Well, where to begin. Chris started a new job on September 18th at a Catholic school in Drumheller. Since he did not get the job in Claresholm that he was hoping for, we decided he would broaden his horizons and look further away from home. He saw the dream job at St. Anthony's (High school math and science), got an interview on Monday September 11 (I drove up with him and Selman and Lizzy tagged along) and he got hired on the spot. Then he called the Branch President for Drumheller and it was almost as if he knew Chris would call, because he gave him a room to stay in for just $500 a month. What an answer to our prayers!
And now we live with the blessings and hardships of said job. The kids and I miss Chris! I am a single Mom from Monday morning at 5:30 when Chris leaves to Friday evening about 5:30 pm. I have started my new rotation at the Center for Mental Health and Addictions which means I work every other weekend days, 1 Friday day and 3 weekday evenings on a 4 week rotation. So I do not get to see Chris a lot. And when I work those weekday evenings, I rely on the older kids to put the younger kids to bed. And then my mom comes and stays with them after she gets Dad to bed, from 1000 to when I get home a little after midnight. I am so blessed to have a wonderful mom and wonderful kids.
In a way it is a blessing that Chris lives away during the week. He has a heavy load teaching and he has always struggled with getting things done. I feel guilty when we are around distracting him so if we are not around, hopefully he will get his work done. I know he is working hard and I am proud of him. He is an amazing teaching. I am always in awe of how smart he is!
Caeleb turned 13 on September 14th. And Chris turned.... Caeleb had almost all the Champion Junior High to our place to play board games (about 12 kids came). I can't believe my oldest is a teenager now! He is such a good kid, kind, calm, chill and just fun to be around.
Mary turned 8 on September 19th and had her baptism on Saturday the 23rd. It was a beautiful simple baptism. She looked so cute in her little white home sewn dress. I am proud of her choice to follow Jesus. She is nanas little helper - so compassionate and empathetic and yet full of fire too. Grandma and Grandpa drove out for that and stayed for a week and a half. Then Grandma flew out the day before thanksgiving and stayed for another 2 weeks to help me settle in to the single mom life and finish up some last shifts at the hospital. It was wonderful to have her around. She watched the kids while Chris and I spent a night, for our 14th anniversary, at the downtown Sheraton Hotel in Calgary. We had spent our wedding night there. He got us a nice room and we were able to enjoy going to the lounge for appetizers and breakfast on the top floor. We went swimming and out to supper. We walked around Princess Island Park which is Chris' favourite park in Calgary. And we went to the Temple the next day which was wonderful. It has been a great 14 years full of ups and downs. I am grateful I can spend life with Chris.
I quit my job at the Claresholm Hospital. Nov 3 was the last day. It was sad but it needed to be done. I had only been there about a year and 4 months but was only picking up 2-3 shifts a month on average and that was not enough to become competent in Emerg even though working on the floor was going well. Now I can't pick up at all there since Chris is not around to help with the kids. The second last shift I had in Emerg, I assisted with putting a chest tube in. I have done many chest tube dressing changes but it was my first time assisting with an insertion and I was a bit flustered trying to understand what the doctor wanted me to do. He was very patient with me. But I did not feel confident. I got a nice compliment my last day of work there. And I was told the door is open for me to go back if I so choose in a few years when my kids are all in school. I would do a Triage course and an Emerg course first. It is a lot of work, skill and knowledge working there and I so admire the nursing staff. But I kind of think I will just stick with mental health for a while and maybe end my career in 20 years just as I started it (19 years ago), working with sick and tiny newborns. There is a NICU at the South Health Campus in SE Calgary. We shall see what life brings. It is crazy to think I am about halfway done my career. I have been blessed with many different experiences in nursing. Some good and some not so good. The year of 2023, I worked 3 shifts a week on average (the beginning half of the year was almost 4 shifts a week). In 2024 it will be 2 shifts a week. Alot more manageable without Chris around and I can focus on being a mom.
The weather has been gorgeous. No snow on the ground at this time (Nov 13) and the grass is green which is great for the horses. We have had some rain this Fall. 2 days ago was the worst wind storm we have seen. The play house fell over and was damaged and hundreds if not thousands of tumble weeds blocked our driveway so we spent a while Saturday evening clearing a path to get vehicles through.
The kids enjoyed Halloween although we wish Chris had been here. We had a Peter pan theme. Selman was Peter, Lizzy was Tinkerbell, Elva was Captain Hook and I was Mother Darling. Mary decided to not go as Wendy and instead used by Green MandM costume that my mom made when I was about 11. Her favorite color is green and I knew that costume would stick with her as she has a tendency of changing her mind. Caeleb ordered a funny shirt online that said "costume not found: error 404." He went out with friends trick or treating around Champion while I did the Champion costume parade with all the kids (except Lizzy who stayed to help Nana hand out candy) and then took the kids (minus Caeleb) to the 12 neighbors around our place. Trick or treating always takes us about 3 hours and I go for the visits. I need to be a better neighbor and visit at other times of the year as well. We usually pick something out to sing: This year it was "we can fly" from Peter pan of course. We carved pumpkins a couple nights before at my parents house and we got plenty of Halloween movies in this October. You know, the usuals - Hocus Pocus, the Haunted Mansion, Casper, etc. I like my kiddy scary movies.
A couple of days ago was Remembrance day and Elva and I recited "In Flanders Fields" by memory at the little Champion service. It is such an important day for me. So many sacrificed everything for our freedom. Lest we forget. We watched the movie Narnia last Sunday as a family and that is a good movie about world war two and about the ultimate sacrifice from our Savior and the fight against evil. There appears to be so much evil in our world. I hope I can teach my kids to seek to do right. It really is the easier path.
Well, I best be going to bed. Until next time. Love you all.
