Boomerang Kids

Yesterday, a job opening became available with a major Institute of Religion that I am fully qualified for and is full-time with benefits. If I was hired, it would also be a major jumping-off point in my career if I wanted it to be. I mentioned it to my boss, Griff, and he said he would make calls right away to get my name in the right ears if I decided to apply. The rest of the faculty, bless them, tried to be supportive, but each of them told me either publicly or privately that they really don't want me to go. That warmed the cockles of my heart, to say the least.

After talking about it with Husband last evening and praying about it, I decided I will not apply. It doesn't make practical sense to try and get a job in The Big City (on the farthest side of the city, no less) with gas prices going up, winter coming on, and family moving back in (see below). Besides, I absolutely love my job, and I would miss the students terribly. Next year, the first batch of kids I've known since they were freshmen will be seniors, and I'll have to say good-bye to them as they head out to serve missions, attend college, or go to work in the real world. I already told the kids who show up at my office every day to say hello and have a chat that the only way I would disappear from this job was if I was dead. I would hate to worry them.

I had to take a couple of sneaky pics of my boss for a recognition that his boss is conducting and asked me to participate in. This is the faculty during in-service meeting, where they discuss the upcoming block of scripture and share their thoughts and insights on how to teach it effectively to the students. From left to right: Josh (new to our faculty this year), Ryan, Griff (my boss), Denise (new to our faculty this year), and Kim.

From left to right: Josh, Ryan, and Griff. I love these meetings. I get to listen to scriptorians discuss scripture at work and get paid for it!

Meanwhile, Sian's and Gabrielle's landlord sold the block of townhomes where they are each renting with their husbands, and now their rents are doubling. It was inevitable, I guess. The landlord was in his 80s and did all of his own maintenance, and his wife was bugging him to sell the rentals and finally retire. The real estate corporation that bought the townhomes immediately informed the tenants that their low-rent days of bliss were over and that they would have to pay twice the amount (the current market price) or get out by the end of October.

Sian's husband, Nathan, makes good money working for a major financial corporation, but they haven't yet saved up enough for a down payment on a house, so they called and asked us if our offer was still good to let them live with us should the need ever arise. They are happy to pay us rent, but they wanted to still be able to sock away as much in savings for a house payment as they can. Fortunately, we have the room. A bonus is that Nathan's commute into The Big City will actually be shorter than it was before.

Gabrielle works for a major software company in the area where they are currently living, so she and her husband are still deciding what to do. A modular house on Raine's parents' large nearby property is an option. They are also welcome to live with us, but I'm afraid they would have to be satisfied with a mere bedroom rather than a suite of rooms; also, the daily commute for Gabrielle to work and Raine to school would be arduous.

With only a month to prepare, we've been scrambling to get the basement ready for Sian, Nathan, and their two darling little boys. Fortunately, the basement is already finished with a bedroom, bathroom, and large family room--all of which will become their space--but some maintenance needs to be done before we're satisfied. That includes new flooring (Husband has been laying vinyl plank in the bathroom and bedroom, and we'll have the family room re-carpeted), new paint (Behr's Cottage White, which is a lovely candle-lit off-white that is bright but very cozy for a darker basement room), and drywalling the bedroom closet. Also, all the stuff we've stored in the family room has to go somewhere else.

I'm excited to have my grandsons in the same house. (I'm also excited that they will be sleeping two stories below us, as my days of being up half the night with babies are far behind me.) We lived with my parents when our kids were little, and the bonds they developed with my parents and my younger siblings (who were in their teens and early 20s at the time) are strong and precious. I very much look forward to having that kind of bond with my grandchildren. Staying put at my current job, which is about a five minute's drive from home, will allow me to see them so much more than if I was trekking back and forth the The Big City every day. For me, that's well worth staying here.

He's 7 months already! It's about time he learned to read!

Tyler is almost always happy. He's a sweet and contented little boy.