At least the numbering of the daily blogs is pretty easy this month as they correspond with the day of the month. I wish all the decisions during this deployment was that easy!
Day nineteen found us all starting out a little groggy and slow to get moving. Wasn't a lot of meaningful conversations during breakfast - we called it the caveman morning with plenty of grunts and non-audible responses. At least the dog was full of spirit and once the little one took the dog for a morning walk, that woke her up and brought more life to the house.
Everyone made it outside in time for the bus. I spent most of my morning working on laundry and doing the PowerPoint for my presentation later in the day. For the most part the morning was quiet and productive. I was happy with the way the presentation turned out, read through it a couple of times and put it away for the rest of the day.
The afternoon was busy. Around lunchtime I received an e-mail from a friend telling me the foundation had asked them for a reference on me - during the interview the board president said she was only going to ask for references on the person they were most interested in hiring. If the offering of the position comes down to a writing contest from references, then I feel pretty confident because my references are all outstanding writers! So we'll see what happens from there.
I have been trying to get someone from the area to call me back about installing gutters on our house - each website you go to has a customer response/contact form they ask you to fill out and so far, I've had zero luck. I saw a local company's truck today as I was at the post office, looked up their website and sent them a request - they actually called back and someone is coming Monday morning to take some measurements and work up a quote. Our house is new construction and the builder didn't feel the house needed gutters - boy was he ever wrong on that one!! The rain here this past year has made a real mess of our landscaping and I'm concerned about what it is doing to the foundation. This year I'm going with upgraded gutters, leaf guards, reinforced mountings and downspouts. Next year or the year after I plan on installing a rainwater reclamation system to help water the landscaping - right now I don't know if that means simply rain barrels or an underground system. But the first and most critical step is to get quality gutters up.
I also plan on adding a second level to part of the garage. We have a seriously tall garage and so much space is wasted. After November's nor'easter I also have some minor concern about flooding - the water was at record levels here and it just barely touched our foundation but the garage is the most vulnerable. I also want to make room to fit both cars in the garage as well if needed - the weather here is paying a real toll on our cars. A friend at church gave me the name of a decking guy he felt comfortable would do a good job. He's coming over Sunday afternoon to see my vision and let me know what he can/cannot do.
The youngest daughter came flying off her bus and was full of excitement! She had found the library book she had been hunting for and was so excited to read it!! She dumped her stuff in the formal living room and went straight to the table - she grabbed a snack and something to drink and started reading. I had to pull information from her on how her day was and I think the dog was ticked off as well - she stood there with the ball in her mouth waiting on her friend to play with her!! I wound up throwing the ball for the dog but I don't think it was the same. Not to put out the fire of her excitement, I let her enjoy her book and snack. It didn't take her long to finish it, she must have been reading it on the bus and then she was able to put up her book bag and jacket, then take the dog out in the yard for 20 minutes to play.
The oldest daughter got home and immediately started lamenting her chemistry test she took earlier in the day. She always does that so I just listen and let her go. The teacher will post her grade later in the evening and we'll see what she was fussing about - the teacher just posted and she only missed one question so she did well.
Just as we started loading the car to go to the teen program, the phone rang. The interview from Wednesday called to let me know I was their "candidate of choice" and the supervisor wanted me to come spend some time at the ERT (Elizabeth River Terminal) on Tuesday and get a better feel for the facility. We talked for about 15 minutes or so as I expressed some concerns I had from the interview and she was able to alleviate some of them. We also talked about money and benefits. I told her my biggest concern was the travel and how that would impact our family - I agreed to spend a few hours at ERT Tuesday and we'll go from there. I will openly admit the money they are offering is very enticing and the benefits package just cannot be beat. I also like the thought of the bonus program they have in place and that could significantly increase the base salary - this company actually pays your taxes on the bonus so it is a real bonus. I'll go into Tuesday's visit with an open mind but it cannot impact my ability to work with the youth program at church and most definitely, it cannot be a burden to our family. With my wife gone and no family locally to help, I cannot see how his would work. I'll make a couple of phone calls this weekend though.
The teen program went well. I'm so glad to see some of the adults from the church showing up to support the program. I don't know how I would think if I was a kid again and came to a program a church said they supported and then only one or two adults were there. If the folks who already believe in the information being put out aren't there to support it, why should I be interested? Of course we do know that God's invitation is personal and private, different for each one of us but I have to think that excitement generated around a program would have to be a positive one. The pastor's wife showed the kids how to make biscuits, sausage and gravy. It was very good and I'm not a big fan of gravy.
During the evening, my wife had a chance to call. She had a long, tough day and was feeling it. They gave them a break for a couple of hours and she was heading back to the barracks to take a quick shower and grab some food. They announced that instead of the family visitation being March 3, 4 and 5 (when we couldn't come because of school testing cycles) it was being moved up to next weekend. She gets liberty from 4pm Friday until 7pm Sunday. The girls will miss two days of school but that is doable because they won't be testing. I'll work on the arrangements later tonight. We hadn't planned on seeing her again but this will be good for all concerned.
The girls devotion tonight was "Love in action" referencing Ephesians 4:31-5:2. It talked about keeping peace in the family and helping out instead of moping when things don't go your way - quite appropriate! My devotion was "The initiative against drudgery" referencing Isaiah 60:1. It asked if we see God in the routine, mundane chores of life.
Day nineteen was quite busy but a very good day - here's looking to Day Twenty!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment