I have spent the last few weeks trying to find a way that I can still work toward my licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist even though we have to stay here in Daegu another year and a half. After graduation, I must pick a state and apply to be a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate. That means that I still must pass the licensure exam and complete another 2 years of training. Basically it's like residency for a doctor or being an associate in a law firm right out of law school. I must have a supervisor to sign my notes for two more years and provide further training. I found this company up in Seoul that is a civilian, English speaking company that I thought I might be able to work through and still see clients down here in Daegu. I was willing to work for either cheap or free, if they would provide my supervision for free. I contacted the company and gave them my proposal. They were interested. They invited me up to Seoul for an interview. I was so nervous. I didn't sleep a wink the whole night before. Brian was so excited for me. He had even encouraged me to get my own custom tailored suit from Thailand for job interviews. (You can see it in the picture above.)
The interview was stressful and far more rigorous than I anticipated. I hadn't slept and I had wrongly assumed the types of questions they would ask me. The more nervous I became the more I kept talking, and the less I made sense. I felt pretty sheepish by the time the interview was over. However, they offered me a job despite my convoluted explanations. They offered for me to train with their team of therapists and they would pay my train tickets up to Seoul to do my training.
I was excited about that because they are a stellar company and I have not received a lot of hands on training. I've been largely left on my own. But, I can't complain too much, I was just lucky to find a way to get my internship done at all in Daegu. The company executives said that they could not pay me because I am not on a work visa to Korea. (I sort of thought that might be the case, so that wasn't a huge shocker.) They also said that they needed me to work at least one late night until 9 pm. They wanted me to come and train with them for six months before working on my own in Daegu (that makes sense but not what I was hoping for). They wanted me to go to Seoul three times a week. That means 5 hours a day of travel and/or staying overnight by myself in Seoul once a week.
I left my interview feeling more depressed and conflicted than ever. I was really excited for the job opportunity, but something just didn't feel right about it. For the next week, I prayed and prayed and prayed and just felt like I wasn't getting an answer. Brian was really pushing me to take the position. However, as I researched licensure requirements through Tennessee (where we used to live) and Washington (where we will likely move next), it looks like I will have to pay a supervisor because that company in Seoul will not qualify. So not only will I have to be away from my family for long hours on end, I wouldn't get paid, and I would have to pay several hundred a month out of my own pocket.
I finally came to the conclusion that I can't take the job, even though it's such a great professional opportunity. I promised Heavenly Father that I would always put my family first--because I know that whatever we sacrifice for the Lord always comes back to us exponentially. Right now, I can't see how it will all work out, but I know that this is in some small way a trial of my resolve to serve God first. Sometimes I feel this bit of resentment that my career and my desires are always subjugated to the needs of my husband and my family. But, I also know that I will have no credibilty as a family therapist if my family is what I sacrifice to get to the top. I have faith that somehow it will all work out even better than I can imagine. . . I just don't know the end of the story yet.
Speaking of motherhood, I thought that I would record on my blog some of the hilarious moments I have had with the kids lately. These are posts I put on facebook to share with family (thanks to facebook, I never have to call home anymore :) about my crazy moments in parenting:
1-After finding that some kid(s) put rotten oranges in the trash can without a trash bag in it, I asked, "Who did this?" Diamond, "Not me!". . . Of course not. Florence, "Not me!". . . Yeah, right! Sophia, "Not me!". . . So it was a ghost, huh? Giselle, "Not me, I stuff all my garbage under the couch.". . Now that I believe.
2-My latest conversation had while cooking dinner: Chloe: "Mom, I'm on fire." Me: (Turning around with a sarcastic comeback.) Holy S*&! You ARE on fire!! (Sorry for the language, but seriously, what are you supposed to say when you turn around to see flames coming off your child?) Thankfully she had on a hoodie and I was able to rip it off and dowse it with water as it went up in flames. No damage to Chloe.
3-Me: Sophia, did you do your own eyeshadow? Babe, you look like a clown, go clean that off. We have to leave.
Sophia (coming back a few minutes later): Look mom, it came right off--I just washed my eyes with fingernail polish remover and it worked perfectly.
Me: You did WHAT?? Go rinse your eyes out fast!!! You could go blind!!!
Giselle: If she goes blind, can we get a dog?
4-Brian introduced the family to fermented soy bean soup tonight when we went for beef and leaf. On the first bite I thought, "Oh disgusting, it tastes like smelly feet." Second bite, "maybe not." Third bite, "I guess it's not that bad." Fourth bite, "This is actually pretty good." Something about Korean food kind of grows on you--once you get past the smell.
5-Men are disgusting creatures! Brian played racqueball with his friend, RJ, and stunk up the court with constant farting. Poor RJ had to play racquetball without breathing. We invited their family over for FHE tonight. Before coming, RJ made all of his children eat tons of chili for dinner, in hopes of retaliating against Brian. His son successfully took revenge in our home. It's so unfair that we women have become collateral damage in this war!
6-When I was cleaning the boys bathroom today I found a banana peel, pudding cup and chips in the shower. At first I thought, "Seriously? Why?" Then I remembered that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer installs a garbage disposal in his shower drain so he can make salad in the shower, and I thought that was a brilliant idea. Then Oakley won't be able to get out of helping with meals. When he says, "Mom, I'm getting in the shower," I'll say, "Great! Why don't you prepare a veggie platter while you're in there!"
7-Chloe was asked to write a bio for me for my introduction at Women's Conference. This is seriously what she wrote:
"Jessica comes from a sarcastic family and lives a sarcastic life, I mean literally sometimes I think her life is just a big joke. Her favorite thing to do in life is to write funny status updates on facebook. If she says something and there is a long pause the thing she said was probably meant to be funny so just laugh until she moves on.
you might think she spends most of her days cleaning the house and making meals like a house keeper since we have seven kids, but no. If you’ve ever wondered why we're so skinny it's because she just feeds us little scraps and makes us work all day."
8-Gwynyth just said to me, "I'm going to travel more places in my life than you, because more places have been discovered." How old does she think I am? Or where's she planning on visiting, Jupiter?
9-Diamond just came into my room crying.
Me: "What's wrong, honey?"
Diamond: *Sniffling* "I peed in my eye!"
Me: *Staring in disbelief* "How did you manage that?"
Diamond: I was trying to walk around the toilet and turn on the shower while I was peeing and it bounced off the side and came right back up into my eye and IT BURNS! It REALLY BURNS" *Crying more*
Me: *Laughing. . . a lot* "I'm not sure what to say to that? Try not to pee in your own eye?"
10-I read about the current epidemic of children who spend hours watching television, doing nothing else but having their faces sucked into the screen, and I thought to myself, "How did those parents get so lucky?" Seriously, can't my four youngest just sit still for 10 minutes?
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