Of Preference and Principle

Leah and I took what will probably be our last opportunity to get away together before the next baby was born and spent a day and a half up in North Conway, NH.  It is a beautiful, quaint town in the mountains.  It has a picturesque train station that is still operational, great little restaurants and shops up and down the old down town, most that would satisfy every nature loving hippie in New England.

The backdrop to Conway are the mountains of NH, with two large cliffs to the west.  The hotel we stayed at lies at the foot of one of these cliffs, and has a great view over the valley and all of the peaks in the distance.  Leah and I had been wanting to get to the White Mountain Hotel for some time, and decided that it would be the destination for our time away.  She and her family frequented the hotel in years past, and she always spoke so highly of the place.

They have a heated outdoor pool, which is especially nice in the winter, when you can swim in 96 degree water while its snowing.  They also provide a free breakfast to those staying during the week, and we had delicious Amaretto french toast.

Since we were up there for a short time, we weren’t able to do a ton, but it was still refreshing.  It was actually the first time Leah had been away without Micah, which only took two years to happen.  We brought our new favorite game, Settlers of Catan, and I absolutely routed her.  The next day we went out for a very short hike.  We drove up to the top of Cathedral Ledge, and walked out to the ledge for a gorgeous view of the valley below.  Quite a breathtaking view!

We ended our time by going mini-golfing, which I thoroughly dominated.  I shot 18 holes of even par, routing my pregnant wife by 8 shots.  I was draining ten foot puts, and evading ever imaginable obstacle the course could throw at me.  All in all, it was a fun, but short time for us to spend together.  I can’t believe its taken over two years since we’ve gone away, but that was the life we lived.

Micah had a blast at his grandmother’s house and was not ready for us to pick him up. He didn’t miss us as much as we missed him.

You can barely see our hotel below.  it is on the right with the red roof.  Actual size of hotel is bigger than appears in the picture.

A fun part of our time was looking at some odd signs.  While we miss Engrich (Asian establishments with poor attempts at English), NH offers its own kinds of signs. There was one place with a couple of businesses that didn’t seem to totally understand how to clearly communicate what they do in simple terms.  The second one wouldn’t be  funny if it wasn’t right next to the first one.

The next two pictures are special for Meredith and Gabby.  It cracked us up at what Curves are like in NH.  The first one appears to be in the basement of someone’s house.  The second one just appears to be a had location.  Period.

WOW!  Before this episode, Leah was talking abouut how she hasnt enjoyed the show as much since they have gone into the whole time travel thing.  I thought it was more that there wasn’t as much mystery in the show, like there used to.   Well, in comes last night and I have to say the mystery IS BACK!  That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the previous episodes, but nothing like this.  I’ll leave more comments later, but here is your opportunity to leave thoughts.  I believe my mom has some interesting thoughts to say…

As you’ve probably noticed, since I’ve moved to NH, I haven’t update this much.   And if I have, it probably just consists of a picture dump of my adorable child so people can see how adorable he is.  But I have heard rumblings from far and wide, national and international (Bob), that people desire to hear how things here are going and how I’m doing.  So here is an update!

I just finished my first few weeks at The Home Depot, working in the Garden/Seasonal department.  Its only a temporary job, and it doesn’t pay enough for me to support my family in the long run, so who knows how long this will be.  But I’m learning lots of stuff I never knew before and I should be able to use a lot of this stuff later in life.  In the first week I had to learn all about grass seed, fertilizer, mulch, stones, patios, hoses, sprinklers, annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, potting soil, chainsaws, trimmers, hedge trimmers, pressure washers, riding lawn mowers, push mowers, pool cleaners, grills, blowers, vacuum blowers, patio furniture, pesticides, herbicides, as well as the whole cleaning aisle, bird seed/houses, gardening tools, and everything else garden.  On top of that was all the Home Depot stuff, philosophy, computer system, schedules, customer service, and, most importantly, who to not make mad and how to avoid doing that.

So its been a very productive month as far as that goes.  One of the things I was looking forward to was working in an environment that was so different than a church.  Its been a long time since I’ve been around so many ‘unchurched’ people, most of whom don’t know or care that I was a pastor.  Even if they do, they don’t change how they would act around me.  I haven’t heard this much profanity and vulgar speech since I was in high school, and even then it wasn’t close to this.

I have enjoyed getting to know so many new people and have made it my mission to be a light for the Gospel, through actions and words.  I know that I don’t know how long I have there, so it gives it a little urgency.  This last week I started having conversations, when appropriate, and steering things towards the Gospel.  I’ve also tried to let everyone know what I used to do, hoping it creates opportunities for Christ centered conversations.

So how long will I be working there?  My attitude is I’m working there tomorrow, so that’s where God has me.  Sometimes when I’m doing something like sweeping the outside garden area or knee deep in ripped fertilizer bags I find myself amazed that just a few months ago I was a youth pastor in Southern California.  It is amazing how much God can redirect your life in such a short amount of time!

Ok, I didn’t put this up and I’m hearing about how I need to put it up.  So go ahead and leave your thoughts from the last couple of episodes.

Since we’ve returned to New Hampshire from our exile in the land of perpetual 80’s, we’ve enjoyed our time together as a family before I get back to work.  One of my and Leah’s favorite things to do is to go bowling.  Yes, we even have our own shoes (but that was more from an economic practicality standpoint.  why pay to rent when you can own?)  But we haven’t gone since Micah was much smaller, still in his carriage.  So the other morning we were trying to think of something to do outside the house on a rainy day, and we thought, why not bowling?

For those of you foreign to New England, there are two kinds of bowling.  There is what you would consider normal, bug ball bowling.  Then there is another world of candlepin bowling.  The balls are about a fourth of the size and the pins are skinnier.  They also don’t pick up the pins in between each roll and you get three shots in each frame.  Micah loved seeing the balls come up the shoot, rolling them down the stand, and pressing the buttons whenever necessary.  Here are some pics and a video from the adventure:

Fun With Uncle Dave!

Since Micah has been home, he’s spent a lot of time playing with his new best friend, Uncle Dave.

Yesterday I was enlisted to help Dave make a car for their movie night drive in at church.  Each year they make cars out of cardboard boxes, watch a movie, and have snacks.  He said he wanted a tank, I said ’step aside’.  The turret turns and has handles inside.  The barrel opens up on the inside, so he could stick the barrel of his nerf dart gun in there and shoot out the tank.

After a couple weeks of just contacting people and never hearing back, last week I got called in for two interviews and heard back from a couple others expressing interest in setting up interviews.  The first interview was with Home Depot, which is the first company I contacted back when I was in California.  The benefit of working at The Home Depot is that they offer insurance for part time employees, plus its Manland, as the Crabbs have called it.  And with Spring coming and some more confidence in the economy, I expected them to have a little bit of an uptick.

So I went in for an interview with them and it went really well.  But they said there were only hiring part time positions.  After thinking about it after the interview, I decided if that’s all I could get, I’d take it.  So I called back and told them I’d accept a part time job.  They said they had already filled them, but that they’d give me a temporary part time job for 89 days.  Though it was part time, they said they’d have me working 40 hours a week, and that if a full time job opened up, I could be considered for it.

I told them that I would work in a way that I would want them to take me on full time, and they were fine with that.  I should start some time next week after the background check comes through.  The only drawback is that I wouldn’t start the 90 countdown to insurance until I am taken on as officially part time or full time.

The other job is a Merchandise Manager position at Barnes and Noble.  This job would be amazing!  Basically, my responsibility would be to manage the organization of the books in the store, decided which ones are featured and how they get set up.  I would also set up special displays and make sure the store is orderly.  I would be able to study sales numbers, track sales, and be able to feature local authors.  The interview went really, really well, but I’m not holding my breath on it.  The manager said that I had a lot of qualities that qualify me for the job, but that there were a lot of people interested in the job.   And there was a man in Pennsylvania that had the same position there and was looking for a transfer.  He said corporate would like him to transfer, but said it was his decision to make.  I should know this week, but still think its a long shot.

What has been difficult is taking what is there.  What I have at Home Depot won’t suffice for the future.  But the other morning Leah and I were reading through Exodus 23 and God tells the people that He will clear out the land ahead of them in his timing.  It may have been more comforting for the nation if they showed  up and God had it all clear, but God provided for them when they needed it. He even did it in their best interest, saying that they would basically being taking care of the land until they took it over.  He didn’t want the land to be overrun with beasts, so it was in their best interest to wait on the Lord to act.

Even when they were in the wilderness, God only provided manna for the day and nothing else.  They were called to depend upon the LORD as a daily discipline.  So this is what we’re trying to learn.  But if you are praying for us, we’d still need a better job to help us live on our own, in our own place.  Until then, we will be dependent on what He provides for us each day.

I wanted to post this to let you all know that I could really use your prayer this week!  After quite awhile of just applying everywhere but getting seemingly nowhere, I now have two interviews set up this week!  It has been a very frustrating process, feeling like no one is even looking at my application, and knowing it is mixed in with hundreds, if not thousands of others.  But I know that God has one out there for me, despite how the situation looks from my perspective.

The first interview is at the Home Depot in Salem tomorrow.  They were one of the first places I applied to, and a place I’ve always liked going to.  I’ve even thought in the past I wouldn’t mind working there.  I just love the smell.  I’m not sure what I’m interviewing for, but it means a lot that the HR lady there has really pursued me.  There was another store further away that I applied to also that had put a hold on my application.  She told me to wait a week and see if they contacted me.

They didn’t, so she wanted me to come to a job fair.  Then she contacted the store, couldn’t get through, left a message, called corporate to ask how she should handle it, and was told as long as I didn’t interview with them, she can pursue me.  So she called me back and said she would just rather set up an interview with me tomorrow at 11:30.

The other interview is more attractive.  I found out that Barnes and Noble was looking for a Merchandise Manager, so I made a cover letter, attached it to my resume, and dropped it off at the store with the manager’s name on it.  I even got a pointer that he is ‘Scot’ with one ‘t’.

I called back on Monday and spoke with Scot and he said he hadn’t seen my application yet.  At this point, I was a little frustrated that it didn’t make it into his hands.  But he asked people if they had received a resume in an envelope and it popped up.  He took a look at it and said that he’d like to give me a call and talk to me the following night.

When he called this evening he wanted to ask me a few questions, but was the only manager on the premises and couldn’t be on the phone for long.  So we set up an interview on Friday at 10am.

So if you are thinking of it, I would greatly appreciate your prayers during those times.  I’m nervous, especially about the Barnes and Nobles job since I would really like to be able to work at a book store.  Please pray that God’s will would be served and that I would be able to speak clearly and concisely!

Another great episode.  Here’s one thought:

Why didn’t Sun go with the rest of them?  Here’s my only theory: She didn’t come like she did the first time, with child.  I know Juliet told her she was pregnant on the island, but she could have lied.  What would telling the truth gained in that situation.  It would only have been destructive to their relationship.  So she made the call to preserve their relationship, knowing it wouldn’t matter.  So Sun didn’t come with her daughter, like she would have the first time in utero.  thoughts?