Happy Birthday

My first and only child is celebrating her 3^rd birthday today.  What a wonderful person she has become.  I have the rare privilege of being a papa that has so much time off due to the nature of my job that I can spend a lot of time with her.  I remember when she was born, I was off for the summer and had two months to be with her and Ariana as we adjusted to our new lives as a family together.  I relish the time I have to spend with this little person.  She has quite a way with people and we never go unnoticed while out in public.  She is the first to initiate a conversation with anyone she sees, asking, “What’s your name?” which is usually followed by “What are you doing?” 

Among Amelia’s favorite things are: Mama, going out to a restaurant, strawberries, salmon, bread, watermelon, popsicles, the library, books, Kipper, Pingu, mud, dirt, digging, preschool, visiting Grandma and Grampy, the carousel, going downtown, OMSI, and drinking tea.  I cherish the times that we have to take walks together, not walking more than 3 feet before we have to stop and look at something that she sees.  I even cherish the times that I have to get up with her so often at night just to hold her when she cries.  I appreciate that I can still put my cheek on hers and she doesn’t push me away.

I just don’t understand how Ariana and I got so blessed as to have this amazing person in our lives.  She is so loving and kind, so self-assured and outgoing.  She is such a good kid.  She rarely ever makes a scene in public.  Being out with her is pure delight.  She is constantly amazed by the world and is working so hard to understand it:  “Why, Papa, why?”  I appreciate how she causes me to bend down and notice the world from a different perspective. 

So raise your glasses to Mimi.  Happy Birthday!

Sweet Relief and Now Suspense

The agency that I work for finally got some concrete information on their budget for this upcoming year and everyone's job has been saved, including mine!  Apparently, some money "showed up" and we have what we need to get through the year without laying off even the least senior member of our staff.  All of us couldn't tell whether to be joyful or totally ticked.  "You mean to tell me I went through the stress of applying for 4 jobs and interviewing for one just to find out that everything's fine?"  Obviously, we're all relieved and happy to be doing what we are, even if caseloads are still going to be adversely affected and service to kids and families will look totally different.  I am just happy to be able to bring home some bacon.  So, I've got another year guaranteed.  Hallelujah!

In other news, I interviewed last week for the job with Sterling Medical in Sicily.  If I haven't explained already, it is a job working for the Department of Defense, but this company is a recruiter of medical personnel and Early Intervention Specialists to work for the DoD.  I had an interview scheduled for 6 am and woke up at 5 to be ready, only to find out that it was pushed back to 7 am.  I drove out to a nice view and did my interview which turned out to be much less than I anticipated.  It was only 20 minutes of questions like, "So Italian drivers are known for being rather reckless and this job requires a lot of driving.  Would you be okay driving through Sicily to get from place to place?"  My favorite question was, "Your caseload would not be nearly as heavy as what you are handling now (30 kids).  Would you be okay with this?"  I honestly expected more grilling questions that would make me sweat.  There were a few difficult ones, but nothing that bad.  I spent 10 minutes asking them questions and then they had to cut me short to do another interview after me.  

It was hard to tell how it went.  It felt solid, but not stellar.  We will see.  Now I wait.  They said last week on Wednesday that it would be roughly 3 weeks until they would have a decision.  It's very difficult not to be Google Imaging Sicily and reading up on possible towns to live in.  I don't want to count those chickens yet.  But, again, all you praying types, please lift one up for us.  This has been the most stressful time on record for us.  Having a job is a huge piece of that puzzle, but there are others that still remain.  Will I get this job?   Will we make an international move or not?  How will we get rid of our house that we need to get rid of regardless of moving to Sicily or not?  As the dust settles, I'll give updates here.