Advice Requested

So I need a little advice..........
I have to find a job and my problem is that I'm not sure what to do. My goal after completing this PhD was to find this magical clinical research position that allows me time to be a physical therapist and treat clients AND have time to participate in research. These jobs are few and far between and when you add the pediatric factor they are almost non-existent. I have spent the past month poking around at jobs, trying to find something, but the jobs are generally clinical, administrative or faculty. If we had the financial luxury I would continue to hunt, or at the very least wait until February (when our national convention occurs) to find a really good fit, but without the influx of student loan money that would usually come in August to get us settled, things are tight, really tight. Thus I need to find something soon. 

I would love to be back in the clinic, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to do any research. Most clinics are not designed to allow their practitioners time to research. That being said if I did return to the clinic full-time in 2 years I would be able to sit for my specialist certification exam. This would make me more marketable in some respects.

A faculty position would give me the access to research and possibly (depending on the position and location) access to practice in a clinic up to 1-day a week. The issue with a faculty position is that my vita is a bit lacking in the publication department. The other issue is that I must determine what else I am qualified to teach outside of pediatrics.... *sigh* I love pediatrics so much and it's not that I'm not competent to teach other things, but pediatrics is my love and it is the ONLY thing I have done since graduating from PT school in 2003, other than a 3 month stint at a nursing home (ugh!)  I could potentially teach research courses, lifespan, parts of adult neuro and basic skills courses, but usually these are well covered in most programs. Also I enjoy teaching, and I like to think I'm good at it, but it doesn't give me that feeling that I get when I have either presented my research or helped a child learn to walk..........

The other option is a post-doc, which are also few and far between for pediatrics and PT in general. This pays a lot less than both the clinic and faculty, but may give me a leg-up. The issue is that there is 1 possible post-doc that I could qualify for that has been advertised and the rest I basically just have to send out some emails and see if anyone has any money laying around or coming in shortly.

It's just frustrating. I don't want to start a local PT job here in a clinic doing pediatric work knowing that I am looking for work elsewhere, it's not fair to anyone. And since I probably haven't made it clear we WANT to move out-of-state. Nothing against our current state, but we are ready to move on. This was always to be a temporary move, and our next move may be temporary as well, but we'll worry about that later! :)

So any and all advice is welcome.......

the unexpected

There comes a time in EVERYONE's lives that something unexpected happens, and I'm not talking about a little something, but a BIG something. We recently learned that something unexpected happened to some friends of ours and while I am not at liberty to share any information, we'll just say it is life changing.

I wanted to share with them (and everyone else) that even though things may not be going as planned or expected there is a reason this event occurred, God has a master plan that we are not privy too. Sometimes it may take a while to figure out why, but each time hubby and I have experienced something totally unexpected, we have *usually* been able to identify after the fact why. I always like to use the example of my son Al (#2), we weren't planning him, in fact we didn't plan a single one of our kiddos, but that's another topic! But we know now that he was born to get us through the death of my grandma, who passed away six weeks after he was born. Same thing happened with DJ- he was born the day after my hubby's grandma passed away. I will say when I found out I was pregnant with #4 I called my last remaining grandparent and said "You better not be dying in 9 months!" (Which he didn't!)

I don't yet have enough hindsight to see aftereffects with my dissertation, but I am sure that it will come. ;)

So I just wanted to share that life happens and sometimes you just have to have a LOT of faith and know that your family and friends and the Lord will support you through this journey.

7/2, 1:00, 310

July 2, 1:00pm began one of the biggest moments of my life. DISSERTATION DEFENSE! In just under 45 minutes I presented the 310 pages (current count) of my dissertation research. It was amazingly easy presenting, in fact I had almost no nerves once I started presenting. It wasn't that different from all of the practice trials I had done, which made me really glad I had rehearsed it that much.

The questions were good and generally answerable. I did realize into one questioning that I could easily get into a pissing match with this faculty member (not on my committee), but I opted to avoid it and was left alone after the initial questioning. When the committee removed all the outside people the questions were interestingly a little more relaxed, but still challenging. I was confident when they asked me to leave the room, but hearing a raised voice of my adviser made me walk a little further down the hallway. It could have been 5 minutes or 15 that I waited for them, but when my adviser came out to get me there was a smile and a question about how many years it had been. Hugs and congratulations were given and it was done!

I still have corrections to do, and in fact have only been back into school one evening since my defense to look at the dissertation, but I am still waiting on comments from a committee member. But.......otherwise I am DONE!

PhD, PT