March 12, 2011

• I hear birds... chirping.  I hear children... giggling.  I hear...  I hear...  Well I hear something.  A bird or a chipmunk.  Funny how the sound makes even the dark morning seem warmer.
  

  ---

  Our church has been faithfully praying for Kirby to find work, even calling at random times of the week to offer places to send his resume.  This Sunday, while Kirby was home with sick kids, there was a new family in church; the man, Nathan, asked for prayer, "Please pray that God would help us find a machinist."

  It seemed every head turned toward me with wide smiles and raised eyebrows, "There's an answer to prayer, right there in the second row!"

  I bee-lined as casually as possible after the service, "I hear you're looking for a machinist."  I reached into my purse for my contact card, "My husband is a machinist; that number is his cell phone."  Nathan asked a few questions, and I made it clear that I only sort of understand what he knows.  "He knows Eubama, Hydromat, Index, Davenport...  He doesn't write CNC, but he can edit it."  I tentatively mentioned that I've heard him use words like 'proximity indicator' and 'concentricity'.
  "Does he know CorelDraw?"
  "He doesn't use it, but he reads the printouts.  Basically he takes the drawings from Corel and sets up the machines to Do That."
  "What would you say is his major strength?"
  "Troubleshooting."
  He asked his wife for the cell phone, but they'd left it at home.

  (Eventually, I turned my conversation to his wife, Mindy.  She says they spent many of the first years of their married / with children life on a boat off the coast of San Diego.  Intriguing!)

  I hadn't even told Kirby the whole story before Nathan got home to his phone and called to invite Kirby to meet him at the shop.  Kirby is now working a two week trial period at a workplace less than eight miles from home.  At two dollars an hour more than he was earning before.  Yay!

  ---

  Bri's garden seeds arrived in the mail today.  She has been planning her garden all winter, doing all sorts of unnecessary calculations ("If each member of our family eats two carrots per day..."), drawing charts of germination times, square footage, and soil needs.  Even if we harvest nothing this year, it's worth it just for the planning experience.

  We'll get Roma tomato starts later.  For now we've got seeds for Scarlet Nantes carrots, Buttercrunch lettuce, sweet bell peppers, cucumber, zucchini, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, butternut squash, sage, cilantro, Walla Walla onions, Sugar Ann Snap peas, sweet corn -- and we're going to give the watermelon another try.  In all of our attempts at watermelon, we've never produced a single edible fruit, but hey, we're stubborn folk -- and we're crazy for watermelon.

  ---

  There's only one time I can remember us all being sick at once.  (Winter 1999, when Bri went from Smooshy to Scrawny.)  Most of the time, it's sick kids and a mommy grateful to be Well and Able to take care of them.

  This time it was my turn to be sick.  Kirby said I had a fever and left the room to talk to the girls in hushed tones, but under all my blankets, I was shivering with cold.  They kept waking me, making me drink water.  Myra, bless her heart, brought a Bible Story book and started reading aloud to me.  I don't remember how far she got before I finally fell asleep, but I do remember thinking she has a nice reading voice.

  If I hadn't been sick, I would have figured Bri, Logan and Wilson have "just a bit of a cough."  Now I know how weak and tired they feel, so we're all taking it easy.

  ---

  In the meantime, I've been doing some design work.  And by "some," I mean I dream in Photoshop.  In the last month, I've sold four logos.  Kirby is talking about getting Adobe Illustrator for me, but I think I'd have to be pretty Big Time to justify the expense.  Eh, we'll see.  I've already seen three of my logos in use.  Very cool.

  • 9:29 pm
  • 3 Comments