While still a student at a Nanny College, they had clients looking to hire their graduates in locations both locally and internationally. An offer came to me to fly all the way to Denver, Colorado to work for a family for 12 months. I had always had a dream of traveling the world, and although the United States was not at the top of my list at the time, I felt doors opening to this offer and a nudge to take the steps to leave my life in beautiful Brisbane, Australia, and venture to the other side of the world on my own. 12 months abroad at the young age of 20? Sure!
Upon arriving in this high-altitude, increasingly-cold, yet beautiful state, I though that this may not have been the best idea. I became homesick and the job was not all that I had agreed to. Fortunately, I made finding a church home a priority and made several friends quickly. I moved out of the family’s home I was in and moved in with another nanny friend for a while. No job. Thousands of miles away from home with no way to get back. Pretty much homeless. To say that those few months were rough would be an understatement. I was crying out to God almost every day. Why DID He bring me over here if only to be left in this seemingly hopeless situation?
I found myself a short-term job with another family in the area who needed someone to join them on their family vacation to Florida to visit family and go to DisneyLand over the Thanksgiving break. Yes, my first ever Thanksgiving was spent chewing on a turkey leg at Disney and helping with their 3 adorable children, before we spent time with their family in Naples. The Keesling family were amazing. We all got along so well.
While still living with the Keeslings, my friend, Candy, and I had been attending a local church and their college age Bible Study. An amazing group of people with even more amazing leaders – Bruce and Debbie.
One chilly evening in December – the 10th, to be precise – I sat down to eat a meal with the others in the group, that Debbie had prepared, and met someone who would change my life forever.
To be continued…