Today was a fabulous day! It started off a little rough. Not that rough, it's just I was trying to take Gabe's 8 month picture (can't believe he's 8 months old already!) and he was NOT cooperating. He doesn't just sit still in the position I put him in anymore. I put him on the couch because that is where I always have him for his monthly pictures, but he kept leaning forward, and would almost fall off! So I put him on the ground, on a blanket in case he spit up, and he kept leaning down to grab the blanket. He would look up at me and I'd try to take the picture but it only lasted a second and he'd get distracted by something and turn his head. I don't really think I got a "good" one, like I would have liked but I got several weird ones. Here they are so you can see what I had to deal with:
Now do you feel my pain??? I'm lucky I got one semi-decent picture!
Gabe napped really well, though, including during my phone interview. And I got the teaching job! The interview was really easy; all of the questions he asked were ones I already answered at my last interview. He said if I email him my clearances and certificate he'll forward them to the head of HR and he would be contacting me within the next week to make an offer. John, my interviewer, said he wasn't sure which subject exactly I'll be teaching because they have to look at the numbers, but it will probably be Pre-Algebra or Algebra 1, which is perfect because I have experience teaching both, and that is my favorite! I will be middle school, which is 7th and 8th grade and I don't know if I will have both grades or just one. New teacher training is the week of August 13th and it will probably be in Mechanicsburg, which is an hour away. I get reimbursed for any traveling, plus they provide a laptop, money for setting up my home office, an internet phone, and reimbursement for our internet service. A friend of mine from the school I worked at this past year who got laid off applied and is starting the process with Agora too, so that would be cool if she worked there too. She teaches English, so we probably wouldn't cross paths too much, but I'd probably see her at trainings and staff development. :-) I think I'm required to travel once or twice a year to meet with small groups of students, and will travel a few times a year for two-day trainings. The school pays for half of the hotel room, and if you choose to have a roommate, it's free.
God is very good! And His timing is perfect. Of course, I interviewed with Agora last year at the beginning of the school year, but after the first face-to-face interview I got an email saying they were going with someone else. I was about 6 months pregnant at the time and I'm pretty sure that is why they didn't hire me (which of course is illegal, and they could never admit to that), but now looking back I can see why it wasn't the right time. I was trying really hard to get a teaching job because we really needed the money, but if I had actually gotten one, I probably would have had too much on my plate with the new baby, and God took care of us financially (as always). Now, Gabe is older, has a routine, sleeps through the night, and I am in a good state emotionally to start teaching again. I have learned my lesson from my last two teaching jobs to take it one day at a time, and even if I do end up hating it (which I'm not anticipating), I WILL stick it out till the end of the year. There is no way I'm quitting mid-way through again. I'm not sure what my salary will be exactly yet, because they pay based on experience, but I know it is on the lower end of what public school teachers get. Tim has been saying that if I taught for 3 years, we could be out of debt and I could stay home! That would be awesome. If I like it though, I will keep teaching until I don't want to anymore. The extra income would really help us save up for a house and for other fun things we want to do. It would be nice to not work once Gabe starts school so I can be involved in that and maybe even home school him. That is definitely an option Tim and I are looking at because the public schools are getting so bad. Hey, he could go to Agora! :-) I could be his math teacher! Haha!
We had a nice walk this afternoon before his nap and I noticed Gabe loves watching the cars go by. He would follow every single one! Here he is ready for our walk!
Tonight I met up with some ladies from church for ice cream, and that was really fun. Gabriel got a finger in my ice cream as I was walking to the table, but luckily he doesn't know how to bring his fingers to his mouth to get the food, so he didn't actually eat it. (Not that a tiny bit like that would have hurt him, but still...) Gabe was pretty tired because he slept from 1 to about 3 (Halelujah!) and didn't get a chance to sleep again before we left, but he stayed in a good mood the whole time. He always enjoys being in new places. He's still up and playing and I will feed him again soon and put him down for the night.
Tim called and said they got their work done early today, which was good because they were painting a house all day and it is in the 90's there so I'm glad they got done early.
Oh, and since I have been told twice now that I should pursue my thought of wanting to write a children's book, I have. Actually, the book has been written for a while, I just got busier and didn't look into how to get it published. I found a "subsidy" publisher today that will review my manuscript for free and then let me know how much I have to pay them to publish it. They also offer illustration service and marketing to help it sell. Depending on how much it costs I may use them or I may shop around some more. To get it published by a big publisher, I have to have a literary agent. But getting them to look at my manuscript and give me notes on it, is a huge plus. So we'll see where that leads...
Almost falling off the couch...
Not happy...
Getting distracted by monkey...
Trying to leave...
Trying to make monkey leave...
Not looking at Mommy....
Getting bored...
 | ||||||
| This is pretty good, but still not looking at the camera. One more try I thought... |
 |
| After this shot he spit up all over the monkey. Time to give up... |
Now do you feel my pain??? I'm lucky I got one semi-decent picture!
Gabe napped really well, though, including during my phone interview. And I got the teaching job! The interview was really easy; all of the questions he asked were ones I already answered at my last interview. He said if I email him my clearances and certificate he'll forward them to the head of HR and he would be contacting me within the next week to make an offer. John, my interviewer, said he wasn't sure which subject exactly I'll be teaching because they have to look at the numbers, but it will probably be Pre-Algebra or Algebra 1, which is perfect because I have experience teaching both, and that is my favorite! I will be middle school, which is 7th and 8th grade and I don't know if I will have both grades or just one. New teacher training is the week of August 13th and it will probably be in Mechanicsburg, which is an hour away. I get reimbursed for any traveling, plus they provide a laptop, money for setting up my home office, an internet phone, and reimbursement for our internet service. A friend of mine from the school I worked at this past year who got laid off applied and is starting the process with Agora too, so that would be cool if she worked there too. She teaches English, so we probably wouldn't cross paths too much, but I'd probably see her at trainings and staff development. :-) I think I'm required to travel once or twice a year to meet with small groups of students, and will travel a few times a year for two-day trainings. The school pays for half of the hotel room, and if you choose to have a roommate, it's free.
God is very good! And His timing is perfect. Of course, I interviewed with Agora last year at the beginning of the school year, but after the first face-to-face interview I got an email saying they were going with someone else. I was about 6 months pregnant at the time and I'm pretty sure that is why they didn't hire me (which of course is illegal, and they could never admit to that), but now looking back I can see why it wasn't the right time. I was trying really hard to get a teaching job because we really needed the money, but if I had actually gotten one, I probably would have had too much on my plate with the new baby, and God took care of us financially (as always). Now, Gabe is older, has a routine, sleeps through the night, and I am in a good state emotionally to start teaching again. I have learned my lesson from my last two teaching jobs to take it one day at a time, and even if I do end up hating it (which I'm not anticipating), I WILL stick it out till the end of the year. There is no way I'm quitting mid-way through again. I'm not sure what my salary will be exactly yet, because they pay based on experience, but I know it is on the lower end of what public school teachers get. Tim has been saying that if I taught for 3 years, we could be out of debt and I could stay home! That would be awesome. If I like it though, I will keep teaching until I don't want to anymore. The extra income would really help us save up for a house and for other fun things we want to do. It would be nice to not work once Gabe starts school so I can be involved in that and maybe even home school him. That is definitely an option Tim and I are looking at because the public schools are getting so bad. Hey, he could go to Agora! :-) I could be his math teacher! Haha!
We had a nice walk this afternoon before his nap and I noticed Gabe loves watching the cars go by. He would follow every single one! Here he is ready for our walk!
Tonight I met up with some ladies from church for ice cream, and that was really fun. Gabriel got a finger in my ice cream as I was walking to the table, but luckily he doesn't know how to bring his fingers to his mouth to get the food, so he didn't actually eat it. (Not that a tiny bit like that would have hurt him, but still...) Gabe was pretty tired because he slept from 1 to about 3 (Halelujah!) and didn't get a chance to sleep again before we left, but he stayed in a good mood the whole time. He always enjoys being in new places. He's still up and playing and I will feed him again soon and put him down for the night.
Tim called and said they got their work done early today, which was good because they were painting a house all day and it is in the 90's there so I'm glad they got done early.
Oh, and since I have been told twice now that I should pursue my thought of wanting to write a children's book, I have. Actually, the book has been written for a while, I just got busier and didn't look into how to get it published. I found a "subsidy" publisher today that will review my manuscript for free and then let me know how much I have to pay them to publish it. They also offer illustration service and marketing to help it sell. Depending on how much it costs I may use them or I may shop around some more. To get it published by a big publisher, I have to have a literary agent. But getting them to look at my manuscript and give me notes on it, is a huge plus. So we'll see where that leads...
And this is how I got to end my day...no better way!
1 comment:
Amy- your blogs are wonderful!!! Great job!! Love all the pictures and videos...
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