand me the phone. She’ll eat her sandwich and with two bites to go she’ll say “hate sandwich” and give it back. So funny.

Kylie is the best thing in my life. We are trying to spend more time together, and have recently begun reading to one another each night once the kids are in bed. We are really excited that mum and dad have agreed to watch our children for five days this week so Kylie and I can have a holiday. It will actually be the first proper holiday that we have had in 15 years – and the first time we’ve gone away without the children. We’re nervous about leaving the kids, and we wish we could share the experience with them, but we’re even more excited about getting time to be together. Kylie spends her days serving our family and serving others. She is consistently impressing me with her goodness.

At church Kylie is still the Relief Society president and I’m the Stake Sunday School president. We are busy with church but both wish we could find the time to do more.

In other general news, we are finally finished renovating our home. We have a few small jobs to do but nothing much of any major substance. We feel so glad to be finished with it, after three years of having no carpet or walls or stairs, or whatever. I’ve recently begun work on landscape preparations. We have lots of work to do outside now that inside is done!

I’m riding my bike several mornings each week and delight in pushing myself to my limits. My form is a bit off though after being sick a month ago and then spraining my ankle while I was running. Eww. And I think that this brings us back up to date. It’s my intention to be more consistent in writing than I have been in recent times… fingers crossed.

Receiving Answers to Prayer

“Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.”
― Jeffrey R. Holland

If we were to substitute ‘answers to prayer’ with the word ‘blessings’, then the quote above is the perfect description of the way my prayers have been answered in recent weeks.  

In early November I received a call from LDS Church Offices about a position available with LDS Family Services. I spent 20 minutes on the phone explaining why I wasn’t the appropriate candidate for the position and suggesting ways that they might find a suitable candidate, or ways the role might be crafted to be better-managed in future. I thought that was to be the end of it.

A few weeks later I received another call, this time from NZ LDS Family Services. An hour-long conversation ended with me feeling frustrated that they still wanted me to apply for the role as Director of LDS Family Services Sydney in spite of my obvious lack of suitable credentials. I reluctantly agreed to an interview.

One week after the phone call I had an informal conversation with the same NZ gentleman. I spent an hour and a half convincing him that I was not a suitable candidate for the role. He spent the same time arguing that I ought to apply for the role. I agreed to apply, wondering if that was what the Lord had in store for me. I also began praying for direction. Heaven was silent.

As my prayers increased in their intensity I was invited to Church Offices for a formal interview with a 5-member panel including Australia’s Church Offices General Manger, the HR Manager, the LDS Family Services Global Director (based in Utah), and a NZ bloke I don’t recall. So it was pretty big stuff for a guy who was uninterested and unqualified.

Over the course of a little more than a month I had gone from not wanting the job and not being willing to apply to wondering if it was the Lord’s will that I apply and accept a position that Family Services had pled with me to apply for. I was convinced the job was mine and I needed Heaven’s help in making a determination as to whether I should accept it. The offer was for a reasonable sum of money – certainly more than I’ve ever previously earned. The job would provide me with training and experience that I can’t get elsewhere. And the security of a real job with income, holidays, sick leave, and so on was appealing.

I found that I was able to talk myself into wanting the job if I focused on the positives. But there were many negatives. We would have to relocate to Sydney. We would need to give up on my business dreams. The role would not allow me to grow in the directions I’ve felt previously called to go, but would take my in a seemingly tangential direction.

The challenge of not knowing how to build my own business combined with the security of a job had me begging for answers from Heavenly Father in my prayers. No answers came.

I went through the interview and did the best I could. I didn’t do well. Someone as inappropriately qualified as me couldn’t have done well in the interview. Yet I was still convinced the role would be offered to me and I didn’t know what to do. “Father, should I take the job?” Nothing.

Some days after I was to have been told whether I was successful or not, I was praying when I received inspiration. “Justin, you’ll know when you need to know.” It wasn’t a voice, but it was a thought. Clear and concise. I felt immediately reassured.

A few hours later the phone rang. The HR manager apologetically confirmed that I was an unsuccessful applicant. Kylie was with me and heard the conversation. I was overjoyed. I felt pure delight and gratitude. Until that moment I hadn’t known what I should do. Then the real revelation came.

I hadn’t received an answer previously because I had no decision to make. I still had no decision to make – I didn’t get the job – but my prayer was answered. I knew, immediately, when I was rejected for the role that it was God’s will. I felt it in the depths of my soul. It was unquestionable and unmistakable. God didn’t want me to work for the Church in that role. He does want me to continue along the path I’ve been following the past decade.

I wanted to write about this answer to prayer because it can be too easy to forget the spiritual assurances that come from Heaven, and this one was so clear that I always want to remember it.

So, where to from here? Well, I left my role at the University of Wollongong in July 2012 and worked part time until December. Now I’m on my own, working to develop a business that will utilise my strengths and passions, and take my family and I forward in a way that blesses others and helps families. I have a lot of enthusiasm, something of a plan, enormous support from a lot of people, and some pretty handy qualifications. Oh, and most of all, I have a Heavenly endorsement to continue on this pathway – and that’s all that matters.