This Week at Our House # 51

Sorry Kids, I am going to do paragraph form and lump you altogether this week. We survived Monday through Wednesday packing up and getting ready for the vacation and the upcoming move. We left pretty early on Christmas Eve and went to meet the good family that will be renting their house to us. They very kindly had a nice lunch waiting for us. We talked things through a little. Signed a lease and left. Then we came to the Beach House on Atlantic Beach, and fell in love with this part of North Carolina. If we could find a way to live here and earn a living, we would surely do it. Christmas was good. The beach has been amazing. We have a had tons of time together as a family playing games and swimming at the beach. The weather has been amazing. This vacation is clearly the best we ever had. I suppose it is also the most we have ever spent on a vacation, though not by a ton because it cost very little to drive here, and since we are in a house we are spending close to a regular amount on food. One highlight, aside from the beach was making sushi. It was both fun and delicious. I would definitely say that the 51st week of 2015 has been our best week of the year.

This Week's Pictures

The kids of the family who will be renting their house to us with our kids.Unfortunately all of the pictures came out blurry.

Christmas 2015

We spent money and rented a house on the beach in North Carolina. We got here just after 4pm on Christmas Eve, unpacked, and went and peaked at the Ocean even though it was dark. The house is even closer to the beach than I had realized. To my surprise, the kids went right in, in the rain, fully clothed, and most of them still had shoes on. (Lesson learned all subsequent trips to the beach are without shoes). We got back, unpacked some more and rested until dinner. I had bought a frozen lasagna, so that was our Christmas dinner. We did that, tried to read some stories and sing some carols, but the kids were too hyper to really enjoy it or participate, so we gave up and read the Christmas story in Luke 2 and sent the youngest 5 off to bed.

We did not have a Christmas tree, so we just set the wrapped presents and stockings out in the corner. The kids woke us up at 6am. We decided it was best to let Suzy sleep. We had a very small Christmas, since the main present was the vacation. But I think our kids were pleasant and happy about what they received. After my nap and some lego building and new game playing, we took the kids to the beach.

The Beach was quiet. I imagined that we would walk the beach, maybe stick our feet in the water. I thought we would need jackets. But as luck would have it, it's an el nino year, and the East Coast is much warmer than normal, particularly on Christmas. We got to the beach. the sun was warm, the water was warm, the waves were big, the sand was soft and we had as much fun at the beach as we would have had any summer day.

We feel so blessed and happy to be here. Not one day this year has been like any Christmas we have ever had. We did not have the opportunity to enjoy our usual Christmas traditions. But this vacation has been so lovely and just what we needed.

Christmas Card 2015

This Week at Our House # 50

1. My kids prefer this format as I always say something specific about them. They said, when I do it in paragraphs, I always just refer to them as "the kids" and that is 10 people and they shouldn't be lumped as one. So for "the kids" I am doing the numbered format. On Wednesday, John got the rejection we were basically expecting from the company he had interviewed at. This is what we received,
   
   
   "My team and I reviewed the notes from the phone screens and from the online exam. Your core skills certainly appear sufficient. When comparing to other candidates, however, I don’t believe you have compiled enough relevant experience applying those skills. Historically speaking, we feel this could lead to some difficulty for you on the team. This is not an “entry-level” position which means that prior experience/ application of C++ skills in areas germane to the projects we undertake are very important. Therefore, we’ll stop the interview process at this point.
   
   I do appreciate your time on the phone and in taking the online exam. I invite you to monitor our job postings as we’ll likely have additional positions later in 2016. No matter what, I wish you the best of luck as you search for your ideal career."
   
   We were not happy. Everything seemed to be going so well with the interview process. But it was nice to receive an explanation that made sense, even if we didn't agree with it. So the job search continues. January is always a better month for jobs in IT since the holidays are over and people are all back from their vacations. We feel hopeful and we will be meeting with my friend's good friends who are LDS employment missionaries in Raleigh.  We also have had other people getting in touch with us for some temporary job help while we continue trying to get a full time position.
2. I went to meet with a midwife this week nearer to Raleigh. It was just a meet, so I have not heard the baby's heart beat. I feel a little nervous about the pregnancy because I think I am smaller than I should be for how far along I am, but maybe not. My uterus is up to my navel, and it is possible that is it set further in my back than I am used to. Still, I look forward to hearing that heart beat and getting an ultrasound just for my peace of mind.
   
   When I came back from the midwife appointment and checking on our storage unit, I noticed a new comment on my blog. It was from Marcie Holladay, a mother of 9, whose husband just got a job in Ut after 2.5 years of unemployment and under employment. They are offering to rent their house to us. We have gladly accepted the offer. We prayed about it and we all felt really peaceful and good. It's the first time, we have felt good about a housing option since we moved here. We will meet them to work out more details on Christmas Eve, and will move our stuff in on Jan 2nd. We are very, very grateful. The house is small, but I think if they can manage homeschooling 9 children there, we can too. And really, anything will do. We had looked at buying a plot of land and a broken down trailer for cash, but we would have had to get a loan to move it, dig a septic tank, and get it hooked up to electric and water, and in the end we just did not feel good about the option and had given up on it, right around the same time Marcie contacted me. This really is the miracle we have been praying so hard for.
3. Ruth is a bit nervous about more school transition, though she is desperate for us to get into our own place. We have contemplated having her stay the two weeks in January to finish the semester, but I think we will be able to make another transition work out ok. The young women's president in the new ward is a high school math teacher there and has been very helpful in other ways already even though we have never talked to her. The big news for Ruth this week, however, is that she got her acceptance notice to BYU-I-- the only school she applied to. She's passively happy about it. Though, we knew she would get in. Her grades are good, her ACT was above what is normal for BYU-I and maybe a little below for BYU, but still quite good. She is now waiting to hear what trimester she will be placed in. She is desperately hoping for fall. I hope she gets fall too. Life will definitely be changing for us in 2016, as we begin down the road of parenting adult children.
4. Kate is happy beyond to have a home for us to move into. She's not too worried about grades or the transition. She is even contemplating just homeschooling to the end of High school. Her friend, Elizabeth, is quite sad to lose Kate. She moved here less than a year ago and Kate is her first good friend. They will be spending the next 3 days together before we leave early on Christmas Eve. They're both planning on attending BYU and might try and be roommates. 
5. Johnny had a lot of exams this week. He still studies very little but gets good grades. John is trying to get him to study things more in depth. He is excited to be getting all of his legos back and to start sleeping in a bed again.
6. I have felt for some time that the thing Adam needs the most is to home school. The public schools for the most part are not boy oriented. Adam needs more time to move around and to be out doors. He does so much better with learning and studying when he can stop and get out and run.
7. Rachel is happy to be getting a home. It's only 3 bedroom so she will be sharing with Ruth and Kate, and I know she will like that. 
8. I brought Anya's bike here from storage. She was very happy about that. She has spent her free time this week coloring. It's so cute to see her at the table with her crayons and coloring book.
9. Joseph is still just a cute happy kid. Nothing much really bothers him including sleeping on the floor. 
10. Joshua has been telling me that he wants to go back to our house. He said, when we get back to our house, he will see Evelyn. Evelyn is his favorite cousin in Ut. 
11. Arwen has another cold or allergies or something. Her nose is really runny again, and she is coughing. Part of me hopes it is a cold because colds go away and allergies do not.
12. Suzy is still just our little cutie and the apple of everyone's eye. We are so blessed to have her.
    

 

This Week at Our House #49

John was supposed to hear back from that job that he had the exam on and he did not. I want him to contact them since they did not follow through, but he does not want to. I really am having a hard time. The kids were sick with a bad cold and a runny nose. They do not like school here for the most part, so they always want to be out of school. I miss being able to leave my little ones unattended and know they are safe and just take a nap. I am tired and unhappy. The kids are feeling the same way. We want our home so desperately. We want our stuff. I miss our piano like crazy. Playing the piano has been my stress reliever for years. I miss playing Christmas carols. I miss singing with my daughters around the piano. We want our kids to be able to sleep in their beds. We have 8 kids sleeping in the room with John and I. 7 of them are sleeping on the floor. I am praying and fasting and trying to be patient, faithful, and cheerful. I try and work hard, but I am 18 weeks pregnant and just so exhausted. I have never been so stretched and tested in all my life. The unusual thing is that we have money. We've never had any money, though I can easily see it disappearing quickly. This past year we went so many weeks unable to buy groceries and just having to eat food storage. Now we have food, but miss our old life. To ease this burden on our children, we are renting a vacation home on the North Carolina shore for the Christmas week. We will check in on the 24th and out on the 1st. That will give our kids a week where they can do the things they like, like build with legos and craft, and play games. They will all get a bed for a whole week for Christmas. John and I will have our own private bedroom and bathroom. We will get to see the ocean and even put our feet in the water. It is winter, so it will not be like a summer beach trip, but the island we are staying on will be pretty deserted, and that will be nice. The whole thing is only costing $1400 for 12 people for 8 nights. It's more money than we have ever spent on a vacation, but we happen to have the money and it is probably the best Christmas present we can get for ourselves and our children. I will keep trying to be patient, faithful, and cheerful. My kids need me to be strong and I care about them too much to allow my own emotions take over my ability to take care of them. I know that God loves us, is watching out for us, knows our situation, and will eventually help us get back on our feet. Only three more weeks of 2015. I thought 2015 would be a good healing year for our family. Instead it has been a harder year where we have had.

This Week's Pictures