Joys and Frustrations

This has been a great week at the church. Sister Best Friend and I planned worship themes through the end of April. Administrative Assistant is already working on the graphics for the series we're doing during Lent. We're really excited about the plans. The last two days the church has been full-- we've had about 10 men downstairs painting the main hall. Several women have been working on center pieces for the fellowship meal Sunday, and the centerpieces are going to be amazing. It's great to see the energy and enthusiasm.
.
I had a conference yesterday, and it was wonderful. I have gained some insights into the way I work. One of the shifts I'm going to make is that I'm going to plan on doing housework in the morning rather than the evening. I have more energy in the morning. It's easier for me to get up at 5:00 to clean the bathrooms than to do them in the evening. I'm also going to start back walking.
.
Wednesday evening I received a phone call from Daughter's doctor's office reminding me of her appointment today. I had her down for an appointment next Friday. So before I went to the conference yesterday morning, I called the doctor's office. The group home had scheduled her for a physical. Of course, they hadn't told me, hadn't prepared Daughter, and hadn't gotten her fasting blood work done. I wasn't going to be available, and I knew that would be hard on Daughter. So I sent off an email to the team, letting them know all of this and asking what was going on. I also explained I was at a conference and would not be available all day, though I'd try to check email at breaks. No response from the group home, but Nurse, Case Manager, and Program Manager were all very concerned. Program Manager needed to know if someone was going to be picking her p from program for the appointment, because she'd have to change staffing because everyone was scheduled to be off-site. Case Manager called Home Manager. Nurse called Home Manager's Supervisor. No one from the home responded to messages.
.
When there was no response by afternoon, I sent off another email. Program Manager asked if she needed to cancel a meeting so she could stay behind with Daughter. More calls were made. The Home Manager for the men's home next door called and rescheduled the doctor's appointment for Wednesday at 1:00, and then called and interrupted my conference. I told her I couldn't guarantee my availability and didn't have my calendar in front of me. She couldn't understand why I didn't know my availability. Sigh. Anyway, she called back after I checked my calendar and I decided to adjust my schedule so I can be at the appointment. (There are several issues that need to be addressed with the doctor, and I don't have much confidence in the group home staff, for some strange reason.)
.
Daughter was here last night so I told her about the doctor's appointment and that they would be taking her for a fasting blood test tomorrow. Daughter was excited to see Sister Best Friend. She was happy. She was singing this morning as she waited for the bus. This morning Home Manager emailed. She was "unexpectedly" not in at all yesterday.
.
She's a little frustrated tonight for a variety of reasons. Last month she didn't get her spending money because they claimed I was supposed to give it to the home instead of sending it to the administrative offices. So this month I wrote a separate check and took it to the home. Actually, I did that a couple of weeks ago. So Daughter wanted money to go out to breakfast tomorrow after her blood work. They haven't cashed the check. Apparently they took her to a bank this afternoon to cash it, but it's made out to the home, not her, so she couldn't cash it. She's frustrated, to say the least. She's also a little anxious because I won't be there for her blood work tomorrow. I pointed out I haven't gone in with her for years. "Yes, but I always know you're right out in the waiting room." I expressed confidence in her ability to handle it. It's too bad there wasn't more time to prepare her for this.
.
I ended up spending most of the day at the church today. Several people pointed out it was supposed to be my day off, but with the holiday Monday and the conference yesterday, I had things I wanted to get done. Working today was worth it, because the worship planning we did will make the next few weeks much less stressful. There have been frustrations with the group home, but the joy and freedom to live my life is so much greater.