Being An Uncle

Justin was not doing very well when his nephew Jaxon was born. They really didn't have too much time together. I think the underlying fear was that Justin would have a seizure while holding the baby and that could be bad, especially because Justin is a big guy. So he kept his distance. Jaxon would stare at him with those sweet little eyes, but didn't smile much, and didn't seem to know how to react when Justin talked to him.

Now, it is the opposite. The two of them are best buds. Often I see Jaxon sitting on Uncle Justin's lap, chillin'. They play monster, "pat the bald head", and the ever popular, "you are my trampoline". What a blessing to watch these two! We are blessed they have each other.

Motivation--Where Did That Come From?!

Every day Justin seems to come up with more and more motivation. He is currently writing a book-working on Chapter 2, memorizing the book of James, reviewing his Greek course and trying to catch up, walking every day, and looking for an awesome job. He did NONE of this in the past. I don't know where it came from, but I like it!

Resume Time

Justin saw an ad for his dream job and is working on updating his resume...

The first three years of college, Justin was in a prison ministry. Several young men went into the nearby prison every Monday night to spend time with the inmates, share their faith, and build trusting relationships. He loved it and looked forward each week. I remember him telling me one time that there were guys in the prison younger than himself. He felt really bad for them.

It was on the national news one night...several inmates escaped by dropping mattresses out of the 5th story window onto the razor wire fence. One of the inmates fell wrong and was injured pretty badly. The prison took this very seriously and closed the prison to outsiders. No more prison visits for anyone. That ended the ministry for good.

There is a position open near here for a chaplain. Justin is not positive that he has the exact qualifications that they are looking for, but he will send his resume anyway. They may have something else if this isn't the right thing.

Justin loves prison ministry about as well as camp ministry, so we will pray he gets a job in one of these two areas. Thanks!

A New Postition

Justin did a great job on his walk-through at the camp. Within 3 hours of him returning home, they called to ask if he would like to work at the camp as a regular volunteer. There are no paid positions at the camp yet, but they have much to do to prepare for Josh McDowell, who will be speaking in the auditorium later this month. Justin is pleased and ready to get back into a job, even if it is unpaid at this point.

The camp is only about 2 miles from my workplace, so transportation should not be too much of an issue.

Exciting Day

Justin is going to do some work tomorrow for a church here in town. They have purchased a camp and are not really sure what they have and don't have. They have asked Justin to go on a walk-through with the pastor to see the camp and then let them know what he thinks. He has worked at many camps and will be able to tell them the good and the bad. But mostly he will be able to encourage them to do the things that will draw people there. Justin worked at a camp in Pennsylvania that used the camp facilities year round. During the fall, winter and spring they brought in groups from schools, senior citizen groups and others for retreats to learn about nature. It keeps the camp in business year round. That is how it should be. Pray for him, that this may lead him to some sort of job.

Moving Forward

Several people from both hospitals have encouraged me to have Justin apply for Disability. I looked into it last year and it said you must have been sick for one year to get benefits. Well, it has been over 10 months already, so the time is now.

I have this sinking feeling that we will spend many hours on this project (you have to jump through a hundred hoops) only to find out he does not qualify for some reason. I will have to take some time off work to visit the local social security office, and take dozens of informational papers, like who his doctors are, the dates of his treatments, future appointments, his patient ID numbers, medications and their prescribers, and even a copy of his birth certificate. It will take me hours to get all of this information together. I will try to keep a positive attitude about it, but I just have a feeling it is a lot for nothing. But, you can't know until you try, so we will try.

I called the Social Security office and they gave us an appointment for 1:00pm this Wednesday. I was actually surprised that we got in that fast. And yet that is not too much time to have all this information put together.

This is the tiring part of illness.

A New Man

Justin has been gaining energy and motivation by the day. I am surprised every day to see what he has accomplished. Today he showed my his bedroom, all neat, organized and cared for. This is a tremendous change. Cleaning his room has never been one of the top 100 priorities in his life! It was a blessing to see that he really cares about his things and wants them to look nice.

Every day, the guys have been walking the trails in our neighborhood. I'm not sure how many miles they walk, but that isn't really a concern right now. Just the fact that he is out walking is a good thing. He seems to like the walks.

Chapter one of his book is written, and he is working on chapter 2. I love hearing how the character is moving along in the story.

The only bad thing going on right now is boredom. Even with walks, writing, cleaning, tv and family, he is still looking for a lot more to do. Pacing isn't fun.