Not necessarily my plan...

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  (Jeremiah 29:11 TNIV)

As a child I was going to be the next Nancy Drew.  Sarah K., world-renown FBI agent .  My senior year the plan was to attend Lake Land and study criminal justice, then see that where would lead me.  One thing I was sure of, I wanted to get through school as quickly as possible and get on with my life.

I had always been fascinated with crime, lawyers, courtrooms, the mob, etc.  My grandpa K was too.  He loved reading about gangsters and the mafia.  I have read this one book that my grandma still keeps on the headboard on the west bed in the west bedroom about organized crime at least three times.  I was just sure that I wanted to be a police officer and then hopefully some day an investigator.  I also wanted to live right here in Martinsville...Yeah, I know, I'm not sure if I was ignoring the fact that there wasn't a huge crime problem and need for criminal investigators or if I just didn't think that far.

My mom mentioned being a legal secretary a time or two, and one time I vaguely remember her telling me she'd always wished she had become a court stenographer.  Hhm, never heard of that, but I want to be Nancy Drew and I sure don't remember Nancy sitting speechless in a courtroom!  I think it was about January of my senior year, 1993, when I literally woke up thinking I can't be a cop, I'm afraid of the dark.  What in the world was I going to do now?  I thought about becoming a lawyer or a paralegal, but honestly, I didn't want to go through that much schooling or hard work (yes, sometimes I'm just plain lazy).  I wondered if there was something else I could do that would still allow me to work in the justice system?  I loved to type.  What had my mom said about a court stenographer?  Ah-ha!

One way or the other, I ended up enrolling in Sparks Business College in Shelbyville, Illinois.  They had Court Reporting, Secretarial, Accounting and maybe Medical Transcription.  It was a private business school located just off the square in Shelbyville.  It was the perfect transition for someone like me...very small, very cozy, very close to home, very quick.  Perfect.

It definitely wasn't perfect, it for sure wasn't easy and I very much wanted to quit a couple of times.  I even went so far as to meet with someone at Lake Land to discuss other career choices.  We went every day, year-round, minus three one-week breaks held in Sept, Dec. and May, I think.  It was a lot like being back in junior high and nothing at all like a college, but by that point I decided I had gone too far to turn back, and thankfully, I stuck it out. 

In December of 1995, I took the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations test to become a Certified Shorthand Reporter.  I had taken it in August and had passed the written portion and almost passed one of the timed portions.  It was hard and so much of it was a mind game.  It's not the type of test you can take and think about and go back and correct mistakes.  On this one, you have two different tests consisting of five minutes of dictation, if you mess up and can't get back on the wagon, you lose.  Extremely shaky hands are deadly.

You know one of the important parts of preparing for a test is the night before making sure you get a good night's sleep.  Jay & I had just been married in August.  We bought a trailer and it was cold, very cold.  Our pipes froze that night.  Poor Jay was out underneath the trailer with a hair dryer trying to thaw them most of that night.  If it could go wrong, it did.  But somehow we arrived in Carbondale on time and I took my test.  I think I knew that day that I had passed it but I was afraid to say it (so I didn't).  It was hard to believe that I might have passed it, but I had an eerie calm feeling the rest of the day or maybe it was really like an aaaaahh, I can finally breathe and relax feeling.

In January, Jay called me to tell me the letter came...I was en route on Hwy 16 from Shelbyville to Mattoon where I worked.  I told him to open it and YES, I had passed.  What a glorious day!!  Shortly after that, I made arrangements for a job as a freelance court reporter and I left school.  I was a Certified Shorthand Reporter, wahoo.  I had made it...and it seems to have worked out for me. 

I wasn't at the top of my game during that time with prayer and church and Jesus.  I prayed, went to church and loved Jesus, but it wasn't a priority. Obviously, someone somewhere was praying for me and my career path.  Maybe several.  Thankfully.  I love this bible verse above.  I know it's very popular and you hear it all the time, but it is one I believe with all my heart.  Even when things seem to change or not go according to our plan, things work out.  God has a plan for us and it IS the perfect one.  I'm not sure I would've been a very good police officer, but I will say I think I'm a pretty good court reporter.  Sometimes it seems like I was just made for this job, you know...