Our first Monday of the school year went fairly smoothly.
Miriam purposely walked past the lost and found table on Friday afternoon and spotted Benjamin's lunchbox. They went to retrieve it together after school so when I showed up at the school to look for it I was instead greeted by a couple of triumphant children.
Benjamin remembered to bring his lunchbox home today.
He was also the "table leader" today, he informed me.
"Ooh! What's the table leader?" I probed.
"Well, it's kind of like a war leader," he explained, "Just for a smaller group."
"A war leader, eh?"
"Yeah!" he said. "Like General Washington but for my table."
Sure, uh-huh, yup. That is exactly what your teacher was going for with that one, I'm sure.
To be fair, this very solemn explanation he gave me means that he likely took his role very seriously.
Benjamin had his first soccer practice today and two of his little friends from kindergarten are on his team and I'm so happy for him because as outgoing and loving as he is, he seems to struggle making friends with kids his own age (insert my typical "I don't want to blame the NICU but I think my child might have ADHD" speech here). Not many of his friends from kindergarten wound up in his class this year, but knowing that he can see his friends at soccer puts my momma heart at ease a little bit.
We went to our ward temple day on Saturday. It was at the Provo City Center Temple (the one built within the frame of the old tabernacle, which burned down in 2010) and we'd never been inside that temple, so it was fun to go. And it was so busy!
We did sealings and our sealer was Elder Victor Cave.
We had arrived a little early so sneaked into a half of a session before doing a full session with members from our ward. Elder Cave asked us where we were from and we answered, "Spanish Fork."
"Where's that?" he asked.
Andrew and I both kind of laughed in response because...hello...but he just stared us down, waiting for our response.
"Oh, you really don't know!" I blurted out.
"It's just south of here," Andrew said. "It goes Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork."
It was embarrassing but also funny. And after doing a sealing session with Elder Cave, I'm sure he had a sense of humour about it himself. Every time a new couple came to the alter he would ask one of them to answer a question under a very strict timeline.
"Tell me in the next five seconds: What was the first thing you noticed about your wife? Go."
"You have three seconds to answer: What is your favourite thing about your husband? Go!"
The questions went on like this for a while and then he got to us and he said to Andrew:
"Answer in ten seconds: When did you first meet your wife? Give me the day, month, and year. Describe what she was wearing."
Andrew was like, "Uhhhhhhh...it was around this time of year because we met at school..."
"And what was she wearing?"
"...Clothes?" Andrew guessed.
"That is good, I suppose," said Elder Cave. "Can you at least tell me the colour of her shirt?"
"Uhhhhh..."
"Just say anything," I stage-whispered. "Because I can't remember what I was wearing either."
"Red," Andrew said.
"Does he pass?" Elder Cave asked me.
"Sure!" I said.
Later he turned to one of the sisters and said, "Recite the first article of faith. Go!" and she was like, "Oh! Ack! Ummm... We believe...in what?! Ummm...in God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost!"
She was definitely expecting a question about her husband and was completely caught off guard.
All humour aside, it was lovely to get to spend the morning at the temple.
We met in the park for a ward picnic after attending the temple and it was fun to get to socialize a bit. Wards out here don't have nearly as many activities as wards outside of Utah (at least, not from my experience) so we were happy for the chance to get to know people outside of church meetings.
Oddly enough, people kept coming up to us and congratulating us on the fact that we're staying here for another year. Word travels quickly, I suppose, but somehow the story has gotten twisted since this is not a scenario to actually applaud and yet over and over again I was told very sincerely, "I hear you get to stick around for another year! Congratulations!"
"Hehehehe," I'd twitter nervously before choking out, "Yeah, thanks. We're...yup...happy to be here. It will be a *gulp* good year."
Our situation is not dire. We have a roof over our heads. We have a comfortable income stream. Andrew is doing what he loves. And, frankly, our prospects are promising.
We keep a spreadsheet of job opportunities (of course we do) and as of right now I have 86 prospective jobs for Andrew to apply for before October 15. Last year I only had 48 jobs listed before the same deadline. So that's a good sign, right?
Looking at all the possibilities in front of us right now has cheered our spirits and given us hope, so we're much better off, emotionally, now than we were when our final hope for getting an actual job this school year fell through.
But, like, do people not realize that the only reason we're "sticking around" for another year is because we are losing a job, losing our benefits, losing any hope of stability, so that we can earn less money for the same amount of work, at a job with no benefits, on a semester-to-semester basis?
This is not ideal, people. But thanks for congratulating our failure, I guess...?
I haven't written a lot about this—have I written anything about this—on the blog, but Andrew's sister was recently re-re-arrested. Today she had her preliminary hearing for her second arrest back in July, but they also discussed her third arrest this month (and her first arrest in January 2017) and decided that it would be better for her to be in jail (with no chance of bail) while her case plays out.
On Saturday (after the temple trip and the ward picnic) Andrew went with his parents and siblings to clear out her apartment (she'd recently been evicted by her landlord (before she was arrested, technically) but hadn't moved out quite yet). So now her whole life is sitting in the middle of our garage and she's sitting in jail.
It's relieving and perplexing and vindicating and disheartening.
There are many confusing emotions swirling around our home right now.
Miriam purposely walked past the lost and found table on Friday afternoon and spotted Benjamin's lunchbox. They went to retrieve it together after school so when I showed up at the school to look for it I was instead greeted by a couple of triumphant children.
Benjamin remembered to bring his lunchbox home today.
He was also the "table leader" today, he informed me.
"Ooh! What's the table leader?" I probed.
"Well, it's kind of like a war leader," he explained, "Just for a smaller group."
"A war leader, eh?"
"Yeah!" he said. "Like General Washington but for my table."
Sure, uh-huh, yup. That is exactly what your teacher was going for with that one, I'm sure.
To be fair, this very solemn explanation he gave me means that he likely took his role very seriously.
******
Benjamin had his first soccer practice today and two of his little friends from kindergarten are on his team and I'm so happy for him because as outgoing and loving as he is, he seems to struggle making friends with kids his own age (insert my typical "I don't want to blame the NICU but I think my child might have ADHD" speech here). Not many of his friends from kindergarten wound up in his class this year, but knowing that he can see his friends at soccer puts my momma heart at ease a little bit.
******
We went to our ward temple day on Saturday. It was at the Provo City Center Temple (the one built within the frame of the old tabernacle, which burned down in 2010) and we'd never been inside that temple, so it was fun to go. And it was so busy!
We did sealings and our sealer was Elder Victor Cave.
We had arrived a little early so sneaked into a half of a session before doing a full session with members from our ward. Elder Cave asked us where we were from and we answered, "Spanish Fork."
"Where's that?" he asked.
Andrew and I both kind of laughed in response because...hello...but he just stared us down, waiting for our response.
"Oh, you really don't know!" I blurted out.
"It's just south of here," Andrew said. "It goes Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork."
It was embarrassing but also funny. And after doing a sealing session with Elder Cave, I'm sure he had a sense of humour about it himself. Every time a new couple came to the alter he would ask one of them to answer a question under a very strict timeline.
"Tell me in the next five seconds: What was the first thing you noticed about your wife? Go."
"You have three seconds to answer: What is your favourite thing about your husband? Go!"
The questions went on like this for a while and then he got to us and he said to Andrew:
"Answer in ten seconds: When did you first meet your wife? Give me the day, month, and year. Describe what she was wearing."
Andrew was like, "Uhhhhhhh...it was around this time of year because we met at school..."
"And what was she wearing?"
"...Clothes?" Andrew guessed.
"That is good, I suppose," said Elder Cave. "Can you at least tell me the colour of her shirt?"
"Uhhhhh..."
"Just say anything," I stage-whispered. "Because I can't remember what I was wearing either."
"Red," Andrew said.
"Does he pass?" Elder Cave asked me.
"Sure!" I said.
Later he turned to one of the sisters and said, "Recite the first article of faith. Go!" and she was like, "Oh! Ack! Ummm... We believe...in what?! Ummm...in God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost!"
She was definitely expecting a question about her husband and was completely caught off guard.
All humour aside, it was lovely to get to spend the morning at the temple.
******
We met in the park for a ward picnic after attending the temple and it was fun to get to socialize a bit. Wards out here don't have nearly as many activities as wards outside of Utah (at least, not from my experience) so we were happy for the chance to get to know people outside of church meetings.
Oddly enough, people kept coming up to us and congratulating us on the fact that we're staying here for another year. Word travels quickly, I suppose, but somehow the story has gotten twisted since this is not a scenario to actually applaud and yet over and over again I was told very sincerely, "I hear you get to stick around for another year! Congratulations!"
"Hehehehe," I'd twitter nervously before choking out, "Yeah, thanks. We're...yup...happy to be here. It will be a *gulp* good year."
Our situation is not dire. We have a roof over our heads. We have a comfortable income stream. Andrew is doing what he loves. And, frankly, our prospects are promising.
We keep a spreadsheet of job opportunities (of course we do) and as of right now I have 86 prospective jobs for Andrew to apply for before October 15. Last year I only had 48 jobs listed before the same deadline. So that's a good sign, right?
Looking at all the possibilities in front of us right now has cheered our spirits and given us hope, so we're much better off, emotionally, now than we were when our final hope for getting an actual job this school year fell through.
But, like, do people not realize that the only reason we're "sticking around" for another year is because we are losing a job, losing our benefits, losing any hope of stability, so that we can earn less money for the same amount of work, at a job with no benefits, on a semester-to-semester basis?
This is not ideal, people. But thanks for congratulating our failure, I guess...?
******
I haven't written a lot about this—have I written anything about this—on the blog, but Andrew's sister was recently re-re-arrested. Today she had her preliminary hearing for her second arrest back in July, but they also discussed her third arrest this month (and her first arrest in January 2017) and decided that it would be better for her to be in jail (with no chance of bail) while her case plays out.
On Saturday (after the temple trip and the ward picnic) Andrew went with his parents and siblings to clear out her apartment (she'd recently been evicted by her landlord (before she was arrested, technically) but hadn't moved out quite yet). So now her whole life is sitting in the middle of our garage and she's sitting in jail.
It's relieving and perplexing and vindicating and disheartening.
There are many confusing emotions swirling around our home right now.
Benjamin George Washington :) He's so cute!
ReplyDeleteGlad you have some job prospects to apply for! The sealing sounds pretty fun - or at least the guy doing the sealing.
Sorry about the family trouble. My heart goes out to you all.