The high school formerly known as MAA

I was not only the only person from the class of 1986 at Modesto Adventist Academy's Alumni Weekend, I was the only one from the years between 1984 and 1987. How sad is that! I wasn't able to make it to my 20 year reunion two years ago but I was hoping SOMEONE else would turn up this year. On the plus side I did see a lot of people my parents' age who I hadn't seen in some years so that was very nice. I'll try very hard to make it to my 25th in 2011 and hopefully there will be a few people my age.

It's a little disturbing to think that it's been 22 years since I finished high school and that I have a daughter who will be graduating in two months. I'm not quite ready for that yet!

34 Kids sponsored! (and my first radio appearance)

We managed to get 34 children sponsors in a day and a half. Well, less than that really because at the end of Thursday we only had five or six sponsors. We got no new sponsors for the first two hours of Friday but we got more than 25 sponsors in the last couple of hours of Friday! I'd been wanting to sponsor a child but was finding it difficult to find $30 in our budget (everything is costing more than we'd thought here) so I arranged to volunteer two hours a month at work and the station would sponsor the child for me, and as a result Monika sat me down in the studio and interviewed me for a couple of minutes to show people that they could be creative with their giving. I should be getting the information about my little girl shortly - I let the Mission of Mercy guy choose a child for me because he knew which were the most needy. I do know she's from one of the countries in Africa most badly hit by the Aids epidemic. I'll keep you posted.

Lovin' my job

I think I've finally got my head around all the things I need to do and have started to relax into the whole thing and enjoy it. I love being able to listen to music while I work and I'm starting to have favourites I listen for as I work. There is an absolutely gorgeous version of "Amazing Grace" which plays at least every couple of hours. I've put a link in at the left for anyone who wants to see our website and listen to the music. It is wonderful to have a job which I feel makes a difference to the world in some small way.

Next week we are going to be doing some fundraising for "Mission of Mercy" which sponsors children at risk in third world countries - there is a link from The Candle's homepage or you can visit it here. It is only $30 a month to change a child's life.

Among the employed

Well, I've got myself a job. Starting next Monday I will be the Office Manager for KNDL (The Candle) the radio station here in Angwin. It's half time and church wages but it's just enough money to cover our budget and as I only have to work four hours a day I'll have time each day to do some studying and work on hobbies. I will go in on Thursday and Friday to do some handover work with the lady I'm replacing (also called Wendy) and she may come in once or twice next week if needed. It sounds like the job will be interesting and I get to listen to the radio while I work!

David is in Washington DC this week filming some more spots for "Faith and Freedom" so Evie and I drove him to the airport in Sacramento last night and then drove down to my parents'. David got a GPS system for Christmas and it has been SO helpful - especially driving somewhere new in the dark - you don't have to worry about trying to read maps by passing streetlight. Evie is sick with a sinus infection so I took her out of school and she has an appointment at Mom & Dad's doctor tomorrow.

So, that's where we are at the moment. I'll keep you all updated as to how the new job goes.

Snow!

We woke up to this view this morning. After several weeks of weather almost warm enough to wear Tshirts in (at least for those used to UK weather) it has turned and bitten us. Normally I get really excited by snow but now we live in the mountains I thought twice about driving down to Napa (I was supposed to be signing up with temp agencies today). Sadly the white didn't last although it stayed cold and we had snowflakes most of the day.

I can't put off finding a job any longer so I have appointments first thing tomorrow and Thursday morning at Napa temp agencies. I hate having to take their tests to prove how fast I can type and that I know how to use Word and Excel. And I'll have to do it over again at every agency I sign up with! Blech. Anyway, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Finally here!

Well, it has been an enormous effort (and has cost a heck of a lot more than we'd foreseen) but we are finally settling in. We've moved into a tiny but fairly comfortable apartment on the hill across from the college and after several days of chasing our shipment by phone all over California it arrived this afternoon and I've made a start on unpacking it. We've also finally got internet set up in the apartment so I am going to try to be better at keeping in touch with everyone. I haven't found a job yet but I haven't been looking too hard so far. I did apply for a part-time job in a bookstore but they already had some interviews set up so I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get it - which is too bad because it would have been perfect. I'll go into Napa early next week and sign up at job agencies and do some temping for a while.

It really is beautiful up here, even in January. The weather is mild and sunny now (after a bad winter storm that left us without power for a day!). I'll try and get some pictures up as soon as I can and keep this thing updated regularly.