You should know by now that if I disappear from here for a while, we are waiting to hear back from a job. And if it takes a really long time for me to come back, Ryan didn't get the job. Ugh. The one in the summer that we didn't get was disappointing, but things looked better for this one. I feel like the countdown is really ticking now - ten more months, ten more months, ten more months. Ten months might seem like a long time, but Ryan's been looking for a job for a year already. I was hoping the job search would be easier this time around - we had a rough time the last time Ryan was looking for a job. It's probably a pointless thought process, but I often find myself thinking, "Are we supposed to be learning something from this that we're just not getting? and if so, what is it?" or, "Is this just the consequence of being highly educated and highly specialized in your field?" Whatever it is, I'm remaining fairly hopeful for now, with occasional dips in my mood.
If we have to be going through this trial again, this is a good place to do it. I am grateful to be in a community where I have good friends, lots of things to be involved in (I'm helping out with costumes for the our community play this year), and my kids are loved and looked out for. I'm substitute teaching a couple of days a week, which keeps my mind off things and brings in a few extra bucks which we will save for the possibility of the worst case scenario. I'm reading a LOT, more than I have ever read before. If you want to see what I'm reading, look for me on Goodreads. I've thought about doing an occasional book review here to highlight my favorites...we'll see.
The kids are doing well. We just registered Ned for Kindergarten yesterday. No, I didn't cry. I just wondered how I got to the point of having a five year old (in a couple of months) as my youngest and if we would still be here in the fall. Peter is doing great. He finally seems to have had some sort of language burst in the last month or two - can that happen when your kid is six? I guess so, because he is finally talking a lot, at least at home. Between Ned, who has always talked a lot, and Peter now, there is rarely a quiet moment when they are home and not asleep. Being in the school occasionally has helped me have a better idea of the teaching methods and a better relationship with Peter's teacher and we have been able to work on a couple of the language/reading issues he has been having a hard time with all year. He finally got a good score on his reading test! The kid can read - he's one of the best readers in his class. The question is if he's understanding what he's reading, which we're working on.
Grandma is coming this weekend to help finish quilts for the boys. They are so excited to see her and I'm so excited to have someone help me feed those quilts through the sewing machine! Thanks Mom!
