I start the new job in just over a week from now, so I am trying to take advantage of the time I have available to do lots of cool things with the girls. Yesterday we went on a hike at Lake Hodges with David and his son Isaiah. The girls play really well with Isaiah and they like a lot of the same things. It was a beautiful morning, and a great time! 
Today I finally got a job offer. It is a challenging position in a field where I have lots of transferable skills that can be applied right away, but a real lack of experience and specific knowledge with the industry. So I'll be playing catch-up again. I've done it before with Sony and with the water company. I can do it again.
I really like the people I'll be working with. Their corporate values are structured around respect and partnership with their clients. I like that a lot!
Also they are at an interesting crossroads as the owner is following her dream and branching out in new directions. I think there is a real opportunity for me to make an impact right away.
Here's the one catch. It pays about $7 an hour LESS than we need to make our monthly budget. So that's not very fun. I'm going into salary negotiations tomorrow at 8:30, so I'd appreciate your prayers. At the very least, we can continue to limp along for a while, and I'm hoping I can structure some sort of value-added compensation where I earn more when my contributions affect the profitability of the company. But some income is WAY better than none!
We've been talking with the girls about daddy going back to work. It has been good for me to be with them so much since September. The extra stability this arrangement has provided has been really good for them. But it just can't go on forever if we plan to stay here. We feel that stability and structure are so much what the girls need right now - we need to stay put as long as possible.
Anyway, thanks for going along with us on the journey. I'm really hoping this time for a job I can work at for longer than 6 months!!! :)
I had kind of a weird day today. I had three interviews, but none of them were specific to one particular job. The first two were for temp agencies, and they were very positive. I got some encouragement and some solid advice, but no real imminent job prospects. The third was a qualification interview for a major health care provider in our area, but that probably will not be going anywhere. With thousands of applicants for each job, they made it very clear that unless I have exactly the kind of experience they are looking for, I won't even make it past the computer system that does the initial screening. I also followed up on the phone on every job lead I've been tracking and got nowhere...
So I had a strange day in that perspective. High and low, up and down... It is exhausting putting yourself out there over and over and over again.
We met with a credit counselor earlier this week and got a good sense of the pros and cons of the tough decisions we need to make in light of the deficit we're running every month. At the end of that session, we made the decision to liquidate our retirement account. A tough choice to make, but definitely among the least damaging options we are faced with. This morning, we put that plan into action.
Did you ever have that experience where you put on a coat you haven't worn in a long time and there is some cash in the pocket? Well, I had forgotten that almost ten years ago, we set up our retirement accounts where almost a third of it was a joint savings account (not tied to an IRA). I'd totally forgotten that we did that because we stopped funding it in 2007 when our businesses began their declines. Basically, it allowed us to make a withdrawal today that did not incur any tax penalties. We have enough now to make it for another 5 or 6 weeks (longer if we pull the plug on our health insurance - another difficult decision to make). But "rediscovering" that joint account was a great unexpected surprise.
I'm grateful to not have the immediate pressure of the mortgage payment and property tax payment on top of me anymore. But I'm even more grateful for the sense of peace I have about the whole thing right now. Something has got to happen! Right???
One year ago today, we became parents. My, how it has gone by so quickly!!!
Today we celebrated a year of growth with our girls. Some friends donated a really cool giant pinata, and I put in a couple bags of peanuts and some Tootsie Pops. I took down one of the curtain rods I'd made a few years ago out of thick dowel rod, and let the girls go at it! :)
We celebrated with Jenetta's family and some of the neighbors. I had the girls wear the backpacks they were wearing when we picked them up at the airport (just for nostalgia's sake), but eventually, they got taken off because they were impeding the full destructive motion.
After a while, we did away with the blindfold, too, and just let them have fun.
We wanted to mark the anniversary and let the girls have some extra fun to celebrate it.
We are also reminded to thank all of you that have been supporting us and praying for us. We could not have done this without our support network.
We've noticed a pretty substantial change in O during the past few weeks, and it has been exciting for us as parents to observe it. Those of you who are parents are probably very accustomed to seeing growth and being proud of it. (Or at least you remember it from when your kids were young). Well, for us, we've been so focused on structure for the girls and so involved with big picture concerns that is has been hard to notice the little details.
But to be completely honest, O has been delayed in many areas by the trauma in her past. They both have, really, but O was definitely impacted more than L has been. There is a reason they love playing with toys that belong to babies and toddlers. Their speech and other developments have been significantly delayed because of all they have been through.
O has been in "survival mode" for a long time. Because of this, her brain really hasn't had time to devote attention to other things. Next week, we will have had the girls for one year, and we are finally starting to see her relax and feel secure. This has allowed her to advance by leaps and bounds in many areas, and it has been really exciting for us to watch! We are proud of her (and tell her that all the time!)
Last weekend, our neighbors had their grandchildren visit for an overnight, so the girls played with them outside for a while after dinner. Their grandaughter is probably 7 or 8, and she had a lot of stuff in the garage. When she saw our girls ride their bikes, she brought over her old princess bike with no training wheels for O to try. O hopped on it and after a few wipeouts, just did it! We were so surprised because she hadn't given any indication that she was ready for this. So this week, I removed her training wheels on her big bike for good, and she has been doing just fine!
But some of the biggest developments we are seeing are in language. She has had more time to devote to writing letters and numbers and coloring. When we first got her, she would scribble for about ten seconds, then tear up the paper and go on to something else. Now both girls sit and color and create a lot. Yesterday, O walks up to us and hands us a pink 3x5 card:
And she says to us, "B - I - B. That spells Bib!" She picked this up from an infomercial about teaching your baby how to read. It brought a big smile to our faces.
She still is challenging to understand at times and her grammar and vocabulary are definitely delayed as well, but now we are finding that when we correct her, she is actually able to process the difference. She is working on the word "before." Mostly it comes out as "-fore" or even "A-fore." Last night, she was asking us a question that used that word, and we watched her mentally check her options before correctly saying "...Before when we went to grandma's..."
This is the kind of stuff we signed up for!
This past weekend, I was able to secure a random gig shooting video for an equestrian event in Aguanga, CA. Where is Anguanga you might ask??? Well, it is about 35 min. east of Temecula. (Think Ramona but higher in elevation (so much colder) and harder to get to.)
I got quite a sunburn on my face, but I learned a lot about equestrian events, met some new people, and gained some more videography experience. But mostly, I enjoyed getting paid.
A little bit at a time...
Tonight we decided to walk down the hill to Escondido HS and take part in a candlelight vigil for the family of Amber Dubois. Amber went missing on Valentine's Day last year and was taken off the street less than a mile from our home. If you haven't heard, her remains were found this weekend, and it appears that she is an earlier victim of the same creep who took Chelsea King in RB who was discovered last week. We have been working with the girls about not talking to strangers, and talking a lot about compassion for others, so we felt that even though most of it was over their heads, we would walk down as a family and pray for Amber's family.
This experience was good for us on so many levels. First, I've had a really heavy heart for the past week, and just to do something active was positive for me. Emotional things like this really affect me, and although many friends have told me that is a good thing because it makes me sensitive, it is sometimes hard to function under a cloud of grief. I could never be a counselor - there is no way I would be able to seperate myself from the pain of others.
There has been a thought that our pastor shared with us yesterday that has really helped me today. It is common in our culture to call for a moment of silence at times like these. He was suggesting that we have no need to be silent - we have a God that we can cry out to. So at the moment of silence today, I prayed. I know God is in control and involved in our experiences - even when things are awful, flawed, imperfect, or ruined - He is still there.
I was also moved by our girls' response to the event. When we got there, they were too short to see much of anything except the backs of the people in front of us. So they just stood there and sang "Jesus Loves Me" together a few times. I thought about telling them to be quiet since everyone was just standing there silently waiting for the family and the officials to talk to us. But when they got to the line "little ones to him belong..." I was touched by their innocence (and how Amber and Chelsea belong to God now, too), and I looked at Jenetta, and we just let them sing away not caring what anyone else thought.
Back home at bedtime, O prayed for Amber's family. She asked God that they would not be so sad, and that they would get a new kid and do fun stuff together. Even though pretty much all day long O had been testing us and generally being an annoying punk, I couldn't help but smile and give her a hug and pray for her safety and thank God that we have two girls to protect and teach and raise.
There were a lot of media people at the event. The TV trucks from LA and San Diego took up most of the right lane on Broadway in front of the school. The front area was filled with reporters and camera people and newspaper photographers. Here is a photo that one of them took tonight:
I guess I've been waiting for something meaningful to happen before I posted anything on the blog. In the meantime, lots of small things happened, and then I looked up and it had been two weeks since I put anything up there. I guess that's how life is sometimes.
Tomorrow there are two things on the calendar that I am looking forward to. The first is a follow-up interview with a district office for a large insurance company. The job seems to fit me really well. It's a good match for how I am wired and how I work, and the people seem really nice. It's too bad that it is a 32 mile drive each way :( But at this point, I'll take what I can get! I was one of ten applicants that they interviewed. I should find out tomorrow how many others they chose to call back to meet the boss. It would be nice to earn an income again, but I'm not really stressed about it. Either I'll get it because it is the right job for me, or I won't because something else is meant for me.
Then tomorrow night, Jenetta and I have a date night planned. We haven't had an evening together out for a long time. We are attending a lecture and food/beer tasting at Stone Brewery as part of a UCSD Alumni Association series called "Farm to Table." We're learning more about eating healthy direct-from-grower food options, and Jenetta has been cooking up some incredible meals! Her grass-fed Bison meatloaf actually made me enjoy eating meat! So, we are really looking forward to this event. I've never done anything with the Alumni Association. I guess since I figured I was still paying off my student loans that I wasn't in any position to donate, so why bother? But I've since found out you can do cool stuff with them without donating to the university, so we'll give it a shot.
And lastly, I wanted to let you know something cool that Jenetta and I have been sharing together. Most of you know that she writes a blog called Frugal Freebies and Deals. In attempting to expand her blogging empire, she added a site called The Closeout Kid. But she has been too busy to manage content for it, and other than the 8-10 applications I fill out everyday for job postings, I don't have much else to do. So I've been writing for it since the beginning of February. I think I have the steps down pretty well. It takes me about 90 minutes or so each morning, but if I was really focused, I think I could get done in less than an hour. So far, I'm earning around $5 a day, but more and more people are going to it, so it is steadily growing, and the commissions and advertising revenue are steadily growing.
It has been fun for me to talk the same language as Jenetta. This is something she has been doing for almost two years now and it has turned into a steady part-time job for her. I never really understood what she was doing on the laptop all the time when we were watching TV at night. Now I get it :)
Judy and Jenetta went to Alana's baby shower, so Kyle and I took the girls to Petco for the Padre's Fan Fest. It was fun for the girls to run around the Park in the Park and to bounce on the jumpy they had set up. We enjoyed a nice sunny lunch and a great morning together. Note the Canada shirts on the girls. Judy and Kyle are doing their part now that the girls' last names are Penner. :)
It has been a lot of fun to have my sister Judy and my brother-in-law Kyle with us this week! We've been enjoying the sunny weather. They are both so good with the kids. In particular, Judy takes no crap from O. Exactly what she needs! :)
I've been meaning to post these photos for a while. After our trip to the mountains, we brought a cooler full of snow home. It lasted about 30 minutes. It was fun!
Today the adoption was finalized. The girls are officially O and L Penner! We've been talking a lot about what that means. Right when I took this picture, O told the judge that her papers meant that "no one can ever send us away because I like my room a lot!" The judge heartily agreed that these legal documents mean that we are their parents forever and it's good that she likes her room. :)
One thing the court does for adoptive kids is that they each get to pick a teddy bear. The girls spent a lot of the morning role-playing with their bears and right now, they are napping with them in their arms. :)
Some have asked if now that they are adopted if it is OK if we put their faces and names on the blog or on Facebook. Although we COULD now - there is no foster agency telling us what we can and can't do anymore, we do not feel it is in the best interest of the girls. For their safety, we will continue to blur their faces and not use the full names. I can't go into detailed reasons online as to why we do it - just know it is for the best.
After we left the courthouse, Jenetta packed us some lunches and the girls and I headed to Mt. Palomar to play in the snow to celebrate. At the peak, there was still a good 18 inches of snow, although it is melting quickly. Sadly, the observatory (and it's parking lot) were closed due to weather - I'm guessing they just didn't want to plow out the road so city people like us could play in their snow. But there was almost nobody else up there, so we found a place on the side of the road that had a pretty decent sledding hill and some areas of fresh snow to play with.
The girls made a few snowmen:
all of which were promptly destroyed...
... and eaten!
We also found out that a boogie board makes a pretty good sled when the snow is wet!
We brought home a cooler full of snow to play with in the yard - I'll try to pull the camera out for that after nap time.
Thanks to everyone for your prayers for us. Please keep them up. Although a lot changed today, really nothing changed at all. Our routine is still the same, our discipline and structure are still the same, and our love for them is the same. Sometimes it is easy and fun, sometimes it is very difficult and exhausting, but most of the time, it just IS. It's our life now... :)
I went on two great hikes today. One was with my friend Jeremy, and we enjoyed a good time walking and talking together. The air was crisp and clear and the views to the snow on Mt. Palomar were great! That little waterfall near the edge of Westwood is a serious gusher now because of all the rain. The best part by far, though, was spending time just talking to Jeremy. It's been a while for both of us...
After that, I came home and got the girls and we joined Geoff and his boys and hiked to a stream near his home. We climbed up on rocks and got muddy on the trail. It was a lot of fun. Then we enjoyed a yummy lunch prepared for us by Geoff at his home. The girls were wiped out - they fell asleep in the car on the way home!
Sadly, L was kind of a third wheel on the trail. O is definitely going after Will... :)
Sorry about that, Horn family! :)
I've been working this week on a photo shoot in lovely Boulevard, CA. Our Cousin-in-law Alana hired me to help out. The crew is shooting product promo photos for a military contractor. It's been quite an experience! We are working on a ranch where the southern border of the property is actually the US-Mexico border. Here is what the fence looks like:
Here are some photos of the type of setups we have been doing:
Alana and I helped to make the concrete barriers and junky cars look more junky and dusty.
Cris worked today on the shoot as an Afghani person. Here he is sweating nervously at the military checkpoint. Definitely a "person of interest!" :)
It's been hard to be away from the girls so much this week, but I am sure grateful for the work!
Tonight we shared a meal with the Gallion family. Avery was born on Dec. 9. The girls were fascinated by her and did a pretty good job of keeping calm around her.
Avery was kind of fussy tonight and for some reason, when O sang to her, it settled her down. :)
L "read a book" to Avery. :)
And the girls were just as enamored with their cat, Shadow. He let them pet him. (Our cat just hisses at the girls and runs under the bed.)
We really enjoyed our evening with our friends. It is so good to be able to share in each other's journeys...
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