Since neither Mike or I know anything about the health services field, we decided to take an RCFE certification course. We figure it would be a great way to learn more about what goes into running a facility and if we do decide to pursue it, we'd already be certified to be a licensed administrator of our very own RCFE. The course iteself is 40 hours long and I found one that took place over the course of two weekends in Montrose. This weekend was the first of two weekends and it was pretty mind-opening. Our teacher, Mike Goryan, made sure not to sugar coat anything the first day. He basically said we were all crazy for wanting to do something like this and that there were tons of liability on top of everything else. Needless to say, day one was rough! Mike and I kept swinging back and forth as to whether the RCFE business was for us ... by the end of the day, I was definitely leaning more towards "nah" than "yah".
However, day two went a lot better. Our guest teacher was a former nurse who is currently running two facilities. Although she, too, said this business was tough, she did an amazing job in inspiring us to do it. She said it was extremely fullfilling and that as long as we were professional and organized and capable of managing people well, we should be ok. My only concern after day two was whether I was strong enough to handle the "emotional side" of the job. I was confident I could do the business-side really well but I wasn't so confident I would be able to be happy being constantly surrounded by death and deteriorating health. I mean, one of the main reasons I didn't become a nurse was I knew I'd be crying everyday with my patients. I wasn't sure if this was for me. When Mike asked me on the way home whether I thought it would be fulfilling, I told him I'm sure it would be but I'm so very fulfilled in my current profession as a homemaker and mommy. I guess that's why I'm not rushing to trade in that kind of fulfillment with a different kind of fulfillment in running an RCFE. I told him I'd pray about it very hard this week to discern if this is what God's calling me to do. I told him I'd pray that God somehow makes more room in my heart to handle the emotional side of this business.
So that's where I stand right now ... oh -- did I mention we put in an offer for a great home in Oxnard? It was kind random how it happened. As we were talking about starting up an RCFE, Mike went online to see if there were any homes in the area that were selling at a good price. He found a five bedroom ranch-style house that said it was taking "back up offers" just in case escrow fell through. On a whim, we decided to stop by the open house just to check out the property. We were amazed at how perfect this home would be for an RCFE. It was five HUGE bedrooms, plus an amazing kitchen and other bonus rooms, plus a large back yard. It was a GREAT home (if it was in LA I'd say it would be OUR home to grow old in ... ). We loved the house so much we decided to put in a back up offer "just in case" ... even if we decided to not pursue the RCFE route, we could at least rent it out at a good price and use it as an investment property ... a few days later we found out that escrow was fallen through and that they were willing to accept our back up offer. It all happened so fast! Since we hadn't taken the RFCE course yet and still were unsure about the whole RCFE thing, we figured we'd move forward contingent upon the house passing a thorough inspection once they completed their final renovations (they were still in the process of upgrading the bathrooms, etc.). We figured that way, it would give us a few more weeks to take the course and decide what we wanted to do . So yah ... as of now, we're still in escrow and we're still deciding what to do with the house (God really really really has a crazy plan for our family. He has a great way of constantly keeping us on our toes!)
This weekend was the first time since my surgery that I was away from Zoe for a long time. On Saturday, while we were in class, mom and Tita Bot accompanied her to Nathan's baptism at the Cathedral (Zoe has her social obligations to keep -- with or without mommy and daddy!). Afterwards, she went on an adventure through DTLA with maymay and wowa. This was their first time taking Zoe out on their own and they all had a blast. They also took her to mass with them Saturday night since the 6:30 am mass Mike and I would have to attend on Sunday would be way to early for her. When I got home Saturday night, Zoe gave me this long, serious and somewhat disappointed look. It was like she was saying "Hey mom ... it's about time you got home. I had a great day, but I'm disappointed in the fact that you weren't there for any of it." She had never given me that look before and my heart completely sank. It took her about 5 minutes to let me carry her and then she got over it. She was hooked to me once again. I kept explaining to her that I was in class from 8 am - 6:30 pm to figure out what we want to do about our future. She didn't seem to care. Hahhaa. Tough crowd!!! Sunday was better ... she seemed to understand the concept that even though I was gone for a long time, I'd always come back for her.
So I guess this week will involve a lot of prayers ... discerning is so difficult! I keep going back and forth, back and forth. I just have to trust that God is leading me and all I have to do is keep my eyes, ears, and most importantly, my heart OPEN.
Here are some pics of Zoe's weekend without us:
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| Nathan's baptism |
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| Zoe and her friend Ava |
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| Ninong Kevin, Zoe and Maymay |
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| Tour of DTLA -- courtesy of the experts, Wowa and Maymay (they've worked in DTLA for 20+ years!) |
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| Lunch at the Bonaventure Hotel |
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| Zoe also got to visit Maymay's work! |
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| They even took her to the Central Library! |
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| Nap time! |
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| Zoe coloring with the cool toddler crayons Uncle Jeric got her |
It was really cute to hear (and see pics) of all the bonding mom and Tita Bot got to do with Zoe. Seeing her in DTLA kind of made me miss working there (kind of). I'm glad she had a fun adventure with them. The only "minus point" they got was they didn't change her diaper enough ... when I got home on Saturday night, she had diaper rash (her first time). They got so caught up with playing with her then letting her nap then playing again that they didn't realize how long it had been since the last diaper change. And, since Zoe LOVES walking around with a full diaper (it will NEVER come from her to have her diaper changed) it was kind of "easy" to overlook. They felt really bad but I just assured them Zoe was just teaching them a valuable lesson =) ... a little Desitin did the trick and she was fine the next day.
Here's a funny video of Zoe eating cheese and rocking out to TFC:
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