Well, we got some potentially good news today. Andrew got an email (seemingly out of the blue) from Lockheed Martin about a job in Maryland. The pay would be great, and they would pay us a moving allowance. He has a phone interview on Thursday. We would be in southern Maryland and he would be working at the PAX Naval Air Station. From what I have read it is a really good area, low crime and all that. I know the cost of living is higher up there, but it seems like pay is also higher in general to make up for that. Schools there have really high ratings too.
Right now the plan if he gets this job would be for me to stay here in Texas until July when I would finish my certification, and take my test to be a pharm tech. Meanwhile he would go up there and find us a house or apartment, get settled, etc.
The cool thing is, my sister got accepted into law school recently in D.C. So when I said this seemed "out of the blue", thinking about it really it isn't. If he gets this job we would be living really close to her.
It would be our third move in the past 12 months, but it would all be worth it.
Please pray with us that he gets this job, it would be amazing.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
How things can change...
September - I was happily staying home and homeschooling, but waiting for my husband to have a better paying job. Living with mom was tough.
October - Still hanging in there but getting really stressed about our situation. I put Josh in public school. It was a really tough decision, but one that had to be made.
November - D lost his job at the beginning of the month. I had already started looking for part-time jobs. I was actually at the mall for a second job interview when we found out. After a couple of days of looking, I had a part-time job at Marshalls making minimum wage. I took this job because while it paid less than some of the others I was offered, the hours were so that I would be able to pick up Josh from school, and Aime would only have to be watched a few hours in the mornings. So now we were living off our ever dwindling savings, and my part-time salary.
December - D got a new job but it wouldn't start until just before Christmas. We decided to move out of my mom's house, since with his job and mine together we could make it on our own. Got into our apartment, and life was ok.
January - My babysitter had been incredibly generous, she was not charging me much at all. She had set the wage, and it was what she had wanted at the time. Just to help us out of our hole basically. Well, things started getting to her, by the middle of the month, she told me she could no longer watch Aime or Josh, and that was that. She offered me the name of a friend who was a sitter. I thought she would be able to do it, but it didn't work out. With minimum wage, you just can't justify paying a sitter what she is worth. I asked her if she would do it for two weeks, so I could give a proper notice, and she agreed to that. I also started school at night during those last two weeks of work. It wore me out basically.
February - D is still waiting on a better job. He has some possibilities out there. This waiting we have been doing, should of happened while he was still on military pay. He acknowledged this recently. He told me he knows he screwed up by not taking the initiative when he should have. He waited way too long to start proactively looking for employment. He thought it would be easy for him to jump into the civilian world and get paid what he is worth.
I am once again a stay at home mom. Albeit I will have to admit, I feel anything but happy. The people who want to help us can't. It feels like the people who could help us wont. I am eternally grateful to those few who have helped us out when we've needed extra money, or even just a morale boost. But truthfully, I am tired of needing people's help at all.
I am going through school to be a certified pharmacy technician. Every day that I go to school, I am reminded of what an idiot I was at 18 years old. I was on my way to being just that, a certified pharm tech, I was getting on-the-job training by a pharmacist who told me "You are too smart to just be a technician, you will get far." I was in college preparing to go do nursing or something related. And what did I do? I ran off and shacked up with a guy, moved to California, thinking the grass was greener and I could do everything there just as I could here. How wrong I was. That year I got a huge wake up call. I came back home and half a year later married Andrew. Went and had kids. School was on hold, though I tried to go back off and on. If I had stayed in Texas when I was 18 I wouldn't have to be doing all this now.
People say that being a military wife is the hardest job in the world. But I disagree. My days as a military wife were much much easier to bear than this has been. These past 9 months have been utter crap.
Forgive me for not being "spiritual" through all this. I tried. I really did. I am just at the end of my rope now. My spirit is crushed. My heart hurts. My body aches. I am just tired.
October - Still hanging in there but getting really stressed about our situation. I put Josh in public school. It was a really tough decision, but one that had to be made.
November - D lost his job at the beginning of the month. I had already started looking for part-time jobs. I was actually at the mall for a second job interview when we found out. After a couple of days of looking, I had a part-time job at Marshalls making minimum wage. I took this job because while it paid less than some of the others I was offered, the hours were so that I would be able to pick up Josh from school, and Aime would only have to be watched a few hours in the mornings. So now we were living off our ever dwindling savings, and my part-time salary.
December - D got a new job but it wouldn't start until just before Christmas. We decided to move out of my mom's house, since with his job and mine together we could make it on our own. Got into our apartment, and life was ok.
January - My babysitter had been incredibly generous, she was not charging me much at all. She had set the wage, and it was what she had wanted at the time. Just to help us out of our hole basically. Well, things started getting to her, by the middle of the month, she told me she could no longer watch Aime or Josh, and that was that. She offered me the name of a friend who was a sitter. I thought she would be able to do it, but it didn't work out. With minimum wage, you just can't justify paying a sitter what she is worth. I asked her if she would do it for two weeks, so I could give a proper notice, and she agreed to that. I also started school at night during those last two weeks of work. It wore me out basically.
February - D is still waiting on a better job. He has some possibilities out there. This waiting we have been doing, should of happened while he was still on military pay. He acknowledged this recently. He told me he knows he screwed up by not taking the initiative when he should have. He waited way too long to start proactively looking for employment. He thought it would be easy for him to jump into the civilian world and get paid what he is worth.
I am once again a stay at home mom. Albeit I will have to admit, I feel anything but happy. The people who want to help us can't. It feels like the people who could help us wont. I am eternally grateful to those few who have helped us out when we've needed extra money, or even just a morale boost. But truthfully, I am tired of needing people's help at all.
I am going through school to be a certified pharmacy technician. Every day that I go to school, I am reminded of what an idiot I was at 18 years old. I was on my way to being just that, a certified pharm tech, I was getting on-the-job training by a pharmacist who told me "You are too smart to just be a technician, you will get far." I was in college preparing to go do nursing or something related. And what did I do? I ran off and shacked up with a guy, moved to California, thinking the grass was greener and I could do everything there just as I could here. How wrong I was. That year I got a huge wake up call. I came back home and half a year later married Andrew. Went and had kids. School was on hold, though I tried to go back off and on. If I had stayed in Texas when I was 18 I wouldn't have to be doing all this now.
People say that being a military wife is the hardest job in the world. But I disagree. My days as a military wife were much much easier to bear than this has been. These past 9 months have been utter crap.
Forgive me for not being "spiritual" through all this. I tried. I really did. I am just at the end of my rope now. My spirit is crushed. My heart hurts. My body aches. I am just tired.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Finally First Grade!
We finished up MFW K last Wednesday and went right into first grade on Thursday. Being the procrastinator that I am, I was so not prepared. But we managed and everyone lived. The lessons were taught. And the best part was, Josh actually liked it! He even asked me if we could do more first grade.
This week we are:
-Reviewing the alphabet and letter sounds.
-Learning about the Bible as a whole. How it was first written on scrolls, then eventually made into one book.
-Making clay jars, and later making mini scrolls to put in them.
-Memorizing Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
We discussed the meaning. He didn't quite understand it at first, but I think he is grasping it. He even made a picture on his own free time, and wrote the Proverb out. The words were a bit out of order, but I thought it was adorable.
-Studying animals close to the ground (ants, worms etc). Today we watched ants eat some bread with honey that we put out for them. And we dug for worms. We put the worms in a jar with alternating layers of soil and sand, and put dry leaves on top. We'll get to see if the make tunnels, and eat the leaves.
-Learning about patterns, and doing several related activities.
-Every day we talk about the calendar, and we do some addition, subtraction, place value, and money activities.
While we were outside, we harvested some tomatoes and pepper. Which I made into salsa. Yum!
I'm going on a ladies retreat tomorrow through Saturday, so we will start back up on Monday. Then we get to make a Jewish calendar! I'm not sure how yet. I better read ahead.
Please pray for my dad. He has been really antagonistic toward the whole homeschooling thing. Basically we are not on speaking terms right now. He thinks I am being selfish, and messing my kids up by homeschooling them. He just doesn't understand it, and therefore thinks it is wrong. He's said some really hurtful things to me, and I basically told him that if all he wanted to say to me were negative things about homeschooling, that I wasn't going to call him anymore. He responded by asking what "religion" I was. I told him I was a Christian, and he said he wanted to make sure his children stayed far away from that "religion". I don't really know what to do about it. But like I said, he needs prayer, and I need wisdom.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I love how Josh's homeschool lessons seem so timely and convicting to my heart as well.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Becoming a Godly Woman: Loving your husband and children
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2:3-5
I am reading a book by Terrie Chappell called It's a Wonderful Life: Serving God Joyfully in Marriage and Ministry. Terrie is the wife of Pastor Paul Chappell of Lancaster Baptist Church.
After hearing the struggle of a fellow Christian friend, this paragraph really stood out to me:
"There are many women who can carry out work or duties in the church, but only you can be the wife of your husband and the mother of his children. Other than your walk with the Lord, nothing should be more important to you than faithfully and unconditionally loving your family. The church can enlist another nursery director, singer, teacher, or secretary, but your family cannot enlist another wife or mother. Your family is your first ministry and calling in life." Terrie Chappell
Sometimes women can feel pressured to serve in church through guilt, or even some form of peer pressure. We need to remember that God called us to be wives and mothers first.
Lord, please help me to become a godly woman that brings honor and glory to your name. Help me to serve where you have called me to be. Help me to love you above all else, and to love my husband and children unconditionally. Amen.
I am reading a book by Terrie Chappell called It's a Wonderful Life: Serving God Joyfully in Marriage and Ministry. Terrie is the wife of Pastor Paul Chappell of Lancaster Baptist Church.
After hearing the struggle of a fellow Christian friend, this paragraph really stood out to me:
"There are many women who can carry out work or duties in the church, but only you can be the wife of your husband and the mother of his children. Other than your walk with the Lord, nothing should be more important to you than faithfully and unconditionally loving your family. The church can enlist another nursery director, singer, teacher, or secretary, but your family cannot enlist another wife or mother. Your family is your first ministry and calling in life." Terrie Chappell
Sometimes women can feel pressured to serve in church through guilt, or even some form of peer pressure. We need to remember that God called us to be wives and mothers first.
Lord, please help me to become a godly woman that brings honor and glory to your name. Help me to serve where you have called me to be. Help me to love you above all else, and to love my husband and children unconditionally. Amen.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Home management binder...START!
Wow, I need to get organized, and I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I saw this over on Hadley's blog and decided to put together my own binder.
So far these will be the sections I have
-School calendar
-Monthly calendars (for at a glance appointments and plans for the month)
-Schedule - I made a school day schedule and a Sunday schedule, so I can stay on track at least those days.
-Weekly Lesson plans - mostly to plan our weeks. I made my own sheet since I couldn't find one that suited our needs. All I need to know is what materials I will need for the lesson, and what library books and videos we borrow, so I don't end up losing them. Also I'll write what activities we will be doing that week.
-Homeschool tidbits - ideas I have picked up that I like and use.
-Shopping lists and meal plans - I really really really need to start doing this one.
I am also keeping ruled paper in there in case I need to make notes or something. I printed some ruled paper for Josh also from Donna Young.
Now to make a pretty table of contents and a nifty cover like the Dairy Queen did!
So far these will be the sections I have
-School calendar
-Monthly calendars (for at a glance appointments and plans for the month)
-Schedule - I made a school day schedule and a Sunday schedule, so I can stay on track at least those days.
-Weekly Lesson plans - mostly to plan our weeks. I made my own sheet since I couldn't find one that suited our needs. All I need to know is what materials I will need for the lesson, and what library books and videos we borrow, so I don't end up losing them. Also I'll write what activities we will be doing that week.
-Homeschool tidbits - ideas I have picked up that I like and use.
-Shopping lists and meal plans - I really really really need to start doing this one.
I am also keeping ruled paper in there in case I need to make notes or something. I printed some ruled paper for Josh also from Donna Young.
Now to make a pretty table of contents and a nifty cover like the Dairy Queen did!
Monday, July 13, 2009
It's a Volcano!
Josh wanted to do this again, and again. D went back twice for more vinegar, and the model clay volcano is still in the back yard, waiting for another round of explody. Haha.
In other news, I've signed up to go back to college. While I am not particularly thrilled with the thought of going back to work anytime soon, and my kids going to public school; I am thinking that our situation warrants it temporarily. Allow me to elaborate. Right now, D is going to go to college part time and work full time, and use grants to pay for college. He is going to a community college, so it is not expensive at all, as far as college costs. Well, once he is done with his associate's degree, he is going to go to college at UT Arlington FULL time and work only part time, in order to get his BS and Master's with the GI bill. He has to go full time for his GI bill to cover our housing. This is where I come in. I have thought and prayed about this, and I think that while he is going to school full time, that I should work outside the home. I just don't see how one person working part time can support a family of four for 4-5 years.
I have finished 3 semesters of college and I am going to talk to a counselor tomorrow about my goals. I plan on going into a career in an Allied Health field. I started out as a nursing major, so I have done Anatomy and Physiology I and II. Albeit 8 years ago, so I hope it is still good for something. Two options I am looking at are Physical Therapist assistant, and Diagnostic Medical Sonographer. Both pay decently, and only require an Associate's degree.
I am hoping to only have the kids go to public school for 4 years tops. I have heard good things about the school disctrict here. Ideally, I don't want either of them going to public school at all for any grade higher than 5th. I hope and pray that D is done with college by then, and that the Lord will allow me to be a stay-home-mom once more at that time.
Really, I don't have any marketable skills or self-motivation to work from home. I wish I did.
Ugh, I don't feel completely comfortable with this decision, but it seems like there is no other way. We are just going to have to make do.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Build your life on the Rock - Jesus Christ
This week we started R-r Rock "I listen and obey; I build my life on the Rock."
I think I might be more excited about this lesson that Josh is at this point. So far the three books we've read have mentioned "millions of years" to explain many rock formations. I told Josh that some scientists believe it took millions of years. But that the Bible tells us about a worldwide flood that changed the Earth's landscape drastically, and that it formed many of the rock formations we see today.
So each day, we are going to read books about rocks, minerals and the Earth's crust. Today we read the Bible story in Matthew 7:24 about the two builders. The wise builder who built his house upon the rock, and the foolish builder who built his house upon the sand. Of course we sang the song. :)
He understood that the Bible was telling us that the wise man was wise because he listened to God's words and obeyed them.
Some of my friends and family were curious about how our schooling incorporates several subjects at once, so I am writing out part of our routine. Each day we do some phonics and simple math as part of our curriculum. This includes days of the week and month on a calendar, patterns, reading simple stories, and writing letters and words. Each day we also learn about our subject for the week and do various things centered around that topic. Here is our plan for this week.
Thursday, Day 2- Go rock collecting. Probably walk to the park, or go to the landscaping company nearby, they have all sorts of rocks. Bible verses: Deut. 32:4, James 1:22. Review the story from Matthew 7.
Friday, Day 3 - Count the rocks we collected on Day 2, practice some addition and subtraction. Categorize them in similar groups based on color, texture, etc. Put them in order from smallest to largest. Practice ordinal numbers (first, second, etc). Bible verses: Exodus 17:1-7
Saturday (or Monday), Day 4 - Make a model volcano. Clay mountain, and baking soda/ vinegar lava. We might go to an actual cave this day instead, and do the volcano on Monday. Bible verses: Psalm 18
Monday (or Tuesday), Day 5 - Science experiment: things that float and things that don't. Have him make predictions, then ask why or why not. Make a chart.
Tuesday (or Wednesday)Day 6 - Book Day!: Read Stone Soup by Marcia Brown. Let him retell the story. Make Stone Soup.
I don't think we are going to do a lapbook for this lesson, since it would have to be very in depth to even do the subject any justice. I thought about doing it for rocks and jewels (our next lesson) together, but I'm not really feeling it right now. I am lucky we are doing any school at all right now. We are about 1/3 to 1/2 unpacked....maybe more. Our room, and the kids' room is done, and organized, and pretty. So is our kitchen, and the dining room is almost done, I just ahve a box of decorations that need to be put in my step cabinet. The living room is almost done except for our media. The breakfast nook turned school room is so not there at all. The craft room is going to be a mess until after mom moves out. Then there is all the stuff in the garage that I am ignoring.
I think I might be more excited about this lesson that Josh is at this point. So far the three books we've read have mentioned "millions of years" to explain many rock formations. I told Josh that some scientists believe it took millions of years. But that the Bible tells us about a worldwide flood that changed the Earth's landscape drastically, and that it formed many of the rock formations we see today.
So each day, we are going to read books about rocks, minerals and the Earth's crust. Today we read the Bible story in Matthew 7:24 about the two builders. The wise builder who built his house upon the rock, and the foolish builder who built his house upon the sand. Of course we sang the song. :)
He understood that the Bible was telling us that the wise man was wise because he listened to God's words and obeyed them.
Some of my friends and family were curious about how our schooling incorporates several subjects at once, so I am writing out part of our routine. Each day we do some phonics and simple math as part of our curriculum. This includes days of the week and month on a calendar, patterns, reading simple stories, and writing letters and words. Each day we also learn about our subject for the week and do various things centered around that topic. Here is our plan for this week.
Thursday, Day 2- Go rock collecting. Probably walk to the park, or go to the landscaping company nearby, they have all sorts of rocks. Bible verses: Deut. 32:4, James 1:22. Review the story from Matthew 7.
Friday, Day 3 - Count the rocks we collected on Day 2, practice some addition and subtraction. Categorize them in similar groups based on color, texture, etc. Put them in order from smallest to largest. Practice ordinal numbers (first, second, etc). Bible verses: Exodus 17:1-7
Saturday (or Monday), Day 4 - Make a model volcano. Clay mountain, and baking soda/ vinegar lava. We might go to an actual cave this day instead, and do the volcano on Monday. Bible verses: Psalm 18
Monday (or Tuesday), Day 5 - Science experiment: things that float and things that don't. Have him make predictions, then ask why or why not. Make a chart.
Tuesday (or Wednesday)Day 6 - Book Day!: Read Stone Soup by Marcia Brown. Let him retell the story. Make Stone Soup.
I don't think we are going to do a lapbook for this lesson, since it would have to be very in depth to even do the subject any justice. I thought about doing it for rocks and jewels (our next lesson) together, but I'm not really feeling it right now. I am lucky we are doing any school at all right now. We are about 1/3 to 1/2 unpacked....maybe more. Our room, and the kids' room is done, and organized, and pretty. So is our kitchen, and the dining room is almost done, I just ahve a box of decorations that need to be put in my step cabinet. The living room is almost done except for our media. The breakfast nook turned school room is so not there at all. The craft room is going to be a mess until after mom moves out. Then there is all the stuff in the garage that I am ignoring.
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