Neumatikos

3September2008

B.S., MPH, CNA, Mrs., and M.O.M.

Posted by Convallaria under: News; That Vision Thing; Younguns.

I think I can actually say that I represent the new and improved stay at home mom. I am part of the growing group of young mothers with a good education, mountains of debt, and an intense love for being a wife, mother and homemaker. Even with the occasional fussiness there is nothing that can beat the giggles of a ticklish snugglebug who can be chewing on your pocketbook stap one minute and jumping joyfully the next.
Read on, MacDuff!

29July2008

Job Hunting Frustrations and Irritations

Posted by Convallaria under: Health; Irony; News.

So, I’m applying for CNA jobs at local hospitals and such in Knoxville and I start to thinking about how I might be able to transfer my certification registry from NC to TN. I go hunting on the TN Nurse Aide Registry site and start reading. About halfway down I come across this:

An individual who is currently listed as active with no derogatory or abuse information on another State’s list of certified individuals can apply for reciprocity.

Okay, that sounds like me:

Tennessee accepts reciprocity from all States except Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and North Carolina.

Uh Oh. So what do I need to do?

An individual living in Alabama, Georgia or Illinois must provide verification of their status and apply to challenge the test. An individual living in Florida or North Carolina must retrain and retest in Tennessee in order to become certified as a CNA in this State.

That’s right folks I have to retake a class in common sense and retake a skills test on hand washing. Apparently people in NC and FL don’t know how to wash their hands right.

29July2008

Catch-all

Posted by Puretext under: General; School.

This is sort of a catch-all of observations on being unemployed. I suppose I could tie it all together into a cohesive essay, but the effort would take a few hours, and those two hours are intimidating enough at the moment to persuade me not even to begin. Thus:

We’ve pretty much decided at this point to move to Knoxville. The reason being that I’m not finding any work here, and that in Knoxville, at least, we can mooch off of relatives rather than testing the eviction laws in the state of North Carolina. The “pretty much” part means that there is still the option of something unexpected happening in the Charlotte area. We’re being strictly mercenary about the whole thing. We go where the money goes. But frankly, in the greater Charlotte metropolitan area, the money has already gone. I think it has something to do with the fact that Charlotte is primarily a banking town. Nearly every company I’ve done any serious research on has been in a perpetual hiring freeze/attrition mode. Quite literally nobody is hiring.

Actually, when looking from outside our situation, the “nobody is hiring meme” is quite humorous.
Read on, MacDuff!

17May2008

Home Health Aide

Posted by Convallaria under: News.

So, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything remotely resembling an update. So sorry (well mostly sorry); it’s been a bit busy on my end getting used to being a mama.

For those of you who haven’t heard, I took and passed my state test to become a CNA I. The first place I applied to for work was Bayada Nurses which provides care for people in thier homes. Within ten minutes or so of my online application, I received a phone call for an interview. Within a week I was hired and doing orientation, then the fun began of trying to set up days where I could work and have a sitter for David.

This past Wednesday was supposed to be my first day on the job (which I had set up a sitter for); and Moday I found out that my client canceled services for the day. I was also supposed to have another client today (Saturday and have Kyle watch the Bug), but I found out on Thursday that my client is in the hospital.

Friday, was not supposed to be a day of work, since I didn’t have a sitter and Kyle was at school. Apparently, however, God had different plans.
Read on, MacDuff!

5September2007

Glory be! It’s got a heartbeat!

Posted by Convallaria under: News; Younguns.

Just a very quick update. I had a prenatal exam yesterday at my new care provider in town. It was absolutely amazing to hear the little one’s heartbeat for the first time ever. Kyle was unable to come to this one so we’re going to make it so that he can come to the next one in October. Our health insurance comes online October 1st and I have an appointment for October 9th. I’ll be meeting with one of the other midwives and we’ll also have an ultrasound.

Things on the job front have not changed as yet. I’m still applying and praying that the Lord brings something along for me to do until the baby comes so that we can save up a bit of money.

I’m also seriously praying about going back to school either in the spring or next fall part time. I’ll be working towards an associates degree in nursing through the local school which is attached to the hospital near our apartment. And before you begin protesting, I am well aware of the facts of how tired I will be with a new baby if I take classes in the spring semester. If that is the way that the Lord decides to lead us, then he’s given promise after promise to be my strength and peace and hope and sanity through it all. I’m not even remotely considering going back full time, but if I’m part-time, then I can keep the loan hounds at bay until I have a job that can pay them back.

The Lord is good; He provides for His children, and I am so grateful to be counted amonst the flock. Otherwise I would have had a meltdown long before now.

Peace and Blessings.

24August2007

Progress…finally

Posted by Convallaria under: News; Younguns.

After dilligently bashing my head against two brick walls entitled “employment” and “prenatal care”, I seem to finally have cracked the foundation of the latter. After prayer and trusting in the Lord’s provision, we have decided to sign up for the spouse insurance through Kyle’s work. It will automatically be deducted from his paycheck, so it’s even more necessary for me to crack into that second wall.

The good news is that I finally have a care provider and my next prenatal appointment will be on September 4th. The insurance will officially go into affect October 1st, but since I’ve already had an initial pre-natal visit and all of my labwork, I only have to pay for regular visits out of pocket until October. I’ll be fifteen and a half weeks pregnant when I go in for my next visit and the insurance will kick in well before I have to take all of the mid-pregnancy tests and take Rhogam.

I’m still working on getting employed, but it feels really nice having one more burden lifted from my shoulders through the Lord’s grace and mercy. Please keep praying for employment or at least for the Lord to show us what he has in store for me to do next.

In other news, Kyle is quietly panicking about having to fly by the seat of his pants come Monday. He’s teaching 3rd through 9th grade Latin and is a little bit nervous as he’s still trying to get settled and plan lessons. Pray that I see my husband back to his normal goofy self soon and not so withdrawn.

Peace and Blessings.

7August2007

Update thingies…I’m terrible at this sometimes….

Posted by Convallaria under: News.

Hello Everybody!

My, my, how the time does fly! I seriously owe everybody an update on what’s been going on so here goes…..

A little over a month ago (goodness!), we packed all of our belonging into a UPS truck and sent it to NC ahead of us. After being feted by our former church till our sides burst, we finally set out to follow our belongings. It was a good beginning of a nice month-long trip.
Read on, MacDuff!

17June2007

Happy News

Posted by Convallaria under: News.

Kyle has accepted the teaching position in NC so we are definitely moving southward. I’m really excited about being closer to family and back in an area that I can make sense of. The moving truck arrives this coming Friday. Saturday and Sunday we will fill it and have it picked up by the moving complany. Monday we will head out for our trip to visit with friends and relatives, and apparently we will have a stowaway on the trip with us who will make an appearance in about nine months. We’re really excited about that too. I’ll be putting up more updates as they come and have created a new page where registry and other information will be periodically updated.

14June2007

When it rains it pours.

Posted by Convallaria under: News.

Hello everyone. I suppose it’s time for another update on life from the frozen north (well chilly north anyway…can anyone tell me where summer is supposed to be?).

I finished teaching at the school on June 8th, and Kyle and I decided that it would be a wonderful time to take a much needed break before chaos resumes and I have to pack up the house for a move. We decided to go to Niagara Falls for the weekend and it was absolutly, blessedly peaceful and restful. We did all the touristy things and I took lots of pictures, which will go up as soon as I can figure out what’s going wrong with our gallery program.

On the drive home Kyle was thinking about his last convesation with the Headmistress at the school in Concord. When Mrs. C had told Kyle that she was very sorry that she had offerend the English position to someone else who had more experience but that she had a full time teaching position for Latin also open. At first he politely turned her down thinking that it was a joke, but he realized on the ride home that she wouldn’t have mentioned it if she hadn’t been serious.
Read on, MacDuff!

11May2007

Mixed Tradition

Posted by Puretext under: Essay; School; Theology.

Assimilation (part 6)

Alexander Jordan’s disconcertion has become my revelation. Up to now, the Calvinist/Arminian debate was something like Emily Dickinson’s fly – something on the barest horizon of attention, not even worthy to be considered in the light of more momentous things, which suddenly becomes The Point and consumes everything. No, I’m not saying that I discovered Reformed theology, and it was as if I had been born again (again). I mean the realization this particular divide, which seems so academic, tends to be so thoroughly embedded in the church’s worldview

The charismatic movement ruined the divide. Somewhere around the beginning of the worship wars, when churches all over were switching from organs to guitars, something else was happening that sort of rode along with the more visible “praise and worship” movement. Believers from every tradition began to understand the work of the Holy Spirit in a more robust way, a way that included all the activity described in the New and Old Testaments. Perhaps they were witnesses to demonstrations of His power, or perhaps they read the text without the benefit of explanations why these things were no longer models for Christian life.

As believers began to study these things, often there was no voice in their own group teaching about the work of the Holy Spirit. So they had to look outside their own borders, and it’s just the nature of things that as people learned about the Holy Spirit, they also took on the cultural trappings of whatever group it was they were learning from.
Read on, MacDuff!