Graduation weekend

Boy oh boy we had a fun weekend.  It was filled with family time and lots of eating, my two favorite things.

Thursday night my parents flew in from Idaho Falls.  flying standby is always an adventure but I won't bore you with the details of their arrival.

Friday was James' last day at his internship.  He was excited to be done.  The rest of us slept in and then ate a wonderful breakfast.  After breakfast Aliya and Abram came over for the day.   We made Mother's Day cards and then went with Grandma Thomas to the park.  James got off work early and met up with us at the park. We ate pizza for dinner and all went to bed exhausted.

taking a nap with Grandpa Thomas

Saturday we baked cakes, Will and Jenni came down to visit, Grandma Thomas made alterations on Jenni's dress, while Grandpa Thomas entertained the kids.  Grandpa Roemhildt drove up from Portland with Uncle Dano.  We all went out to eat at Steamers Restaurant.  It was great food and a fun evening.  We walked down by the Sound and watched the sun set.

Steamers Restaurant

Grace wants a piece of that tomato

James second guessing the idea of going out to eat with us.  Hehehe

Preston is on James' shoulders watching the train go by

Taylor playing with ROCKS

Grandma Thomas and Baby Grace 

Sunday was the big day.  We woke up early, and ate breakfast.  Grandma Sharolee, Red Grandma (Sharolee's Mother), Aunt Val, and Austin drove up from Portland.  We all met at the house before going to James' School.

First was the faculty met and greet,  We took only the parents and the rest of the family met up with us at the hooding ceremony.

 I'm telling my mom that the research project James and four other students did over the past three years has been selected to be on display at the International Conference of Physical therapy in Italy later this summer.  yes it's a big deal

Walking to the hooding ceremony

The Hooding Ceremony

 Then we ate lunch  and the Thomas gang headed back to the house with Gwenevere and Grace while James walked at Graduation.

The President

 After Graduation we all met up at our Friend's clubhouse for dinner.  We had a wonderful day, and are grateful for all who were able to attend.

Sunday was a wonderful day.  Thanks everyone for coming to support James and our family.  We had a wonderful day and it will be cherished forever.

Oh how he's always right

Funny Story.


So for the past months I've been begging James to start applying for jobs.  I figured it's going to take a while for him to get a job lined up and start working, and I'm so ready to be done working for a period of time.  Well, I've been stressing and worrying not knowing what was going to happen.  James on the other hand has been super relaxed and almost excited for a nice long summer brake before starting a job.


James would spend hours on the computer looking up jobs, and the area around.  He found several jobs that looked interesting and it killed me that he would look and look and look but never apply.  I begged him to apply to anything.  I didn't care where we'd be living as long as James would be working.  He looked a jobs in Hawaii, South Dakota, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Oregon and of course right here in Washington.  I was getting frustrated and was to the point I wanted to start applying to jobs for him.  Lol.  But I knew he had to do it.  So I tried even harder to have the patients to endure another summer of work.  


On Thursday April 26th James and where driving in the car on our way down to Portland.  I was once again trying to encourage James to start applying to other jobs, since the one job he wanted to apply to first was giving him the run around for the last two months.   I told him that he wasn't going to get a job unless he applies.  It's that simple, if he wants a job he has to start applying to jobs.   Finally James just looked at me and said  "you know what?  I don't think the right job has come available yet,I guess that's why I haven't worried about applying anywhere."  That is all that I needed to hear.  I knew he was right.  I wasn't happy with the answer but I knew he was right,  I need to be patient.  When I thought I couldn't be patient any longer I somehow gathered enough patients to make it a little longer.


Even though I wished will all my heart he would just apply somewhere I knew he had it under control.


Now on Friday April 27th a day after our conversation James got an e-mail from the HR department of his  past internship at St. Joseph Medical Center.  The e-mail read 

Hi, James.  I'm the Recruiter for the Therapy Administration Department.  They were very pleased with your work here as a Clinical Student and asked me to contact you regarding an opportunity that has just arisen.

We have a FT position in Inpatient Rehab that will be available.  

Franciscan Health Systems offers competitive salary, generous Paid Time Off, a defined benefit program, sign-on bonuses, and student loan forgiveness.

I would love to hear from you to discuss this position with you.

You can call or e-mail me; I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.


Linda
Employment Specialist
Franciscan Health Systems


We were in shock.  What a cool blessing.  James called Linda back, talked about some details and set up a time for an interview. 


Now the lady who would interview James was the same lady who encouraged Linda to contact James.  Linda pretty much said the job was James' if he wanted it.


James had his interview a few days later.  It went well and he was officially offered the job.    However since he was still a student at the time of his interview they decided it would be easier to do the hiring after graduation.  (hence the reason James didn't want me to blog about it until after graduation.)


On Monday, the day after Graduation James set up a time to fill out paper work to get everything in order to start his job.  We're waiting for his temporary licence to come and then he can start working.  We're hoping he'll get to start the last week in May.  


We have been blessed.  And I can't end this story without saying I know the Lord has a plan for our family.  It is clear He put us here in Tacoma where we would grow strong in His gospel.  I know He loves James and wants him to be happy.  We must work hard and do all that we can, but the Lord will provide if we just believe.  I love the gospel of Jesus Christ      it is simply beautiful.  


And to end this story I will just say this.  James was right.  And apparently you can get a job without applying to one.  Hehehehehe


Pictures of Graduation to coming soon.