A Difficult Topic

Hypothetical situation:
(We'll call her) "Ally" and her sister (and possibly her baby brother) are autistic. Ally's mom has a developmental disability. HER three or four siblings do too. Ally's grandparents also have disabilities.
What do we do with a situation like that? How can we prevent such a strain on governmenal resources? Historically they used to (by government order) sterililize all children with disabilities, saying they did not want their genes to be passed on. Many might think this is a good way to go about it.
But think about the logic:
A person should be sterilized because they are not a fit parent. They woud basically be children raising children.
BUT then who's to say who is a fit parent? I know plenty of non-disabled adults who are unfit parents. So then say we stretch that out to include them. Then instead of an invasive sterilization we say "it is now illegal for anyone to reproduce who is not fit to be a parent." Now we will need a check list of all of the qualities that dictate a person is a "fit parent." Now we have to track down anyone wanting to become a parent, so that we can test to see if they are parent-capable. But then (woops) a teenager gets pregnant. Now what? Do we force abortions?
What kind of a world would that be? I can name a few countries that might be similar to...

So instead of that, OUR country does not discourge unfit people from having kids. They simply take the children away...and put them into group homes, where sitters change every few hours (many of these sitters hate their job). SO now a child spends the rest of his or her life sitting in a corner of the room rocking back and forth and drooling on themselves...
What can WE do.
I guess we're not called to fix the whole system.
I guess we are caled to love.
So maybe that's a good place to start.

Day two. MAN my head hurts

I met my student today! :) She is an absolute sweetheart! She came right up to me and put her face in mine and yelled. More like growled. Then she grabbed my hand and we were friends. She is completely non-verbal so far, but I think she's smart. I can see her actually processing things. It's really fun to discover the world through her eyes. Her senses are all really heightened so she hates noise, light, smells, strong tastes, and pulls away if I touch her hand unexpectedly. She loves music and I can hear her humming sometimes. She hates to eat anything but candy, but she actually ate half a chicken patty today. Many teachers were impressed. We had a really good day, and I am excited for tomorrow.
Now for the news:
Before Rosa got there, the principal pulled me aside to ask me a question. She wanted to know if I would be interested in an afteroon sub job, from 1:30 to 6pm. I would basically be helping kids with homework, playing games with them, and helping out with administrative duties from time to time (like imputting attendance). Since my Aide job only goes to 12:30, that works perfectly. God is good! :) I knew He wanted me to take this Laton job, but I knew by al worldly standards it was the inferior job. God knew.
Now my predicament:
I still work for an elderly lady, running errands and fixing miscellaneous things around her house 6 hours a week (M, W, F). I have already moved that to after 1:30, and with this afternoon job out in Laton, I would not be able to get back into town until after 7:30. I could go straight there and shop for her, but that would mean I get home around 10. Not gonna go over well, being married and all.
So I talked to MV today to let her know my predicament, and we decided that I would start coming only twice a week (probably t, th), and I would stay for only an hour. She would have to have her grocery list ready in advance so we don't waste time getting it put together. She wil also save a great deal of money this way.
My ony concern is that that still gives me two 11 hour days a week. DO I want to do that? Maybe for now. Maybe this is just a season of saving. I will not always work, so maybe it's ok for now.
We'll see.
Time for a nap. I'm exhausted.

New Job Day One

So today was the day. I'm amazed I slept! I have been so nervous anticipating my first day at Laton Elementary. And I have been dreading the thought of waking up at 6am. I am NOT a morning person. Just ask Caleb.
Anyways, so I got to school in pretty good time, without too much traffic, and I went to the office. The principal wanted me to wait a few minutes for my student to arrive...and about 15 minutes later the office got a call from my kid's mother saying they were "sick".
DAHH!
SO my first day went alright. I accustomed myself to the room, looked at some of her assignments, helped tutor a little gorl with some math, and helped with lunch duty. The kids were great. I kept having little girls run up to me and ask me my name. One of them ran up to me and gave me the "cheese touch". Luckily I just watched "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" two days ago so I knew what they were talking about. Another girl told me to give it to her. I helped walk them to the playground. I was the caboose of the line and got to talk to a few of the students. One girl asked me if I got paid to walk at the back of the line. They were fun.
So tomorrow I meet Rosa.
Off to study up on Autism education.

Pickle

I have a decision to make.
I interviewed for a job in Laton (about 35 min south).
I would be a one-on-one aide for an autistic 5-year-old.
It would be SO good for both that girl and her older sister to have me there with the experience I do.
The interview went great and they called me back that night to see if I want to move forward with the hiring process. I told them I would call the next morning.
I checked the job description and it only pays 9.45/ hr.
I had no other leads so I told her to go ahead.
Right after I get off the phone with her I got a call from Clovis Unified saying they pulled my resume off the internet and were VERY interested in getting me in for an interview.
I would have a probationary period where I would be a substitute, but then I would move into a more permanent position (all with severely disabled students).
I checked their job posing.
It pays almost three dollars more per hour.

My predicament is that I know that Clovis kids kind of have it handed to them. They have the best program, the most money allotted them, and the finest facilities.
Laton kids have teachers who have never had experience with talking devices or sign language, and they have the LEAST amount of money given them for their programs.

What to do?

The thing I keep thinking is that the whole reason I went back to school was because of my experience in Romania.
We helped in a kindergarten for kids with disabilities. It was an immaculate building, with lots of equipment, but the faculty did not have the training they needed to utilize the equipent to its capacity. So the kids were only able to receice sub-par rehabilitation and education (AKA they taught them to color in the lines..).

My goal for education was to return to the states and receive training that I could bring back to facilities like this.

That was my goal, and I don't want to lose sight of that.

But three dollars more an hour...

I think I know the answer...

More Car Shopping & a Potential Job!

We've kind of let up on the car hunt as of late. It seemed a little pointless after hitting so many lots and coming up empty on results. It feels good to not hunt so intensely. It's been a better week.
Caleb has another out-of-town job trip this weekend so we will be going down to Anaheim area and staying right next to DISNEY LAND!! :) I think we're even staying in the castle hotel. :) I love being married!
We were going to spend sunday in the park, but be agreed that wo should just go into the free area with all of the little shops, then we can spend the rest of the day looking at possible cars in that area. Better prices.
There are so many more options in that area! It would be really nice to come home with our second car!
Keep praying! :)
Today I got a phone call from Laton Elementary saying they would like to have me in for an interview on Wednasday at 1:00pm. Oh boy!! I am SO excited to finally have my foot in the door. I was suggested the job by the childrens ministries co-director at church. I volunteer there once a week and usually have 12-15 two-year-olds running around. Aparently her daughter works with some autistic children out in clovis, and it just turned out that the day after I spoke with her, her daughter had a co-worker walk out on the class! So, open position!! I applied yesterday, and got called for the interview today! Praise God.
So we'll see. I know it's an older class and I was hoping for a younger class of mild-to-moderate and not necessissarily autistic, but I'll take what I can get! There's also a chance they may only hire me as a substitute, but that would be ok...I would just have to have a different class every day...eesh...SO pray I get a special ed ASSISTANT position. :)

Something pretty nuts happened today at work (grocery shopping 6 hours a weeek). I had just returned from the store and was putting food away in the garage, when I heard a thump and a scream inside. So I (literaly) threw the groceries all over the garage floor and ran inside. My boss had fallen onto the floor next to the fridge. I ran up and told her to stay still, but she insisted she was fine after she caught her breath. Then she insisted I let her try to get up herself, just in case something like this happens when I'm NOT there (God forbid). It took her a while an a little coaching, but she did it! She actually made it back up! I was really relieved she could do it. Makes me feel better about leaving her there alone.

Ha, I just remembered another thing that happened at work (this was on wed). I went to Save Mart and got serenaded by the bagger. He has Down Syndrome, but it definitely made my day. He had taken my groceries to my car as usual, then he told me he was the real replacement Elvis. Then he sang to me "I'll Have A Blue Christmas"...shaking his leg like elvis and holding up an imaginary micriphone. :)

Car Hunting and Crappy Camrys

What a fiasco. My prediction was that after the wedding our lives woud slow down and we would get into some kind of a groove. The wedding happened. The honeymoon happened. Then the Camry decided to become a lost cause. That presented us wth the task of finding two new cars in one month. Fun...

Caleb'c car actually was the easiest to find. It only took four days to look at it and seal the deal. He found a Pathfinder on ebay which happened to be located out in Clovis. It had the carfax report already online so that helped ease our minds about it. One owner, lesss than 100k miles, big enough to hold Caleb's bass and yet still let me sit in the passenger seat! :) All for the low price of $7900. Our buget is about 8-9 grand per vehicle. I think it is going to be a great car. We're praying it does not require a lot of mainenance.

We had thought that the SUV would be the harder one to find at that price, but we got really "lucky" there...or maybe people are tryingt to pinch pennies so they are avoiding the gass guzzlers.

We have hit over 15 car dealerships in the past week.
10 this weekend.
5 today.

My gosh. I hate car salesmen. Officially. They literally all have the same modus operandi.
Locate a customer.
Approach for the kill.
Introduce. Shake hands.
Ask for what they are looking for.
Ask price range. Get contact information.
Show customer crappy cars just under price range. Mostly KIA and Hyundi.
Show customer one that is "about in their price range" (eaning 4000 more than their budget).
Tell them it's "the best car for the money. You're not going to find anything better than THIS"

After the customer says "it's kind of out of our price range" they say, "well what would you say if I could get this to around your price range? Do you think this could be "the one"?
Customer hesitates and during that pause the salesman puts the keys in their face and says "why don't you just give it a drive".
So the customer takes it for a drive. Likes it, but still leery about the price.
After the test drive the salesman says "well how did you like it?" of course the customer likes the car that's worth $4000 above their budget. Better car. Doesn't smell like cigarettes.
Then he invites them inside to sit while he goes to "see what he can do." He of course closes the door when he goes in to speak with the sales manager. Sales manager comes out. Shakes hands. Coy smile.
Gets out paper and writes numbers, then more numbers. Then says, "THIS is what we can do for you. We can cut $100 off the asking price"(...still a good $2500 over blue book...), "and if you add taxes and fees and taxes for fees and finders cost and inspection fees...it looks like it comes out to...11995!" (very consistently this number comes up) "is that about what your budget is?" My GOSH people. Really. A little communication. After the customer has sat there haggling for four hours all they want to do is go home and go to bed! These poor people! They've just wasted both peoples' time.

Another ploy is to show the customer crummy cars and talk the ENTIRE drive. "...Duel side air bags, great suspension, solid wheel base, AM/FM stereo, moon roof, cruise control..." Then when he runs through the list, he starts over, "...duel side air bags, great suspen..." The customer cant even listen to the engine, much less identify if this car is worth buying!

Aside from lots we have dabbled a bit in internet advertising. Caleb's car was from ebay, as I said, but today we called on a few Craigslist ads. What a piece of crap. This kid shows up at the Rite Aid Parking lot with his dad's Camry. Nice looking on the outside. At a closer look the tires are a bit old, the coolant is almost dry, the spare is bald, the belt is cracked. Upon starting the car, the engine light was not on...but having done a bit of research I knew to check that it even came on at startup briefly with the rest of the lights. No. Someone had puled the check engine lightbulb! I mean MY GOSH!! We could have bought the car thinking it just needed new tires and a fill-up on coolant! We asked the kid questions as we drove and he had almost NO answers. Al he could say was "IIIIImmm....not sure...you'll have to ask my dad" We couldn't even find out when the brakes were last done, if the Transmission had been flushed, if the battery was new, if the coolant had been flushed. How is a person suppose to make an informed decision on a car without that kind of information?!! Do they think we're morons? Who would even buy a car without that kind of information? Then as we drove it on the freeway the tires buzzed intermittantly (uneven wear). We just happened to ask him if the title was clean, and NO. he kid said, "no, but really I think salvaged titles are the way to go, because usually it's just a little bumper damage. You can get so much better of a car for the price that way!" Really. After we left him with his car, we waited at Caleb's car a bit because we wanted to check the fluid levels. After we left the lot the car was still there. The kid had left and we actually saw him walking home! What??

I am SO stoked for the day when we don't have to spend every evening car shopping.
I miss my friends.

Crockpots and Cockroaches

My, it takes a lot of work to run a house! I feel like I am constantly doing dishes, washing laundry, or running errands. On top of getting things squared away with bank accounts and name changes, we are also trying to figure out what to do with Caleb's car. Cars can be so infuriating sometimes....and for me it seems that way most of the time. I may have bad car luck though. We found out that he needs to retire his car by the middle of January. It will cost too much to fix the emissions related problems. What a waste of an otherwise perfectly good car. Infuriating. We now have to buy two "new" cars by the beginning of next year. And I seriously hate used-car shopping. One of the worst experiences I have had was finding my Saturn last year...which lasted until a couple of months ago. One consolation is that this may be the best time for us to do car payments. It will only take us three years to pay them off and right now we really have no other major expenses. No rent, no mortgage, no children, and no student loans. So really it may be a blessing that this happened right now. Still frustrating though.

I made my first crock-pot meal Wednesday night and it was really good! I have been staring at the "fix-and-forget-it" cookbook for a few weeks so I decided to give it a shot. But I only gave myself three hours...I soon found that a recipe like this can be finished quicker on the stove. Very nice.
I did not follow one recipe because I did not have all of the ingredients for just one, so I kinda made it up as I went. I will add the recipe because it turned out awesome! Note, I do not really keep track of quantities. Just a dash of this and a hand-full of that:

I'll call it "Spicy Chicken Stew"

~1/2 cup salsa
2 cup Chicken broth
a few red potatos (skin on)
1 small sized Garnish Yam
a few sticks of celery
a hand full of carrots
1/4 of a large yellow onion
1/2 red bell pepper
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (for some kick)
a dash or three of Italian seasoning (to be fancy)
One pre-cooked (boiled in broth) chicken breast

Directions:
Chop all veggies and meat to desired size and put in crockpot with all other ingredients. Turn on high for 4-6 hours. Or cook for three hours and finish by boiling in large pot over stove.

So simple even I could do it. :)
The Yams really give it a good sweet flavor to add to the salty of the broth. I'm a huge fan of the "salty & sweet" combo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The trouble with old houses is...are...well there are plenty of problems with old houses, but when you do not pay rent, those problems are worth it. I cleaned the bathrooms the other day. I don't think they have been thoroughly cleaned in decades. I found urine in places that amazed me.
We have a little bug problem. I would guess that this house has had this problem for many years because we found over ten cans or roach Raid in the garage when we were cleaning it out. The problem has diminished and I had thought it would simply go away with a little feminine care, but alas sometimes we have to call in the professionals. Our bug man came in yesterday and put out some roach poison gel into the hinges of all of the cupboards. We even found one immediately going for it. One thing many people know about me is that I HATE cockroaches more than almost anything ( I say "almost" because I am sure there has to be something that is worse, but I honestly cannot think of it right now). The story fast-forwards to this afternoon when I let my friend into the house. As I opened the door I noticed a good sized roach dead on the floor. (I realize as I am writing this that none of my friends are going to want to visit me after reading this...but the story must be told). I picked it up with a paper towel, and while I did so, I noticed another (much smaller) dead on the floor. I got him too. Then it hit me. The poison is working. But it also hit me, that these creepy creatures were taking their last revenge on me. I knew it would not be the last of the bugs I would be cleaning up that afternoon. When my friend left at four I knew I had a half-an-hour until I needed to leave to get Caleb from work. I was hoping to get a nap before that happened...but I knew it was futile. I got to work, feeling the shiver go down my spine. I opened the silverware drawer and there were two dead roaches inside. I pulled everything out and cleaned them out. Then SO reluctantly opened another drawer. Three, four dead bugs. This continued on until I had finished the drawers, then I got to the floor. There were even a few there. I cleaned it all up and took the trash outside. Just in case.
Did I mention I HATE cockroaches?!! I have the willies just thinking about them.

I love our home though.
I love it better now that the bugs are gone.