Ring...

Ring...

Ring...

Ring...

Man, I am obviously NOT a jedi.

Trying to will Chris's phone to ring isn't working.

We are waiting on news for a tryout. On Saturday they said they were interested but they had to meet Sunday on when we would come up. We are still waiting word.

I refuse to think of it as an option until a date is scheduled.

In other good news, Chris has another tryout in Kentucky. On Saturday he had 2 calls from churches before he even got up. The one in which I'm trying to will our phone to ring, and the one in Kentucky.

Please keep up the prayers guys!

Sex Ed

I ran across this article and it made me chuckle thinking about that guy who told Chris we need to teach our children about this by the time they are 8 (aka 2nd grade). Tell me, is this what you want your young child learning about? When I had sex ed for the first time in 5th grade it was about different body parts...not about actual sexual intercourse. Since when did this become the responsibility of the school system?


Anger Over Sex Ed Proposal to Teach First Graders About 'Gay Love'

A proposed sex education program in a Montana school district that teaches fifth-graders the different ways people have intercourse and first-graders about gay love has infuriated parents and forced the school board to take a closer look at the issue.

Helena school trustees were swamped Tuesday night at a hearing that left many of the hundreds of parents in attendance standing outside a packed board room. They urged the school board in this city nestled in the Rocky Mountains to take the sex education program back to the drawing board.

The proposed 62-page document covers a broad health and nutrition education program and took two years to draft. But it is the small portion dealing with sexual education that has drawn the ire of many in the community who feel it is being pushed forward despite its obvious controversial nature.

Parents appeared most worried about pieces of the plan that teaches first-graders about same-gender relationships, fifth-graders that sexual intercourse includes "vaginal, oral, or anal penetration," and high school students about erotic art. The curriculum would also teach kindergartners anatomical terms such as penis, vagina, breast, nipples, testicles, scrotum and uterus.

"They made this more controversial by adding in all this stuff like same-gender relationships to small children, teaching body parts to kindergartners, and teaching erotic art to ninth through 12th-graders," said Mikal Wilkerson, who has five children in the school system and a husband who sits on the school board. "They even teach about anxiety about sexual performance in high school."

Supporters say the proposed health education curriculum contains honest, science-based information on wellness and allows students to make better decisions.

The board takes the issue up again next month, and the outrage suggests that members could alter the plan to deal with all the complaints. One resident said parents may have to consider impeachment of board members or a lawsuit if it goes forward.

Marianne Rencher, a lawyer who will have a second-grader and a kindergartner in the school system next year, wants certain aspects of the sex education program taken out, particularly the fifth-grade curriculum about intercourse. She said the rest of the health program could go forward while the sex education is recrafted.

Trustee Terry Beaver said he thinks much in the policy is favorable, but believes the public backlash means they should carve out the sexuality elements and deal with them separately.

"It appears to be a strong divisive issue. I think when the community is that strongly divided we need to take a further look at it," Beaver said.

Beaver said his issue with the plan revolves on whether certain components are being taught too young.

"I don't know that anything needs to be taken out," he said. "Some of it might be age inappropriate. We are going to have to consider how we teach it and when we teach it."

Done

Well that book is closed.

They called today and told Chris they hired the other guy. The elder said he did what he said he wouldn't do and hired someone without a family. Even though I think it was for the best, it still stings a bit. I guess no one likes rejection though.

One of my biggest problems was as we left Sunday evening they made it sound like the job is ours but that they had already invited the other guy to try out. The strange thing is is the deacon who had the biggest problem with us homeschooling never said a single word to me. It felt like he didn't want us there from the get-go. I think it is telling of the church when some of the women told Chris that Sunday that it was so nice to have our children there because it brought life back to the church.

Financially I honestly have no idea what we are going to do. Obviously Chris is also having a hard time finding a secular job. There are just not many jobs to be had. We have 1 more support check coming and then that is it. I have asked for more work, and have gotten a bit more, but no where near the money we need to get by on. So yeah, scary times ahead. We could use some prayers!

Suspicion has been confirmed

Well, at least we are not just paranoid.

Chris talked to the elder that he tried out for a couple of weeks ago today. There are a couple of men that are hung up on...yup...us homeschooling. Which still honestly has me fuming.

I can understand if they wanted someone with more experience, someone who teaches/preaches better, or whatever the case may be. But homeschooling, seriously? Apparently they think we won't be involved in the community at all. Seriously, that's what he said. But you know what is even funnier...the other 2 people who have tried out, both are older, one has (from what I understand) children who are grown and out of the house and who won't be coming anyway, and the other has no children and is widowed. Yeah, makes no sense to me either.

It's not the elders fault, he really seems to want to hire Chris. They are still undecided though and we haven't been given a yes or a no. We are pretty sure who is having a problem with it. The same one who gave Chris trouble about us being qualified to teach them. Chris told me today this same gentleman also got on Chris in the meeting telling him our children need to learn sex ed by the age of 8. Not really sure what business it is of his on when we teach it or how that was even appropriate during an interview. And for the record, Faith would only be in 2nd grade when she is 8 if she were in public school. Sorry, but my child is not going to learn sex ed that early and there is no reason why she needs to know about any of that yet. I didn't start sex ed classes until 5th grade, and even then I was pretty clueless about what all was involved. I went to public school yet was completely and truly innocent when it came to that subject. I was fine with it, I grew up just fine, and I wasn't sheltered. So 8 years old, nope, not gonna happen. And if they were in public school I would opt my children out of the class anyway.

I went ahead and typed up a long letter to the elder explaining what all we have been involved in with the children and what we plan to be involved in, with sports and clubs and whatnot and asked that he shared the letter with the congregation. In it I explained the activities in our community that we have already been involved with as well as activities we hope to get the children involved in as they get older, and said it did depend on their interests as they grow. I asked that they not judge us based on preconceived notions nor on what they have known others to do, but to judge based on our own merits. Not sure it would help, but it made me feel better. Although, I know I said a lot of what was in that letter while I was there. But at least they have it in writing.

And just to add...I know most people don't know what all is involved with homeschooling. I have no problems with people asking about it (ok...depending on their tone! lol). I have already done over 2 years of research and know the most common preconceived notions. I have prepared myself for all of the ignorant comments that can be made and have prepared myself for what some may automatically think of us for homeschooling. I never once was prepared though that our decision to teach our children ourselves would ever prohibit my husband from getting a job.

But you know what, I'm ok with that. If he doesn't get the job because of that reason, it is definitely not a place we will want to be and a better job will come up!

I love Swagbucks

You may, or may not, have noticed my sidebar with some Swagbucks information added to it. I was introduced to Swagbucks just a few weeks ago and I am so happy to have finally jumped on the bandwagon. Just by using their search engine, you have chances to win what are called Swagbucks. Usually I just win 2 or 3 times a day whenever I need to do a search. From what I understand, no matter how often you try to search, you will generally only win a few times a day. Usually anywhere from 7-12 bucks a time. But hey, it all adds up. I also qualify for surveys from time to time and I have won several hundred Swagbucks by doing these, which take about 20 minutes.

So in just 2 weeks of doing this, not spending much time at all, I have already accumulated and redeemed enough Swagbucks for 2 $5.00 giftcards for Amazon.com. For doing practically nothing. And hey, I am definitely one who likes free money! It's actually legit. You can redeem your swagbucks for a lot of other things, but I like to buy books on Amazon and so that is what I redeemed mine on. And I am already more than halfway to getting another one. This was honestly the only reason I even joined, was for the Amazon gift cards that my friends kept saying they were winning. And now, after a couple of weeks, I thought I would share it with you all too.

Want to join in the fun too and earn yourself some nice prizes. Just click here: SWAGBUCKS sign up, and start doing the normal searching you would use yahoo or any other search engine for.

Sorry to sound like an advertisement, but it really is nice to win giftcards for doing nothing so that I don't have to spend my own money on Amazon!

"The" phone call

You know what I'm talking about when I say "The" phone call. You know...the one in which the person on the other line tells you you would be perfect for the job and can't wait for you to move there. Yup, that one. For the record, we are still waiting for that call.

We went to Kentucky for a tryout last weekend. Although it was quite difficult having 3 kids in 1 little hotel room, we had a wonderful time there. Everyone was just so nice and we really felt like we fit in there. Faith and Samantha totally hammed it up and walked around and talked to all the women, which is completely UN-Faith-Like. Faith even sat with one of the widows during the dinner they had for us, which was no where near where we were sitting. (And I would just like to add how amazing this woman was...she was 92, she was married for 63 years, she was still driving herself and was one spunky lady...and she seriously looked amazing for her age and would have never thought she was in her 90's).

After the dinner all the men gathered together to hammer Chris (ok ok, they were pretty easy on him). He said there was one question though that threw him off and made him a little mad. One of the men (who was older) asked if he really thought he was qualified to teach our children. It threw him off because it had absolutely nothing to do with the job and just with the way he said it. I tried to explain to Chris afterwards though that he will run into that quite a bit. Maybe I'm just already used to the snide comments about us homeschooling from people who really don't understand what it's about. Chris hasn't dealt with any of that yet. I tried to explain to him that we will run into that a lot, especially in smaller towns that just aren't used to anything other than public schooling. I told him to look at the town we came from and what his thoughts were on homeschooling before we had children.

Still though, everything we really well. From the comments everyone made to both he and I at separate times, it really sounded like they felt the same way we did. That they really wanted Chris to be the preacher there. The only thing was that they had already asked another guy to come this past Sunday to try out as well. He was an older gentleman, his wife was deceased, and he had no family. They made it sound like they were just having him try out since they had already asked him, but Chris was still "the one to beat" so to speak.

But it is now Monday afternoon and we still are waiting for "The" phone call. We both really thought we would have heard back from them this morning. With each passing hour we turn a little more pessimistic. We are trying to remain hopeful, but it's hard. Waiting is hard. Waiting is even harder when you are all but told you have the job, you just have to wait for the official word. Because you don't dare get your hopes up after being battered down by "the process".

So, I guess all I can say is you will hear when I hear.

List of things

I have been meaning to write, things have just been in overdrive lately. I thought things would slow down after last week, but I find myself trying to get caught up on things that have been put off for a long time.

First and foremost...Chris is DONE with school! He is no longer just a preaching student but is now an official preacher. An unemployed one, but one nonetheless. I don't think I have ever been more proud of him. It has definitely been a tough 2 years but he stuck with it.

Some more good news is he will be trying out for a congregation on Sunday. It's not north like we wanted, but if everything is right then that is better than going north into a church that isn't sound. We leave on Friday and I admit I'm a little nervous. It's our first tryout and I'm not sure what to expect.

I had my GTT this morning and got a call from my nurse this afternoon. Thankfully I PASSED!!! I am so glad I don't have to do the 3 hour GTT and even more happier that I don't have GD. Though it wasn't a big concern as I have never had it. I am, however, anemic, and have to go back on iron pills twice a day. I'm so bad at remembering to take pills.

Some really bad news is Chris's brother's health has not been good and he has been battling lung cancer. They thought everything was getting better. He got a call from his mom last night and she said that he now has more spots on his lungs, and has spots on his stomach and his pancreas as well. I had a feeling after she was down last weekend that things weren't good. She was telling me that he hasn't been wanting to eat and is down to 108 pounds. I didn't tell her what I was thinking, but I was hoping I was wrong. Things are not looking good at all. I am so worried about his mom. This will be the 2nd son she will have to bury, if he isn't able to fight it. It will also be the 2nd family member who she will have to watch succumb to cancer. The first being her husband, who died of bone cancer the day after Chris and I were married (like just past midnight that next day). What makes it even harder is that he is still not right with God. Chris is going to try to talk with him again to get him to come back, but every attempt he has made so far has been shot down. He could definitely use some prayers.