It's been almost a month since my last update when I left The Source so its time for another one. It seems like we have a new normal now. My new job has steady and predictable hours and kids seem to have caught on. They wake up somewhere between 6:00 - 7:00 and want to watch cartoons while I make them breakfast and bring out some sippy cups. When I go to work around 8:15 they run up to me waving and smiling "bye bye daddy! Daddy work! I love you daddy! Have a nice drive! See you soon!" Sammy doesn't talk yet but he grins and waves.
I have a 30 minute commute north to Orillia where I work downtown at Career Tech Services building online courses for tech schools down in the States. Its similar to what I was doing for Briercrest Distance Education except its for basic to intermediate work skills instead of biblical studies and theology. I get to use Moodle again, that ugly free clunkfest that I took so much delight in killing just three years ago. I format syllabi, create assignments and exercises and arrange learning chunks to be digested by voracious students in the future. The standards aren't near as high as they were at Briercrest but this is what happens in 'conveyor belt education' for work skills in the States.
They want me to help them build an IT Fundamentals course and a coding 'Boot Camp' as I have the most experience in both fields out of anyone in the office by a large margin. I barely get a chance to work on those projects though, there are so many other things that need doing or fixing or learning. It's a good pace and I enjoy the line of work. My co-workers are few and pleasant to talk to even if I don't get invited to their weekly get togethers. Believe me, I'm fine not going. It's nice to not have angry customers in my ear. The paycheck is also nicer, even with the price of gas as it is these days. The only thing I can really say that I miss about The Source are some of the people I had built friendships with and the down time. During down time I could write or think or plan things out. These days there is no down time, there are always things to do which means thinking, writing, and planning get pushed to my commute and after the kids are in bed.
When I get home Jonathan greets me with continuous waves of "hi Daddy!" followed by pulling me to this or that place in the house to show me what he had been doing. Tori does amazing work looking after the boys and I often come home to some sort of craft or story and there's often food on the table. I am so blessed! I may make us the money to pay the bills but she does the hard work and the heavy lifting and there is no way any of us would survive without her. I am happy to take point while she goes downstairs to regroup after a busy day and after the kids have worn themselves out we tag team them to sleep.
Once they are down we clean the house and spend the evening together, sometimes playing with friends or just chatting on Skype. I think life is good. Its very busy, we often don't get to do what we would like to do, and we are often tired emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually, but we're making it work and constantly finding new normals.
Now off to put a sleeping Sammy in his crib and tackle those dishes...
Greg Out
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