Things other than Baby Evie

Although Evie is a lovely and vibrant part of our lives, we have been up to other things lately. We do try to maintain a balanced life!

In work…

I enjoy my job a lot. I work for a non-profit company that serves families with children with developmental delays. My particular focus is kids on the Autism Spectrum, ages 3-5. I began managing this program a year and a half ago, first by overseeing social playgroups for these kids. We provided and staffed groups of 3-6 kids, all with autism, which provided structured play and social opportunities for them. The kids can encounter other children in a structured, predictable environment while staff help them to work on their particular challenges in having autism. 6 months ago, when I returned to work, we expanded this service to going in-home. As in, we now have a person who visits the family and works with the family and the child to make their own particular family life more accessible to their child. We help the child with autism play with a sibling, eat at the table, help with chores, etc… This has been very challenging and exciting to organize and supervise, and I'm having a blast. God has really provided an amazing job for me that challenges me and allows me to still take care of Evie for a large portion of the day.

Michael is still working with adults with disabilities, helping them to find real employment opportunities in the community. Although this is a noble job, he continues to seek work that is more interesting to him. Currently he's going through a long (although almost finished) application process for the State Parks, in hopes of becoming a CA State Park Ranger. The odds are really stacked (when have job opportunities ever been easy in our adult lives?--never!!), but we're hopeful--yet still preparing to think about something else for him if this doesn't work out. A living wage would be a good start.

In home…

We've been hosting a Korean exchange student this winter. He's been here about 6 weeks and may or may not stay on with us for another 6. He's been pretty pleasant to have around, and the whole endeavor has also provided us with extra cash, something that's always helpful!

We also (when I say we, I mean mostly Michael) undertook the re-flooring of the kitchen and entryway. This has been a MAJOR process, which began in September and concluded in January. Basically, he ripped up the old floor, laid a new subfloor, and then tiled the whole thing. Not easy. We now understand why tiling is expensive--it's not the materials, it's the labor. Cha-ching! However, it looks great and is a big improvement from yellow vinyl flooring and fake stone in the entryway. Here are some pics, although I'll post the finished product in a later posting. I know--how cruel!

Laying the hardibacker (cement board)--very heavy stuff!

mortar it down, then nail it down…

Laying out the tile on top of the hardibacker…

Entryway, experiencing new freedom from nasty black and white fake stone.

Evie, participating in the sanding of the grout, so we could clean it and seal it…then done! At long last!

I am also enjoying participating in our church choir, which performs every Sunday, as well as does a couple of special performances throughout the year. Michael has been doing a little fishing and snowboarding, and may be launching a new project with some friends that involves a cow. We'll see. More on that later.

And Evie? She comes along for the ride, and since she can crawl and pull herself up now, we're trying to stay one step ahead of any potential near-death experiences for her. Whew! Good stuff…God stuff!