Monday, November 12, 2007 ;
7:06 AM
My neighbor and I started a Bible study together some time ago. Each week, we'll go to her place or mine and our kids play and watch a DVD together while we study and chat.
As we got to know each other better, we also started babysitting for each other.
When their van broke down and had to be sent for repairs, they both needed to get to the workshop in one car. Since the whole family of 6 couldn't squeeze into their sedan, they left the older 2 at my place. It was fun actually.
So far, I helped watch their kids twice I think. Then they did me a big favor by watching mine. I think we're going to enjoy this a lot more from now, since my kids actually did very well without me, and enjoyed themselves over there. I was worried ds2 may be clingy but he didn't cry, so it was liberating.
We were given a chance to move to Salt Lake City by dh's school. They actually offered us a 3 bedroom apartment rent-free, in a very convenient location that's just 10min away for dh, and 15min away from ds1's school. We even viewed the apartment. But after weighing all the pros and cons, we decided to stay put at where we are, mainly due to the ties I built up with the neighbors, and other church friends around here, even though the daily commute to SLC and traffic jams are such a dread.
Anyway, why did we get such a good deal from dh's school instructors too? Cos dh is going to graduate soon, and after he graduates, they want to employ him full-time, and are dangling some carrots. They've engaged a lawyer to apply for a green card for us, but apparently he needs to have 2 years experience in this specific line (bowmaking) before he can work in USA in this line and apply for green card. So that means, we have to leave next year. Then maybe come back again in future. All's still hazy, we have not confirmed anything yet. But dh is definitely graduating next year, and so there will sure to be big movement. We just don't know where yet.
Do we move somewhere else in USA, return to Singapore or...? Dh also has an offer from the Violin Society of America to work for them in New York. But that would not be as a bowmaker, so he doesn't want to take it up since he is reluctant to enter another administrative job. He has apparently found his passion, and he has decided that he absolutely does not like an office job involving a lot of admin stuff.
Above right: the kids' new coin jar. The old tin can one has been destroyed as ds1 decided he really really wanted to buy some knights. Since it was his hard-earned money, we let him take it out. Now this new one is a canning jar, and I put in a cardboard top instead of the metal lid.
Dh bought another 2nd hand car! We owned 4 cars at one time. Unbelievable. This time it was more to save money. Dh decided the Malibu wasn't as economical on the freeway, so he put it and the Neon up for sale. And bought a Toyota Paseo for $800. It's an old Paseo of course, but still runs very well.
Dh was repairing the Paseo and doing maintenance work in the garage when he dismantled the seat belt mechanism to check if they were working well. Ds1 happened to be around, and was very interested. So father and son were playing with the seat belt device, pulling it and releasing to see how it worked. It was nice to behold, the bonding, and how they were enjoying themselves, so I took a pic. :-)
Lawrence and Tim Ng sent this I think. It came in a parcel together with my mom's stuff, so I hope I didn't get it wrong. Thanks! ds1 worked on it in the kitchen, and on a tray, since it can be messy. This time he didn't need help. He totally did not follow the color instructions though, so a very funny Pooh resulted (above right).
Last few chances for the kids to muck around in the backyard. Soon the snow will cover it. I brought out all the expired samples of milk powder (never used) I received over the months and poured them all out for kids to play with.
And we made some decoupage pumpkins in time for Halloween and Fall Festival too. These were the pumpkins we brought back from the Black Island Farms. :-)
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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