JQuery Load Issue with Widgets in MediaWiki?

[datadog]

Hi Folks --

Appreciate any help with this question -- can't seem to find any answers . . . 

I'm running MediaWiki 1.26.2, which uses ResourceLoader to load jQuery.

I've defined a function in MediaWiki:Common.Js as below:

    //internal load function

    function testLoad() {$(document).ready(function(){

    $.ajax({

        url:'some_internal_url',

        type:'get',

        dataType:'html',

        success:function(data) {

             alert('testLoad was successful!');}

        })

    });

    }

This function runs fine in the console when I call testLoad(). However, when I try to call if from my app using the Widgets Extension I get either a "$ is not defined" error or a "testLoad is not defined" error. In the first case, I use jQuery in my widget, as below:

    <script src="text/javascript">

    $(document).ready(function(){

    testLoad();

    });

    </script>

and in the second case, I just call my function without jQuery, as below:

    <script src="text/javascript">

    testLoad();

    </script>

I think this has something to do with my scripts loadings before JQuery has loaded, but I'm not sure how to fix it. Maybe I should be using a different extension to load my jQuery/javascript? Many thanks for any ideas.