15 years

I can‘t believe it, but what was supposed to be only a temporary job at Toyo until I could get a job doing something that I desired to do has turned into a 15 year long career as of TODAY.

I started my first day of new hire orientation exactly 15 years ago.

I don‘t know whether to celebrate or be sad. Ended up going out with my wife last night to celebrate. Her mom watched the kids and we went to a new restaurant in town called The Salty Mule. It‘s over in downtown Canton. I got the shrimp & grits. It was actually really good.

I can‘t believe it‘s been this long. I never ever imagined that I would end up with a career that I had no desire for. Always thought I‘d be a musician or working with computers doing web design or programming.

But I would guess that most people with a job are only working that job to support themselves or their families and it‘s not actually something that fulfills them or gives them joy. I would think that the percentage of people who actually are doing something that fulfills them to be pretty low.

They say to make a career doing what you love and you‘ll never work a day in your life. Seriously? How many people is that actually possible for in reality?

I guess 15 years of working at a place where I have really tried to do my best and be a good worker, which has actually landed me a couple of promotions, and at the end of the day I feel no passion for what I‘m doing… well, it has worn me down a bit I supposed. I‘m passed the calloused stage though. It really ate at me and wore me down until about 6 years ago. I think that was when the callouses finally set in and I developed thick skin and a different perspective.

I understand now that it‘s not about me.

This job was given to me by God. I have never had doubts about that. I just struggled for a long time wondering why he would give me talents and abilities to do certain things and not give me a job that allows me to use those talents and abilities.

I have a family of 6 and this job provides what I need to support it.

That‘s why I have this job.

God knew what I needed before I ever started having kids. I never thought I‘d have 4 of them, but he did so he set me up at a company long enough ago where I would be involved in the start up of the plant and would learn enough to gain the experience I needed to eventually end up in a position that nowadays would require a college degree. I don‘t have a college degree. If I applied now for the position I am in now, I would probably not even get an interview. I suppose providence got me to where I am. So I‘m thankful for that I suppose.

I have made known to God that I am willing to work at Toyo as long as he wants me there. I am okay with not being happy with what I am doing if it means that my family is taken care of. I recognize that I am now 42 and no longer have my whole life in front of me to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. God has me in a job that works for me in my situation and I suppose that it is wise for me to continue there.

It‘s just these 5 year periods. It happened at 5 years. Again at 10 years. Now 15 years. I for some reason start thinking about how long I‘ve held out waiting for the thing that God really had planned for me to happen. Makes me think of Joseph in prison. He had to be thinking „God, why am I here? Surely this is not what you had planned right? Right?“ I wonder how long it was until he was okay with where God had him. Maybe it wasn‘t until all that dream stuff happened with Pharaoh and he became governor of Egypt and then it hit him… „ah, that‘s what this was all about. I see it now.“

I guess I‘m realizing that it was about my family and that‘s why I‘m there. At least, I think so. Maybe.

I’m a dad yet again

Can you believe it’s been almost 5 years since I posted to this blog? I’ve already mentioned how I’m the worst blogger ever, even though this particular blog has been around since 2005  (I posted way more back then). Actually, before that, I kept a blog in the early 2000’s. I will probably end up migrating all of those posts (and there are lots of them) to this blog and back-dating them. They are currently only found at the internet archive on archive.org. I hope I can retreive them all.

Anyway, to the point of this blog post: I’m a dad yet again. We had identical twin girls, born on 12/12/17. So, they are now 6 months old. It has been quite a wild ride for Candace and I as of late. At the same time she was pregnant, I became afflicted with salmonella after eating a company sponsored Thanksgiving dinner at work. Actually, there was a huge outbreak and lots of people had to go to the ER. The outbreak actually made national news. It was the turkey that was bad.

So, the salmonella fired up old issues of mine from way back when in the early 2000’s when I had several abdominal surgeries. I became very ill, first of all, from the salmonella and spent 5 days in the hospital. We had to push back my wife’s scheduled c-section by 2 days so that I could get out of the hospital and try to recover for one day at home. Then we spent 5 days in the hospital having the twins. That time, although cherished family bonding time, was hell for me because I was in so much pain.

After getting home, I went to see a specialist who told me I had to have surgery to take out some bad intestines.

Long story short, I ended up having to have 2 major surgeries 3 months apart.

After the first surgery there were complications. My bowels were leaking anything I ate or drank into my abdominal cavity and caused me to have an abcess that wouldn’t go away. I ended up with an infection and spent another 18 days in the hospital a week after returning home from the first surgery, then another 7 days in the hospital a week after returning home from the 18 day stay.

I was put on TPN which I had to administer to myself every night through a PICC line in my upper right arm. I could eat nothing by mouth for over a month until the second surgery on 4/16/18. I was hangry, absolutely capital-H HANGRY, the entire time. Absolutely miserable. I felt like I had been dragged to the gates of Hell and back.

I’m still recovering and have been back at work three weeks now. I missed a total 5 months of work and was on short term disability the whole time. Thank God for that coverage, which I have automatically through my insurance.

I lost 50 pounds, by the way, through all of this. If you know me, you know I’m already thin. I looked like a prisoner of war, or like one of the starving men you see in pictures from the Nazi concentration camps back during the Holocaust.

Well, that’s it for now. Maybe I’ll try to keep this up.

-Chris.

I’m a dad again

My new daughter was born this morning at 1:25.  She is 20.25 inches long and 7lbs 7oz.  She has a head full of dark brown hair.  Didn’t really know what to expect there since our first daughter had a head full of red hair.

To Be Healthy

I started eating fruit this week. I guess I feel like the older I get the more bad my diet will do to me. I don’t need to go on a diet; I’m still thin, but I know that my bad eating habits will eventually catch up on me.

So the last 3 days I’ve eaten strawberries and blueberries for breakfast. I still ate a couple of butter biscuits with them, but hey, it’s a start.

I saw this thing called the Paleo diet. Apparently it is a very healthy eating plan and I’ve given thought to trying it out for a while, but I don’t know if I could keep it up.

First of all, I don’t eat vegetables much at all. I eat green beans, corn, and black eyed peas on occasion. I’ll eat a salad too, but it has to be iceberg lettuce and has to have dressing.

Second of all, eating healthy is stinking expensive. The prices are ridiculous. I can’t afford to eat anything but processed foods, which is what all the vegans, vegetarians, and Paleo people tell you not to eat.

I don’t know, maybe I can try to keep a “moderately” Paleo diet. It’s healthier than what I’m eating now. At least it allows meat. Maybe once my coffee experiment is over and I’ve proven whether or not my taste buds have the ability to change I’ll start trying dressing-less salad or what I know the bane of any healthy eating plan for me will be – broccoli. Or cauliflower. *shudder*

Whip cream

Went to Starbucks with this little lady the other day. I got her some whip cream to enjoy.

Who am I

I’m like the worst blogger ever.

I’m just no good at keeping In touch. I tried Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and just gave it up because I couldn’t get past the fact that I felt it was the most ridiculous waste of time. There are so many more things I could be doing than finding out what other people are doing. The better course of wisdom in my case, I think, is to abstain from all of that time wasting because I am too prone to become addicted, as it turns out.

I’m still at Toyo. It’ll be 7 years in June.

Everli turned 2 in October and Nora Collette will be here in June. Having kids is a tremendous blessing indeed, but you must possess a mild form of insanity to actually go through with having them. It’s the most difficult yet most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

I’m playing a gig this weekend. Playing bass. It’s for the conference my wife is putting on. This is the second year. Check it out: pillarsgirlsconference.com.

She is also doing a retreat at Deer Run in Franklin, TN in September this year. I’m proud of her.

Later.

Back to School

The last time I went to school was in the Spring of 2000 at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, LA (I started in the Fall of 1997). I decided at that time that I would take a semester off just to take a break. I had, after all, been going to school for 16 years without a break. I ended up getting sick with ulcerative colitis and had to have several abdominal surgeries. I never went back to school.

Fast forward almost 12 years and I’m married, age 33, with a daughter. My desire has always been to finish college. I’ve given it loads of thought over the years, but would talk myself out of it thinking, “I’m too old now and besides, there is no way to afford it.”

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 16:9 – “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” So, as I was thinking about my life and this verse one day and all the places God has directed me I decided to pray and see if God would somehow open the door for me to attend somewhere, but it would have to be 100% online since I work close to 50 hours a week 30 minutes away and He would have to provide 100% of the funds. I decided to “plan” on going to college and see where God’s direction would take me.

Long story short, I began to take it one step at a time and prayed for God’s direction at each step (and for funds!). I requested info from a few schools and ended up with one that had a program that matched the desires God had put in me. I applied and was accepted by the grace of God.

I began my first class today. It’s a required intro class for the school and it is worth zero credits and costs zero dollars, but hey, it’s a class and I’m stoked! I’ll keep praying and saving and when the money is there I’ll take another class and just keep going until I’m finished.

I’m so thankful and humbled that God would give me this opportunity. It is only by His grace that I am able to accomplish or achieve anything that I do in life. To Him and Him alone be the glory!

9 months

my daughter was 9 months old last week. she’s crawling and pulling herself up to a standing position on different furniture and objects. Some days her hair looks a little more red, some days more blonde, but i think she definitely has a little firecracker, red-haired personality mixed in there.

i’m a dad

on october 21, 2010 at 11:10 in the morning, i officially became the dad of a beautiful, strawberry blonde girl named everli raye.

it’s been a week so far. a challenging week. she has a little jaundice, so we’ve been getting her blood drawn everyday at the hospital to check her bilirubin level. they also gave us this tanning bed thing that glows blue light. she is supposed to lie on it as much as possible, but we have trouble getting her to stay on it because she squirms a lot when we try to put her on it.

all in all, i’m happy to be a dad. candace is a natural mother. she’s doing a great job.

new job

i got a promotion at work. straight days. monday through friday. no nights. no weekends.

on call 24/7. *weeps silently*