We're packing our bags for Florida!

          Friday, I arrive home from an extended (due to car trouble) Christmas vacation, and after unpacking my suitcase, I will begin packing up our home for our move to Florida! Tuesday morning we received the call from the Florida Baptist Children's Homes offering us a position as House Parents in Training! We accepted, and set our start date for January 24th!
          Florida Baptist Children's Homes in Lakeland, Florida was one of the first campuses we visited. We both immediately fell in love with the organization, and I left feeling a genuine sense of peace after being there. Now, I'm not one to go off of emotions when making decisions, so I considered each following organization equally, but in the end, our reasoning lined up with my feelings, and in this case, my initial feelings were right! The Florida Baptist Children's Home is an amazing organization: they have over 100 years of experience caring for children; they care for children and families across the state of Florida on 15 separate campuses; they are amazingly well structured within their organization, and they truly desire to positively impact each child not only physically, emotionally, socially or academically, but, most importantly, spiritually. I really could go on and on, but they do a better job of sharing about their work and ministry on their website: FBCHomes.org
          As I mentioned, Neil and I were hired as House Parents in Training. Because of the size of FBCH, they have created this position so that their homes are never without house parents. We will remain in the training position until a Primary House Parent position opens up. This could take a couple of days or several months; on average, it takes about 2 months to be placed. During our training period, we will be on the Lakeland campus which is super exciting because the only two people we knew that worked at FBCH live there too, plus its just a half an hour away from my dad and other family! During our training period, we will spend the first week reading on the policies and laws, from there, we will begin shadowing current house parents, and then, after we become more comfortable, they will shadow and evaluate us.
          When we become Primary House Parents, and are given a permanent placement, we could be placed at any of their 6 residential campuses: Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Fort Myers, or Miami. We have our preferences, but we know that wherever the Lord places us will be best! We will live in a home with two attached apartments. One of the apartments will be our permanent residence, and the other will be for the relief staff. Our home, and another home on the campus, will be mentored by a couple in a Lead House Parent position who has more experience. That couple will help guide us as we face challenges, and during our time off, that couple will stay in our home and care for the children. Our general work schedule consists of 16 days on, and 7 days off. It seems like a lot of time off to us right now, but I'm sure after we begin working, it will become a much appreciated time of R&R.
          Anyway, I think that about covers the basics. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Thank you to our many friends and family members who have prayed for us and encouraged us along the way! Your continued prayers would be such a blessing to us!

Cheers to 2011,
Jenna

p.s. We have a break coming up in a few weeks; meet us at the beach?