Well, it has been a while since my last post and I am sorry! Here are some updates about our lives!
Working: My last post I talked about starting subbing at the public schools and I was so excited to get started and get into the schools. I started right before Christmas break so for the two weeks that school was out, I worked at the youth center, which was awesome. Right before break I also got a raise at work so it made my time there even better! But, eventually break had to end and I eagerly awaited the Monday when school started again. So, I woke up at 6:30, got ready, had my coffee and waited. And waited. And waited. The call never came. So, I figured that it was the Monday after break and teachers did their best to make it to school to start the new year off with their class and that is understandable. Well, it has officially been 2 weeks since school started and I have been called a zero times. Every morning I go through the same process and 8:00 rolls around and I am disappointed again. I had heard that Great Falls desperately needed subs and people made it seem like I would be called every day and unfortunately that has not been the case. Now, this is great on the days that Anthony is home and I get to see him or when I need to run errands or do chores. However, this also means I am not getting paid and my time at the youth center is down to only Saturdays. Subbing is the most frustrating job that I have had because I never know if I am going to be working tomorrow or if it is worth getting up so early just to sit on the couch and watch HGTV. I kept having nightmares that I missed calls for work and for the first week I barely slept because I would get so nervous about what the following day would bring. The human resources office told me that those who are most available will get priority so I stopped working during the week at the youth center. They also told me that licensed teachers get priority in being called it but I have not been called. I have done everything they recommend and yet I am still on the couch. They said that subbing is the best way to get your name out there for consideration for future positions but how can they know my name if I am never working in the schools? I was getting very frustrated and I kept praying for God to help me find my path and even though it pushed the boundaries of my patience, He gave me a nudge in the right direction.
Before Thanksgiving I had submitted my application to Great Falls Central Catholic High School for subbing as well. They did not call me and I had kinda given up hope that I would be working there. Finally, this week I got a call from the principle asking if I was still interested in working there. I could have screamed I was so happy. So, Wednesday I attended Virtus training put on by the Catholic Church about protecting children and today I am turing in my paperwork and hopefully I will start next week! The great thing about working at Central is that they are a small school and often give you a day or two of notice before you sub, unlike the public schools who call you the day of. Also, Central is small so I have a good chance of getting to know the kids better and getting to know the other teachers. I will be available to sub at both the public and private school so hopefully between the two, I will get more work!
Catechism: So, for the past couple months I have been teaching Religious Education (Sunday school) to 5th, 6th and 7th graders and I have really loved it. My class is growing and they are a really great group of kids and we have a lot of fun together. As you may remember, this class was a bit of a surprise but I knew that I was needed so we have made the best of it. However, now that I am teaching they would like me to become a certified Catecist, meaning I have to take a class online. I didn't think this was going to be that difficult, maybe some readings or answering some questions but nothing too major. I was wrong. I am enrolled in what feels like a college class. It is a 6 week program that each week requires: 6 discussion posts addressing 2 separate topics, chapter readings, quizzes, pre and post tests, online readings, essays and videos to watch. Wow. This was especially difficult because I have not done professional writing in almost a year and writing essays was something my brain was just not prepared to do yet! I am a little frustrated with this whole process because they practically are begging for Sunday school teachers but then they throw something like this at us and it makes it very difficult to actually help out. I am happy to help on Sundays and prepare lessons but this is a volunteer position and I did not expect that there would be this much work involved. I am very happy that I am not working now because I don't know when I would find the time to complete this class otherwise. I hope that I will learn a lot from this class and I hope that it will help me be a better teacher so I am keeping an open mind. Between this and the Virtus training, I think I am going to be an expert!
Socializing: Lately, I have really been trying to get to more spouse functions, especially because I am not really doing anything else to socialize with people. Last week I went to the Bunco club, On Tuesday I attended the Books Made into Movies Club and last night we had our monthly spouses social where we played Bunco again. I forget how much fun I have with these ladies and I am glad that I am starting to get back into the club. For a while I could not attend much because I was working until 7:30 at night and by the time I got home, the clubs were over or I didn't feel like going out again. It is nice to once again be with people who I can relate to and I really would like to make more of an effort to really get to know some of these ladies. The best part is that when Anthony is on alert, I don't have to make dinner for myself because there is always food at these get togethers and these ladies are fantastic cooks! I hope to get more involved in the club by hosting a get together or volunteering more, especially now that I seem to have a lot of free time!
Dogs: This has been especially challenging for us. We are both very thoughtful, very thorough people and we do not make decisions lightly. These qualities are great most of the time but I will admit that they can sometimes get out of hand. I do not like to spend money and Anthony likes to make sure he has researched every aspect of what we are getting. This is why we did not buy a car or living room furniture because I could not spend the money and we could not agree on the best option. We have been seriously discussing, researching, googling, and asking about dogs for about 4 months now and we now seem to be going around in circles. We like to look at every angle and detail of every dog that we are considering and last night we realized that we may be over thinking things. We just want to make sure that we are getting the right dog for us and our situation but that has proven to be difficult. Unfortunately, the humane society here does not have many options and the dogs they do have are typically older or pit bull mixes, which we are not allowed to have on base. So we are keeping that option open but we are leaning toward getting a dog from a breeder. We do not want to get one from a breeder we have not met but everything in Montana is so spread out and Anthony hasn't had a day off in quite a while so it is hard to go and visit these places. We finally decided last night that we need to accept that there is no perfect dog and eventually we are going to have to pull the trigger and make a decision, even if that means not being completely comfortable with moving forward. Last night we set a timeline and hopefully we can come to an agreement soon!
Anthony: Anthony is doing well but he is very busy. As I'm sure you have heard, things are not great here at Malmstrom and the people that did not screw up have to pick up the slack. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this news article:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/16/air-force-34-nuclear-missile-officers-implicated-in-cheating-scandal/
Needless to say, Anthony was not involved in any of the problems but there are quite a few people here that are currently not working because of the investigations. This means that those that did not do anything wrong are now working like crazy to try to fill the gaps. This also means that everything here is being looked at under a microscope. We have a lot of eyes watching the base here and it puts a lot of stress on the people here. I feel terrible for the missileers because they work so hard every day in a very stressful job that is usually thankless and the only time they get recognized is when there is some scandal caused by a select few. It has to be hard to stay motivated and positive in your job with all of this going on. Just try to remember, when you read the news talking about some person screwing up in the military, 99% of the people are working their butts off, sacrificing everyday and doing exactly the right thing. Unfortunately, it is those few people that screw up that get national attention and make everyone else look bad.
On the bright side, Anthony will be changing jobs in February so he will be pulling alerts less and he will be working more normal human hours during the week. I am looking forward to that because I think we will get to see each other more and he will be happier and healthier having a consistent schedule for sleep and work. We can't wait for this month to be over!
Well, that is our life for now. I will hopefully update this again soon as things develop in our lives. Also, Grandma I hope you are feeling better! You are in our thoughts and prayers and I know that you will be up and running soon! Love you!
