Monday, September 30, 2013

mosses monday XLVII (continued from XLIV)...



he was back nearly to his same old self
but with a new sense of purpose...


which God had bestowed upon him.

~@~

mosses never spoke again
about his experience with God,
but
the effect of their encounter
was very apparent.
 
at the age of 90,
he put two, new projects
into motion.
he decided to gift (respectively)
both his and mrs. moss'
childhood, country churches
with endowments for growth.

it was quite apparent
mosses wasn't ready to go
and that God had answered my prayer

God, if he is ready to go,
take him...
but if he is not ready to go,
please, leave him,
and leave him whole!

by granting him a stay,
which gave him the opportunity
to dig up his proverbial buried talents 
and use them.

~@~

i don't know that mosses
ever saw the fruits of his gift
to his, church home.
however,
the gift he gave to  mrs. moss' church
was put to immediate use. 

niagara united methodist church
invested mr. moss'
endowment in adding a gathering area
to their small church.
further,
they allowed
mosses to play a part
in all aspects of its erection.
~@~

i hadn't seen him that alive
since before mrs. moss 
had been diagnosed with alzheimer's.

he was back,
and 
he was whole!

love and God's blessings,
dani xxx

ps. you will find earlier entries
in ascending order 
on my side bar entitled,
"our love story":)

Sunday, September 29, 2013

from fem to forkin'...


for the past week
i've been editing and narrating
a forklift training powerpoint
for a local aluminum smelter,
the very same factory i personally
received forklift equipment training
 from 25 years ago...

~@~

in the early spring 
of my freshman year at murray state,
my mom informed me i would be working
as a summer student, laborer at alcan aluminum.
alcan was a local aluminum smelter 
where she, my step-dad, 3 uncles, and
numerous cousins worked.
although she and my step-dad
worked in accounting,
you can believe me
when i say i was well-versed
in the woes of working in the factory.

i think she thought working 8-16 hours a day
in the 100+ degree heat
would teach me a valuable lesson...
that i needed to stay in school and get my degree!

the thing is,
i went from this:


to this:


like a fish takes to water...

i.loved.it!

~

ironically, terry givens (tl),
whom i now work for,
trained me on the forklift.
tl had worked for alcan
prior to starting the givens group
(then known as "the tool shed").
alcan had brought him on as a contractor
to train new-hires
and shoot and produce safety training videos.
#thingscomefullcircle

i ran stackers,
i banded metal,
i charged the furnaces,
and
i fork-trucked billet, slab, and t-bar.

and, you know what?
i was good at it!

when i went back to school in the fall,
i declared my major,
occupational safety and health engineering.
i knew i wanted to work
in a factory setting.
there was nothing like it.
the people were real,
the work was hard yet rewarding,
and
perhaps, i could be 
one of the ones to keep
the employees safe!

it was the following fall,
after finishing 
my safety engineering internship,
that i started working for tl.
we put together videos,
painted signs and banners,
and
i drew and labelled alcan's
emergency plan maps
for each department.

~@~

my job assignment
this week
has been a very nostalgic one.
there are so many more regulations now
than there were back in the day.

in 1988,
there were no seat-belts,
our trucks were propane,
i don't recall having
to perform a pre-use inspection
on any of the heavy equipment
i operated,
and...
there may or may not have been 
horse-play on the midnight shifts.
(and, btw...
i may or may not 
have won a forklift race
or three;)

love and God's blessings,
danixxx

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

charity...



several weeks ago my boss,
tl givens,
said to me:
"now, dani, if there's a good
charity that you know of or hear about,
let me know.
i like supporting good causes."

me:
"really?"

tl:
"yeah, really."

me:
"well, there is a golf outing coming up...
it's for childhood cancer awareness.
did you know september is 
childhood cancer awareness month?"

tl:
"well, no..."

me:
"yeah, it is, 
and that's what the scramble is for.
do you remember lane goodwin,
the young, local boy who died of cancer 
last fall?"

tl:
"yeah, i remember."

me:
"well, his story was and is
very near and dear to my heart.
would you want to get
a foursome together 
and go play golf on friday?"

i looked up from what i was doing
to find tl already googling
lane goodwin.

tl:
"well, i see links for his story...
a prayer facebook page
and a twitter page;
but, i don't see anything
about a scramble."

i told him where to find
the list of lane goodwin events.

tl:
"oh, here it is."

~@~

within just a few minutes,
he put together our team and
printed out our tickets.

me:
now all we need are matching shirts?
(i grinned. #gohardorgohome)

tl:
well, yeah!
i'll call and see if i can get
them by friday.

and this, 
friends,
is the kind of boss for whom we all
should work! 



love and God's blessings,
dani xxx

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

my team...


(scott, dani, and tl)

a couple of months ago,
i received a text from my 
long-time-buddy,
terry givens "tl".

"hey, do you know anyone
fresh out of college that would be
interested in selling contract work?"

i thought for a moment...
then responded,

"let me think about it."

~@~

i couldn't think of anyone right away
because the kids i know
are katherine's age
(with only 2 years of college under their belts).

~@~

a couple of weeks later
john and i were at tl's for a cookout.
tl's younger son, scott,
who now runs much of the business,
came over and knelt in front of me.

"dani, will you go out and sell for us?"
he asked.

"me?"
i was taken completely by surprise!

"yes, you!  i want you to sell our services."
he responded.

"oh, scott, i don't know.
i've never worked in sales before...
what exactly are you selling?"
i was backpedaling.
i'd never even sold candy bars in school,
popcorn in baseball...
cookies in girl scouts.

"i'll be right back," he said.
he went to his truck and returned
with a piece of paper.
on it were two lists of 
facility management/staffing services,
"on demand and scheduled".

i looked at it and back at scott.

scott...
i had watched scott grow up!

"let me take it home and look at it,
and i'll let you know.  ok?"

"ok," he said.

~@~

i had to at least think about it.
you see i had worked 
for the givens consulting group, inc.
since 1988.

in 1988 tl taught me to drive a fork-lift,
to letter and paint banners,
and
to draw and label emergency maps.
it was the work i did for him
that put me on the 
occupational safety and health road,
which culminated in my osh degree.

over the years i had done quite a bit
contract safety work for tl
but no sales...

~@~

i thought about it over the weekend,
and on monday morning i called tl.
"ok, i'll tell you what i'll be willing to do, t-lee,"
i continued.
"i will get you up and running...
learn everything i need to know to sell.
i will go out and sell.
if it looks like it's not working for either of us,
i will help you hire another sales person
and educate them on the business."

"well, alright then!" tl responded.

~@~

upon beginning to learn the new part of the business,
the part i was going to be selling,
i started getting really excited
and more and more confident.

i remember the moment it clicked with me,

"i believe in this and in the team
with which i'll be working...
i can do this!"

~@~

after that epiphany,
i never looked back...
i knew i had to bring our group
in to the 21st century:
setting up a website:
a facebook account:
a twitter account:
and, yes, a blog:

~@~

selling our team has been
so effortless.
for, we provide services businesses need.

how could a business not want
a group to come in with:
a team who can smoothly transition!
a team with a flawless production
and safety record!
a team that the givens build up!
and...
a team that takes pride in doing 
the best job they can do!

~@~

working with this group has always
been a blessing
and
it continues to be...

i.am.blessed!

love and God's blessings,
dani xxx