You may remember in a past blog that I described our spare guest rooms and made it clear that we were hoping and friends and family would come and take advantage of all the extra space we have. Last week, Carmen and Clark took us up on our offer and came to spend a week with us. You may remember Carmen from our first year in Zambia when her inquisitive nature, silly sense of humor, compassionate outlook on life, and the way she gushed about my cooking, kept us all afloat when things were rough. We met Clark when he and Carmen drove over to Spokane from Seattle soon after we returned to the US and were staying with Peter’s parents for a few weeks. Now we got to spend more than just a few hours together and we enjoyed the chance to get to know Clark more and see them together as a couple. We took many walks and caught up on all sorts of things, chatting about various topics and processing future job opportunities. They borrowed the car one day to experience the Giant Sequoias in the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains. They cheered on the boys at their soccer games and congratulated them on their wins. We played games and ate good food, including my first attempt at grilled pizza on the BBQ which turned out pretty well.
The highlight was a daytrip to Yosemite National Park. It was a glorious day with blue skies, leaves on trees turning yellow, and just enough water cascading down the usually overflowing waterfalls. We took advantage of the low water level to climb around on the boulders below Lower Yosemite Falls.
Then we picnicked in a lovely spot with a gorgeous view of the valley and granite faces on the opposite side. It was a bit chilly in the shade, but in the sun, the temperature was perfect. In the afternoon, we hiked to the top of Vernal Falls, three miles round trip. Climbing all those steps the last half mile to the top of the falls had me huffing and puffing but I made it. The boys haven’t discovered the joy of hiking yet, or the sense of accomplishment of making it to one’s destination even if you didn’t enjoy getting there, but they kept the complaining to a minimum. It was a lovely day and so good to be at Yosemite once again. (By the way, we bought an annual pass so we welcome more visitors. Hint, hint.)
We had a fabulous time with Carmen and Clark but when they left, it was time to return to work. And now that I am juggling three part time jobs, it was high time I gave some energy to them. Yes, you heard me right . . . THREE. As some of you may know, I was planning on taking the first year to help our family settle and see what kinds of job possibilities were out there. I had been talking with my brother and sister-in-law about an arrangement where I would do a bit of cleaning and cook an occasional meal in exchange for a rent reduction. As my sister-in-law is currently finishing a master’s degree and working full-time, things that used to be easier to manage were becoming less so. And since we didn’t yet know how far Peter’s paycheck would stretch, we were glad for the extra income so it turned out to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for this year. Thinking more long term, two things that I hoped might work out in the future included working for MCC in the area of worker care and teaching a class or two at Fresno Pacific University as an adjunct professor. Three months after arriving home, both those opportunities dropped in my lap so I decided to take advantage of that. West Coast MCC asked me to work as an on-call worker in the area of worker care, caring for the emotional and spiritual needs of service workers, especially those who have returned from an international setting. I am also talking with others to determine what MCC is already doing well in this area and assessing if there are ways to improve.
And then I had lunch with a friend who works at FPU and she passed on my name to the department chair who notified me about teaching as an adjunct. Because I am a marriage and family therapist, I don’t really fit into the psychology department, or the social work or sociology departments. But there was one class that I really wanted to teach and that was the course called “Marriage and the Family,” an undergraduate class cross-listed for sociology and social work students. So I interviewed for the position and was hired quickly, as the course is scheduled for the spring semester. I am thrilled that I get to teach this course since it is a subject that I love and one that I know the students are trying to understand not only on an intellectual level but for themselves. I am in the process of selecting textbooks, writing the syllabus, developing assignments, and writing lectures. I don’t know how Peter managed to do this for several classes in less time than I have for only one. I am grateful that I have enough lead time not to be stressed about putting the class together and I am enjoying the process. Knowing how many people are unemployed and struggling to find work, I don’t take these opportunities for granted and am thankful to be able to work in areas that I enjoy and care deeply about.
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