The Lowdown
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Posted by Les at 11:38 AMMost people reading this are family that know what we've been living with the last 8 years. But, just for the odd person that perhaps stumbles upon this blog, or some friends from facebook that perhaps are taking a peek here, I'm going to talk a bit about it.
I say 'living with' like it's been some kind of horrendous ordeal. I wouldn't say that at all. People who have lost their jobs are in a horrendous ordeal. But, we have been putting up with a situation that a lot of people would have gotten themselves out of a LONG time ago.
When we moved back from Chicago, James left a good job in the AV department of Moody. Because of our decision to move back to Ontario, he also turned down what likely would have been a really excellent job with a recording studio in Wheaton. But, for many reasons we wanted to get back to Canada.
We had a detailed plan about how James was going to send out resumes all spring, schedule interviews for March Break when we were home for a week and come home the end of May with a job waiting. Now that we've lived in the real world for a few years, I can clearly see how deluded that was.
Things didn't work out too much worse than that however. While he didn't get any interviews during March Break, he did land a job at a local AV Production company within about 6 weeks of our move back home.
Unfortunately, that job was somewhat short lived, and about a year later he decided to go freelance. Freelance in Chicago had served him well. Freelance in Southern Ontario....slightly different dynamic. Things were pretty sketchy and when I got pregnant with Jairus, I started pushing James to find full time work. One of his freelance jobs was working with my uncles AV company in London and sometime around Jairus' birth, he was able to start working full time there. It was an hour and a half commute from our little house in Stoney Creek which James was quite willing to do if it meant a steady paycheque and some security.
After about a year though, with the boss suggesting we move closer, we decided to try a halfway point and considered Brantford. To make a long story short, we spent 4 years in Brantford. Honour and Verity were both born there. James' commute was still on the long side though.
In 2006 we moved back to Hamilton for a number of reasons, one being that James wanted to develop his recording business and felt that the closer to Toronto the better. And so the commute continued. James would leave the house about 6:45 and get home at 6pm, at the earliest. With three children that only periodically sleep all night without waking for some reason, and a fourth that regularly wakes numerous times in the night, it was no surprise that James called often during his drive home, needing my help to stay awake. Sometimes he'd arrive home late, or told me of getting to work late because of pulling over and dozing for 10 minutes. Sometimes the 10 turned into 20....30....45 minutes?!
Overtime was not unusual. James would get home closer to 6:30, 7 or even 8 or 9 o'clock at least once a week. Regularly there were installation jobs that took him away to a far off town or city for 2 or 3 days to a week a number of times a year.
It was those long days I would dread....days of being with 4 small children for 10+ hours on my own.
The company he worked for was small. A few years ago, my uncle sold it to a young guy with a good business head. Still, the employees could be counted on one hand. Up until a year and a half ago or so, we did not have any health benefits at all. We had looked into arranging our own insurance, but the cost was crazy. Finally, the new boss was able to put a plan in place.
After 8+ years of working for this company we really had to take a serious look at James' future there. Through a period of restructuring and the new boss coming on, James' responsibilities had gone from a simple install tech to a manager in charge of overseeing the jobs. Unfortunately, his pay had not seen the same increase, a situation I regularly groused about. What was more disturbing however, was that there didn't seem to be any potential to move into a position where an increase in salary was possible. The next rung on the ladder was the owner of the company. I was becoming increasingly concerned as I watched our kids grow out of clothes and shoes that the costs of raising four children was only going to get more expensive. Being a virtually single income family is incredibly difficult these days. Add homeschooling to the situation--the costs of which we saw approximately quadruple this year as Honour moved into Grade 1 work....well, I think you're getting the idea.
It was shortly after we moved back to Hamilton that I first started talking seriously to James---and God, about finding a new job. He agreed with me (James, that is), but I sensed a reluctance on some level. Perhaps it was just the immensity of it all. They do say that changing jobs is a stressor right up there with losing a loved one or divorcing.
Nevertheless he did start looking. He regularly searched a number of job sites online but was usually unsuccessful at even finding a job that interested him or that he qualified for. When this situation dragged on through months and into years, I became more frustrated. Every once in a while he would find a good listing and we would work on his resume and write a cover letter. Every time, he failed to even hear about an interview. We both became more and more discouraged. In the spring of 2008 I reached a point where I felt James needed to consider finding some help in this venture. I remember sitting down one Monday morning to my computer and doing a search for career coaches. Alan Kearnes of Careerjoy seemed to jump out at me and when I later that same day received a postcard from Fair Havens advertising a seminar with him as a keynote speaker, I was convinced it was a sign that James should make an appointment with him. His $1000.00 price tag later convinced me that it wasn't to be.
Fast forward to this fall. After a wonderful "Kent Summer of Fun" with our kids, James for a few reasons that will remain nameless became inspired to start looking again. Within four days, he found the McMaster listing and we were gripped with a hope that we hadn't felt for a long time. Of all the jobs he'd ever found online, this one seemed to fit him more perfectly than any other we'd looked at. It was in an area he had specific experience with. Not only had he worked in the same department at Moody, but he'd had a few installation jobs that had put him into close contact with some of the new technologies being used in education today ("Smart" classrooms). Making a move into the world of academia was appealing to James. Working for a huge institution with the security and weight behind it that a university can offer was inviting. The vastly shortened commute was simply inconceivable. At times, I was just plain scared to hope that this could happen for us. And I don't think I've prayed as hard as I have since I was carrying Afton.
Well, you know the rest of the story now. It's really going to happen. One week from Monday, James will start his new job at McMaster University. He is SO excited! We got his 'package' from Human Resources yesterday in the mail and he sat down and read through every word of it, and than got online to check out the sites he was directed to. There's still some loose ends to work through: this past week we've been debating what to do about a computer for him. The one he uses belongs to his current job. While usually I'd be the first to say that a computer isn't a "need", James had already taken on two recording jobs in the next 6 weeks and so a laptop is a necessity. His cell phone will also have to go back to the company. We're not sure if McMaster would supply such a thing, or perhaps they just use radios on campus, like James did at Moody.
Then there's been some concern about reconciling the vacation days he's already used, but now will not work the last 2 months of the year to earn. Something we never considered when this new job search was underway.
I'm not going to worry though, because, well to be honest, I'm still basking in the glow and certainty that God answers prayer. I know, that doesn't sound very faithful--that I'm feeling confident now, implying that other times I don't?
{Shrug}
What can I say....it's true. And I don't think I'm all that different from most other Christians. We're still just human after all, and our confidence wavers. Sometimes when the answer from God time and time again is "wait", your faith starts to flag. And than you have an amazing experience like this to renew your strength.
I'm also not worried because of another journey the Lord has been taking us through....stay tuned for my long overdue Dave Ramsey update!
HE GOT THE JOB!!!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Posted by Les at 7:38 AMHE DID GREAT!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Posted by Les at 7:17 AMThank you so much for all the prayers. Lots of you emailed, and I'm confident many more were praying too. Please keep it up!
HE GOT AN INTERVIEW!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Posted by Les at 7:20 AMYes indeed, Monday at 12:30, James will be interviewing at McMaster. I was going to ask you all to pray for today as well, as he had to break the news to his boss and ask for the time off to go to the interview, but it's all taken care of. His boss was understanding and has agreed to be a reference too. Yay!!
James and I were hoping he might be able to squeeze in his A+ Certification test before an interview, but after more research on it last night, it's not going to be possible. Little bit of a bummer, but hopefully if he can speak intelligently about it and his concrete plans to obtain it, they will see that positively.
Soo, mark your calendar, set your blackberry, put it in your computer with an alarm....pray on Monday for us!!
Holy Sick
Monday, October 12, 2009
Posted by Les at 2:45 PMUsually, my sick the last, oh 15 years, has been colds. Sinus colds, strep throat maybe. Might have had an ear infection or two.
Have I ever mentioned how much I despise being nauseous? (Or is it, nauseated?) I would frankly rather go through labour than throw up. Pain, I can handle that. Vomiting, not so much. If I had been so blessed as to have morning sickness, you can bet that I would not have four children at this moment. If I should ever get cancer, God forbid, I'm going to be one sad and pathetic chemo patient.
Seriously, it's been more than 17 years since I last had the stomach flu. I can remember specifically when it last happened.
Last Tuesday, Wednesday-ish, I had been having the odd queasy feeling that would prompt me to take a reeeaally big breath. One of my coping mechanisms for nausea.
And then on Thursday morning after taking Jairus to school, I hit this wall. Suddenly all my energy was gone. It was time to put the baby down for a nap and I told the girls that I needed to lie down with her. They were thrilled to postpone school for a few episodes of Scooby Doo. When I woke up with the baby about an hour and a half later, I felt no better, in fact, worse.
I managed to get the girls some lunch and then things took a turn for the really worse, prompting a series of texts to James to hightail it home, in no uncertain terms. Fortunately he was able to do this. He got home just in time to get Jairus from school.
I'll spare you the details of the following 12 hours.
And of course, the best time of year to have the stomach flu is leading into Thanksgiving. I thought I'd be fine by Saturday, but by noon, I was still incredibly energy-less (effects of the Gravol I think), dizzy and lots of other negative type stuff. (yeah, I'm still sparing you). So James took the kids and went off to my side of the family's dinner.
Sunday was somewhat better but I was still rather dizzy and had no strength. Still, I packed pillows around myself and we went up north for James' side of things.
By Monday I could honestly say "almost", when the girls asked me if I was better yet. Almost was good enough to get up and put the house back in order....
Hhyyeah.
You know, a while back my very good friend introduced me to Flylady. But even before that, I had read Managers of their Homes, a home-organization-while-you're-homeschooling book. It showed how to lay out a week of activities and schooling on a nice big colourful schedule, ensuring that everything needed to be done had a time and a time for everything that needed to be done. (Sorry, that's my wordy variation of a place for everything....)
Many proponents of this kind of scheduling insist that with all of your life on a lovely clockwork schedule, clearly laid out with a colour for each kid, if you should fall ill, anyone could pick up your schedule and fall into place, directing all the little soldiers into their proper order. Likewise with Flylady, although she of course focuses on keeping your house clean. With a schedule of cleaning tasks laid out in your 'control journal', hubby or MIL, or whomever can easily take over the running of the household and keep all in order while you are sick or away.
It just sounds SOOO....organized? Coordinated? OCD???!
Well, whatever it is, I wish I was it. For the state of my house after a few days of being incapacitated was truly frightening. After our marathon of cleaning yesterday, things feel MUCH better but somewhere deep still lurks that nasty pessimism that it's only a matter of time.....I like to think about a statement I read somewhere that trying to keep a clean house when you have young children is about as sensible as shoveling while it's still snowing outside.
******************JOB UPDATE**********************
It's now been a week since the job listing closed and I'll admit, we were a little discouraged not to hear anything by last weeks end. But discussing this with James' brother and father yesterday yielded a fresh batch of ENcouragement as it was well agreed that they might not have everything ready to start contacting possible interviewees. They both agreed that James should call, even though there's no contact person on the listing and it might amount to talking to an HR Dept. Administrative assistant.
Sooo, this is just what he did today. He called the department and spoke to said AA who gave him the name of the person in charge of hiring for the job. He left a message for this person who called him back shortly after and said that they were still organizing the resumes and hadn't yet started contacting people. This person (he, she? dunno) invited him to call back in a week if he hadn't heard anything. Yay!
Meanwhile James is considering starting the process of getting his A+ Certification. This was one of the "would be an asset" notes in the job listing. It's a basic computer knowledge/IT kind of training. James did a little research and found some sample questions....put it this way, I was answering some of the questions. We figure it would look really good if he could get the first of the two tests that make up the certification under his belt and be able to say that he was well into the process of getting the whole thing during an interview.
You'll never guess what I did today. I reactivated my Facebook account. I started thinking of it a few weeks ago when a friend announced a serious health crisis concerning one of her kids on FB and my mom had to tell me after reading it there. And, there have been a few situations over the past almost two years since I got off that I kinda wished I was still on. Mostly seeing photos of friends and events. So, I'm giving it a try again....my first status update was that "I caved....but I won't be here much, so email me if you really want to talk". I really hope to stick to that because I really truly can't take another thing in my life that needs to be done. I'm still thinking it's kindof a big thing that I'm doing any blogging.
And often still feel guilty that I'm doing that.....
Kentlife
Friday, October 2, 2009
Posted by Les at 3:10 PMIt was first off a bummer because it just delays everything. The sooner James is into a new job, the better. Another week....sigh.
And my first thought was that even though they had James resume, they still wanted to keep looking. That just doesn't sound good from any perspective. But, James had a few side thoughts on this, and another friend had a twist on it as well.
Perhaps it was the union. This will be a union job, so James would have to join, which at this point I don't think we are concerned with at all. Maybe the HR dept were ready to move on this but the union applied some pressure to keep the listing open, to give 'their' people more time. It was only up for a week. That doesn't seem long to me.
And my aforementioned friend thought that perhaps this indicates they are not going with an internal applicant after all. It's a possibility, I think.
So, the door's not closed. We're still praying.
It's Friday and I'm done Week 1 of my new Sonlight homeschooling curriculum. It's been quite a week.
I started on Monday because, I really had to. I ordered it a few weeks ago; the Friday before public school started. Let me just tell you a little about Sonlight. I don't remember exactly how I heard of them a number of years ago. A good friend who homeschools uses their stuff, and I ordered my Handwriting without Tears program through them after seeing the OT use it with Jairus at Lansdowne in Brantford.
I'm not sure where they fall in the 'philosophies' of homeschooling spectrum. They promote alot of reading and literature and I'm all for that, so they found a niche in my heart quickly. Still, I went though two large bags of resources gleaned from two separate years of OCHEC (Christian homeschooling) conventions and carefully considered all the catalogues and companies. The other two runners up were Alpha Omega and Christian Light.
I ordered a set of curriculum that's based around Kindergarten, but suitable up to 7 years of age, with a few grade 1 additives for Honour. When my big box came a few days later, it weighed about 50 pounds and had about 40 books. I was all set to teach: read aloud books (ie. The Boxcar Children), Bible, memory verses, Poetry, History, Geography, Science, Reading and Language Arts. I already had a math program (Math-U-See) and a Printing program (the Handwriting without Tears) and had been using a Hooked on Phonics kit that some friends gave us.
They forgot to send the big binder with tabs to organize all the teaching guides so that was one small delay. I was determined to start even without the binder, but it was rather difficult since I was so new to the curriculum. Then Honour got sick for a whole week, so we were delayed.
Sonlight puts the year together in 36 weeks. I mapped it out on my Google calendar, and with starting week one this week, taking 2 weeks off a Christmas and another in March, we'll finish about a week or two before public school. Sounded good.
Taking an idea from a homeschooler blog my mom probably sent me, I found a clipboard for each of the girls and printed out a table with their subjects down the left and the days of the week across the top. I found a few sheets of smiley stickers and stuck them in the clipboard too. As they finished that subject for the day, they got to put a sticker in the box. I told them if they had all the boxes full of stickers by the end of the week, they'd get a treat.
So, Monday.
I don't remember when we started in the morning, probably around 10 or a little later. I've always had it in my head that I need to get started by 9, but with taking Jairus to school for 8:45, it's pretty much impossible. I try my best to get up by 7 because I really need an hour and a half to get us all dressed, breakfasted, Jairus bathed, his lunch made, myself showered and out the door.
The job has "gone external".
So back to my week.
I attempted to start working through our curriculum on Monday but only got a few things done. Monday is my choir day so I have to leave the house about 3:30 and a babysitter comes until James gets home.
When we got back, we had all of 20 minutes to get a little more done before going to get Jairus. We get back from that around 3:20 and still had stuff to do, though I don't remember exactly what now. Science, at least.
I didn't finish until 5:30, at which time I came up and gazed in despair at the kitchen. I had 1/2 an hour to get the kids something to eat before we left for the church for junior choir. I decided to put together a lasagne and we would eat when we got back. I had that about 1/2 done by 6 when James got home and I left him to finish layering.
The rest of the day was a bit of a daze. I couldn't believe it had taken so long to get through it all. I had the feeling I remembered having the morning of the second night after Jairus was born. I was in the hospital, he was in the NICU. I was pumping every 3 hours, even through the night. Since I didn't have a baby waking me to feed, I had to have the nurses wake me. The second night, they forgot and I woke up around 4am, sore and upset. I was overwhelmed with (hormones I'm sure) but, the sheer constancy of what I had to do for my child for the next...year? Two? Who knew.
Wednesday morning I tried to get started earlier and managed about 10 minutes before the morning before. Again, it took until after 5 to get everything done, and that was even with keeping Jairus at home due to an ear infection.
By Wednesday night I knew I needed to get some advice. I thought about my friend Karen who's using the same curriculum with her four, but by the time I knew I needed help, it was quite late. I went to the Sonlight forums instead and poured out the whole pathetic story.
I had about 10 responses by the next morning. What a relief. And such wonderful responses they were. I could tell that these ladies were mature and caring.
The advice given most often was: relax. They are only 4 and 6. Keep reading and math for the year old and drop the rest, they will learn what they need just by living, playing, reading books with me.
After I read some of those responses, I walked into the homeschool room and Verity asked me if she could get out her puzzlemaker, a gift she got for her birthday that would require my direct intervention and I hadn't gotten around to it. She was supposed to do her workbook....but I immediately decided that figuring out a puzzlemaker and making her very own puzzles would be just as good. It was so fun!
One good idea I put into practice right away were to transfer some of our subjects to another time; we already read at night so instead of whatever books the kids pull from the shelves, we now do Boxcar children and the Ergermeier Bible at night. Just that adjustment made a huge difference on Friday. We pretty much finished by 2ish on Friday.
I'm hesitant to drop things like science and history. We really enjoyed it this week and Honour is chomping at the bit to get out 'those boxes' (the science kits). Being the completely right brained person I am, I'm not confident that scientific processes will just present themselves in everyday life and I will immediately notice and expound upon them with my kids. I think I even learned a thing or two from Kindergarten science this week. (I kid you not). So, I will continue to try and fit them in in some form...maybe not every day. But enough.
And so ends week one with Sonlight....on to week 2!