Reflections on the past year

 Hard to believe it has been a year already...

What am I talking about?  Well a year ago I headed back to work after over 13 years of homeschooling my children.

The journey to find work started more than 2 years before that but it takes time now to get employment and I guess it was not the time to do so for me.   Besides 2019 was a year of grief and I needed healing in so many different ways.

Nevertheless 2020 started and I had some interviews.   In March, I was offered a position under contract at  one of the universities in town.  My start date was set to March 16.  

Was I nervous when this date arrived? You can bet I was...  so I drove to work in order to arrive for 8am.  I entered the building and went where I was suppose to go.   I wasn’t sure which door I needed to take but my supervisor came and asked me if I had received her message.  What message I asked?   Turns out that all employees were sent home because of the pandemic.  Most workplace in Ontario had to respect the new COVID restrictions of the province.   I stayed literally many a good 10 minutes.  I had to go back home.

Throughout the week, I attended virtual meeting, did online training, slowly set up my computer at home. It took about a week to have access to everything I needed.  My training for this position was done virtually.

Then a couple of months later, a coworker was going on maternity leave.  I decided to apply on the position because the salary was higher.  I got the position and was trained again virtually for 2 weeks before her maternity leave started.   For about 2 months I juggled the responsibilities of both positions until the new employee which was taking over the first position started in August.

Today, I am reflecting on the year of busyness as I call it.  These positions has brought a lot of activities in my daily work.   Not only do I have to work mostly from home but at times I do have to be on site for the learning activities of the students that I am managing.   COVID has thrown curve balls at us for scheduling and managing things but we have always found solutions for it.   The learning activities I am in charge had to be tweaked due to restrictions in the number of people allowed in the rooms where they are held but in the end we are trying very hard to make the learning be interesting to the students.

Today I celebrate my First year being at the university and I am in awe of the blessings the Lord had poured on our family.   One year ago, He has opened a door for me to get back on the market and to build up my confidence.  It has been an amazing year trusting Him in so many ways.  I am thankful for His presence in my life and His care for me and my family.   

I am not alone.  He is with me every day of the year - every single year  that goes by.

Have you trusted God lately?

Ant-Man and the Wasp adventure

Last Friday, July 6th, we had planned to go to the Landmark Theater in Kanata to see the movie “Ant-Man and the Wasp” with our whole family.   We enjoy seeing the new super-heroes movies in theater so we splurge a bit and bring our kids to these movies.   We arrived for the 1145am showing.

The movie was going on when suddenly the screen when blank and emergency lights opened in the theater.  We were literally about 15-20 minutes close to the end of the movie.   After waiting 15 minutes or so, we decided to checked on the website for Hydro and saw that there was an

issue in the area we were located.  The theater is smack in the middle of the bottom section on the photo below.

We decided to leave and request some free tickets – the theater was already giving some away.   We were disappointed but we needed to go to our campground from the week-end and could not wait until 330pm for the outage to be fixed as mentioned on the twitter account of the Hydro company.

So we drove and as we got closer to our destination, we jokingly said “What if the theater in Renfrew had the movie starting at 1pm? We could arrive where we were at when we were at Landmark.”  So hubby said that if it was the case, he would go in and offer to pay a reduce amount for us to see the end of the movie.

Well…. we arrived on main street.  Usually we turn to go to our campground before the theater but we see the sign.   And guess what….. the movie had indeed started at 1pm.   And there was a parking spot in front of the theater on the other side of the street waiting for us.  Hubby and one of our boys go in the theater.  He asked if he could pay a small amount for us to see the end of the movie and explain what happened.  The lady at the OBrien Theater in Renfrew allowed us to go in for free so we can see the rest of the movie and the fun part during the credits. 

The best part is that when we sat down it was about 5 minutes before the movie stopped at Landmark so we were able to catch the part that we had missed earlier in the day.

And after checking later that day for the outage – it was not fixed until 530pm and it happened because some trees fell on the lines due to high wind.

We were blessed by this lady at the OBrien Theater and are thankful for her willingness to let us see the end of the movie.

Many thanks from our whole family.  You have made our day on July 6th, 2018!

Reflections on when your husband is away for a period of time

This past six days, my husband flew in a warmer place in order to attend a conference.  The trip has been planned for a few months and we knew it was coming.   But it is unusual for him to leave on a business trip and well.... let's be honest here - we are not used to it because it is rare that he leaves for an extended period of time.  As a matter of fact, I can count the numbers of times we were separate on the fingers of one hand.

Okay.   So here I am, on the day he comes back, reflecting on what I have learned this past few days without him at home.

1) The weather will not be cooperating with you.  We had some days where it was extremely cold and two freezing rain warning.  One morning we woke up with ice all over the place - the street was almost a giant skating rink.

2) That sometimes when you feel discourage small blessings from above can happen.   My husband went to Chipotle on Sunday after attending church where he was and he just could decide what to take.  You see it was his first time ever to go there (I never went either but I told him about the restaurant).   Anyhow, he somewhat mentions that it is his first time and he got a surprise when it was time to pay...

3) Going shopping with boys is exhausting.   You literally have no time to enjoy yourself because when they are done, they're done and it is the incessant question of when we go back home.  Shopping trip was cut short rapidly. 

4) It is hard to steep alone when you are so used to have your husband next to you.   Yawn!   Oh I slept... but it is just not the same.   Made me realized that if anything happen to him it will be hard to adjust myself.

5) I wish I can visit that area one day.   I never went to Arizona and I hope that some day I will be able to go with him so he can show me the view from the mountain in person - not just photos.  

6) Sunsets are stunning - no matter where you go.

7) Cacti can make you think of underwater garden...

8) Trips like this can stir your marriage positively.  The saying is true: " Distance makes your hearth grow fonder."

Well - that's my tidbits of wisdom on business trips and family life.   I look forward to have my husband back today.   Tomorrow I declare PD day for us.   Dad is home and the kids will be excited.   No point of doing school. We will enjoy spending time with him and looked at his pictures. 

Exploring Washington, D.C.

Back in May we were debating where we should go on vacation in June.     Being members of some museums in town, we knew that we could visit museums elsewhere in Canada and the US for free.   So with our list of places we could visit, we tried to determine where to go on vacation.   At some point I mentioned to my husband that it would have been fun to go to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. but it wasn’t listed for whatever reason.  He looks at me funny and says “I’m pretty sure that the Smithsonian is free…”  “Say what?”  So we checked on the internet and realized that indeed it was free.   So why in the world haven’t we went to Washington, D.C. before?  No clue whatsoever but we decided right then and there that we would go on vacation to Washington, D.C. this year.

The dates of the said vacation were June 22nd until July 6th.   But we ended up coming back a few days earlier in order to allow my husband to rest before starting work.

June 22nd – Direction Washington, D.C.   Well not exactly since we decided to sleep somewhere in New York state @ the Lighthouse Landing near Marathon before reaching D.C.   Besides our campground was located in Virginia.

June 23rd – We continue our trip direction Virgina to Prince William Forest RV campground which is a national park.  The place is fabulous with paved sites and a pool to refresh ourselves.

June 24th – We drove around the downtown area of Washington – somewhat familiarizing ourselves with the streets there.  Then we went to the National Zoo.  We walked through the Asia section and the bird section.   The only adventure worth telling at this point is the bird who literally defecated on my left shoulder (which splashed on my daughter).   The culprit is the fourth photo below.   Fortunately, a nice lady provided diaper wipes so we can clean up the mess.   However, the flamingos were a surprise because they were nesting and you could see eggs in the nest.  

June 25th – It’s Alexandre’s birthday who is turning thirteen.  What he doesn’t know is that I have secured free tickets to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. 

Here’s Alexandre on his 13th birthday with me.

The entrance of the National Aquarium.

Some of the animals we encountered at the National Aquarium.

We had a great time visiting the National Aquarium.

June 26th – We were close to the National Museum of Marine Corps and we went to visit the place.

June 27th – Big day ahead of us.   Here’s the places we went to visit:  Washington Memorial, World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Albert Einstein statue, White House, Smithsonian America History Museum and Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Washington Memorial

That’s the Lincoln Memorial in the back.

The World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Albert Eisntein statue – the kids couldn’t help it and had to stick their tongue! (see picture #2)

We finally reached the White House.

Then we went to visit the Smithsonian American History Museum.

And discovered Julia Child’s kitchen!

We also saw these…. remember when McDonald’s had those containers for their burgers?  I sure do!

We couldn’t resist to take this picture….

Afterwards, we walked to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Learning about blubber and animals living in the artic (which will be a theme this year at the homeschool coop we are participating).

Jasmine used a microscope.

We went back in time at the time of dinosaurs.

We saw lots of skeletons.

We looked at gems and other previous metals (here you have gold!).

And while walking through the Smithsonian caste we saw it made out of Lego.

June 28th – We stay at the campground in the morning but then we surprised the kids again with tickets to the Medieval Times Baltimore/Washington, D.C.

The food was great, the show was amazing and Jasmine got a flower from the Black & White Knight.

June 29th – National Zoo again to complete our visit which we didn’t have the time to do on the first day.

June 30th – Day off at the campground.

July 1st – We decided to visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and Smithsonian Art Museum.  Funny thing is the previous night we had watched the movie “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”.

Waiting patiently for the opening of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

We saw the Wright brothers airplace.

Amelia Earhart’s airplane.

Explored the solar system.

Saw a model of the U.S.S. Entreprise.

Looked at the Capitol from the distance.

And went to the Smithsonian Art Musem.

Some of my favourite paintings.

Jasmine preferred the ones with ballerinas in it.

July 2nd – We left the campground at 8am.  Hoping to reach home by 730pm or so.  However, we ended up having a blow out and after changing the tire (which went very well) we were not comfortable to continue the road without a spare tire…. We found a spare tire but the shop didn’t have the time to install it on the rim.  We needed to find a garage.  We stopped at a Toyota dealer where the people there were happy to help us but in the end we lost 3 hours.  So we stopped at Lighthouse Landing near Marathon, NY for one night.

July 3rd – We drove home with a slight detour to Ogdensburg where a package was waiting for me to be picked up.   And we came back home, unpacked the RV and went to drop it off at the storage facility.

Would I recommend bringing your kids in Washington, D.C.?  Absolutely.  Prepare to walk a lot though because the distance in a movie is definitively not the reality!   But there are numerous things to do for free in that city as you can see on the Smithsonian site.  In all there are over 19 museums and zoos to visit for free.   Note that most museums will inspect all the bags coming through at the entrance.  But apart from a slight delay in entering the museums, you will have a blast to discover Washington, D.C.

We are also grateful for the two attractions that offered us free tickets in exchange of a blog post.   The links were provided in the text above.