Micah Bowling and Other Fun Things

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.

Job Update!

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.