I've crossed several items off my list lately so I'm going to do a full list update rather than separate posts for each. Items with new comments are in red.
Notice that this is one of only a few times that my subject isn't prefaced with "to do"? Because I don't really know what to do today ... or any time in the near future. The last few days have been very strange. It's disorienting to have no place to be and nothing in particular to do for an unforeseeable amount of time. I still have to clean the house, take care of the kids, pay the bills, and on and on, but I have all the time in the world to do it. Not a good thing for a journalist. And the thought of all four of us in the house all day every day makes me anxious.
If you don't know yet what I'm talking about, I was one of 11 Pioneer Press employees to be laid off yesterday, with seven being from my department. Our union to was asked about a month ago to begin negotiations with the company regarding pay cuts and benefit eliminations, with the intent of saving enough money to not lose any jobs. We were supposed to vote Tuesday on whether we wanted to pursue those negotiations. Last week the company pulled that offer off the table and nobody really knows why. (Here's a little more on that if you're interested.) So at that point, we all expected something bad yesterday, the last day of our fiscal year.
The editor of the paper called my cell phone, leaving a message for me to call him back, while I was at the funeral. I knew a call from him personally could only mean one thing. At least he didn't beat around the bush. I went in today to get my severance pay and a bunch of paperwork. Now I have to apply for unemployment and see how much it pays before I even consider looking for a new job. I don't want to take a job that will pay less than what I can make sitting around scrapbooking and blogging!
When I do start looking, I am considering something with a nonprofit or going into book publshing or doing something Web related, though I have no Web design or html experience. I'm ready to go back to a day job. As much as I loved my job, the hours were very hard on me. Luckily, I have many friends in the communications fields, not all in newspapers, who have offered help in job hunting.
One of the first question everyone has asked is whether Mark has had any job prospects. He was nearly offered a job at the Minnesota International School, teaching 7th grade. It's a K-12 charter school in Minneapolis that serves East African immigrants. BUT the woman they were replacing hadn't filled out the proper paperwork, and when HR asked her about it she said she decided she wasn't going to retire after all. So they are trying to create a full-time substitute position for him and then would hire him full time for the first open position in the coming years.
But in the mean time, he is looking for other stuff, of course. Right now, there is an opening for 7th grade and head high school football coach at our town's middle/high school campus, which is about 6 blocks from our house. It was just posted this week so he has applied and we'll see what happens. He also applied for three more jobs today.
As many have pointed out, we are now able to search a little further away for jobs for Mark because we don't need to be near downtown St. Paul anymore. But I don't want to move too far out of the metro, and Mark has already been applying for jobs all across and even outside the metro.
I think this post covers everything I've been asked repeatedly. So now it's all in one place and I can just point people here without saying it all again and again and again.
I had my first appointment with the nurse midwife last week. The whole family went so we could all hear his/her heartbeat.
She asked the kids if they wanted a brother or sister. Grace had refused to speak when asked her name or age but at this she piped right up with "SISTER!" and Connor quietly said "brother," though we've since discovered he answers with whichever option you give him last.
The midwife showed them a model of what a 12-week baby looks like (though I was 14 weeks at the time). It was so small that Connor could hold the whole thing in his fist without any of it showing.
The kids got to help with the heartbeat finding. Connor (with Daddy's help) squeezed the goop on my belly. Grace got to hold the microphone thingy. But after several minutes of trying, Grace and the midwife found no heartbeat.
I knew in my heart that the baby was fine, unlike the time during my second pregnancy where we heard no heartbeat and I knew (rightly) that there was no baby. But still, having had that experience, I couldn't help but be a bit worried. While doing the rest of my exam, with the family waiting outside, the midwife said "Tell me about your miscarriage" and I told her how at 11 weeks we found no heartbeat, then got an ultrasound that confirmed that no baby had ever developed. I have a feeling she suspected as much because she nodded and said "You must be worried."
We waited in the waiting room for what felt like forever for the ultrasound tech to have time for us. Connor fell asleep in my arms, plastic baby still clutched in his fist. (We did discover and return it before leaving.)
I finally got to go into the ultrasound room in but kids under 6 aren't allowed in. The second the tech touched the wand to my belly, there was a perfect little baby, moving like crazy. The midwife peeked in to see everything was ok then offered to sit with the kids for a minute so Mark could come in.
I had picked this practice partly because they had a doctor of osteopathy and I was planning to see her but I like the midwife so much that I might just stick with her instead.
If you could spare a moment, please say a prayer for my cousin-in-law Kelly, whose husband passed away this afternoon after 18 months fighting brain cancer.
And also, for my friend Lucrecia, whose mother-in-law also died today. And my friend Michelle, whose father-in-law died this week.
I have a list posted on the side of my blog of other intentions if you're ever looking for something or someone particular to pray about.