Working for Daisy

I spent April 3-9 working for RPR.  First in Chamberlain for the South Dakota Catholic Daughters of the Americas convention and then for Pastoral Ministry Days in Rapid City.  While I was gone to Chamberlain Darren bought a calf.

 The twins named her Daisy.

 Here's my table set up for the convention.  First attempt at staging for an event.

 I was really working to buy Daisy I just didn't realize it until after the fact.

Here's more pictures of Daisy.  She's a sweet calf with more energy than one little calf should have.  The kids love her, which I think will make eating her a bit harder.  Last year's bucket calf was Rex's from start to still going on.  This one the girls have some affection for and named.  It will be interesting to see how they handle eating Daisy burgers.

Book Club Update #3

I've been terrible about reading lately.  It comes from working so much in the evening through half of April.  Here's the rundown for the last few months!

The rest of February was not as productive as I would have liked, but still a lot was read.  I finished the month with 1,068 pages read.  I finished The Backyard Homestead and kept reading on The Discerning Parent.

March ended with 904 pages read.  I finished The Brothers Karamazov, The Discerning Parent, Child of the South Dakota Frontier, The Cross & the Beatitudes, and The Screwtape Letters.  That's a lot of books finished!!  I also started reading Saint Fernando III (great book!!).  At that point I had read 3,079 for the year.  Not bad for three months.

Then April got ugly!  Wow, it's almost embarrassing.  I only read 287 pages total.  Ugly.  The only book I finished was The Privilege of Being a Woman.  I also started Black Elk.  

Then this month I have been slowly reading through the current books and added in The Grace of Enough.

That means, at this moment, I am reading:

The Grace of Enough

Black Elk

Orthodoxy

The Discernment of Spirits

Saint Fernando III

Wow, I better get to finishing something before I start another book.

Duck Sitting

When I think of things I want to do, are capable of doing, or could possibly put on a resume in the future - DUCK SITTING (like babysitting) was never on that list.

We duck sat for our friends for about a month.

 Ohh, and they gave us these beauties too!

 What an interesting mix of breeds!

That big rooster also came from them.

Gianna was sad to say goodbye to them.  It was a good experiment for us to see if someday we want to get our own ducks.

St. Patrick's Day 2019

After two years of not celebrating St. Patrick's Day on the actual holiday, we were able to celebrate in style this year.  We also invited our dear friend, Laree, out for a supper of corned beef and cabbage along with all of our normal St. Patrick's Day food traditions.

 This was the first St. Patrick's Day the twins can actually remember.

 They helped decorate and brought our excitement level through the roof!!

 St. Patrick and Our Lady of Knocks statues graced our family altar for the day.

The food was amazing!!  Laree is coming again next year she said.

I had cooked all day the day before for Papa Bestgen's St. Patrick's Day party.  I make a mean corned beef and cabbage meal - so volunteered to cook for the family.  It's one of my favorite times of the year and favorite meals.  I was happy to celebrate with all the family for a change.

HP Joined the Family

This is HP.  

She was a free to us addition to Our Farm for Wayward Animals No One Else Wants

We got her on St. Patrick's Day, so we called her Patty.

Patty got upgraded to Hamburger Patty or HP for short.

Rex was not thrilled with the name.  In fact, I think he was offended. 

 HP was sick from the start.  We tried to nurture her and give her a reason to thrive.

She didn't make it through the night.

HP had been with us less than 24 hours.

You have never seen a more relieved young man than Rex.  He really didn't want a calf named Hamburger Patty.  I'm gonna try for another HP one of these times.

I Got a Job

Where have I been?  I know I was going to update the blog more.  So where have I been.

WORKING - part-time (ish) for:

I was hired in February as the Listener Relationships Coordinator for Real Presence Radio in the Black Hills area.  I also added on Gillette to my responsibility because there is no LRC in that area and I'm the closest.  This was not something I was looking for or even thought should be on my radar.  Darren helped on the banquet committee while I was in North Carolina last October.  Mike (who is my boss) sent out an email with a job description that had "Karen should apply for this job because it was made for her," written all over it.  It truly was tailor-made for me.  I had completed many similar tasks in volunteer positions or for family.  It was going to be easy in a lot of ways.

Darren said he thought I should apply.  I met Mike at the banquet and we had a quick conversation that helped me immediately know I could work for him and with him without any problems.  I told him I was thinking about applying for the position.  I also talked to Steve (the big boss as Gianna needs me to reference him to keep it all straight) and found out some more details.  It was a part time position with hours ranging from 10-20 hours a week.  It seemed very likely I could still homeschool the kids as most of it would be on phone and weekends.

I prayed about the position for a couple of days.  It was the beginning of December so the stress of holidays was coming up and I wanted to either apply or walk away by then.  It seemed to me that every time I prayed about it I gained more peace.  I would be praying and words would come to me that I should include in the resume. Wait - now that is a goofy thing!!  ME writing a resume?!  Shortest thing ever!  Karen = homeschooling mom, wife, homemaker for 18 years.  Done.  Talk about easy until Darren said it wasn't enough.  Then I had to actually THINK about what I had accomplished.  I learned one thing, one really big thing....I am NEVER applying for another job that requires a resume.  End of story.  It went from easy to the most stressful thing I have attempted in forever!  Darren was great about helping me.  I'd say, "How come I can't use complete sentences?"  Or maybe, "Now I do USE complete sentences!" Resume writing is wonkey like the donkey.  I finally put together an adequate portrayal of myself and emailed it off to Mike and Steve.  Then I forgot about.  Honestly.  I was filled with so much peace.  I knew God wanted me to step outside my comfort zone and apply for the job.  I didn't need to know if He wanted me to have it.  I had gained an amazing, long-term peace.  I was truly living "Let go, let God."

A couple of days later (I think), Mike calls me up and wanted to set up a job interview.  I must have sounded like an idiot because I had forgotten I had applied for the job.  It took me a few seconds to catch on what he was talking about. (Face palm!)  They were coming to Rapid City the end of January and wanted to interview me for the position.  Sweet.  Okay.  Sure.  Back of my mind I'm thinking they must be desperate. I had read my own resume.  I probably wouldn't have hired me. 

January interview came.  I was a bit nervous, but not really.  I was more concerned about what I would do if I actually got the job.  Thinking about logistics, time management, eight kids in school, food, laundry, when will I sleep, and a million other "what if's" that kept holding me down.  One word - overwhelmed.  There was a banquet committee follow up meeting just before my interview.  It was the first time I had met those people.  They were a good team and I hope they are willing to help again.  Having that meeting before my interview also helped me relax.  Mike and Steve were going to interview me and I was already comfortable with them by the end of the banquet committee meeting.

Mike started walking me through what I would have to do as a Listener Relationships Coordinator.  It seemed like something I was able to do.  Even standing up in front of a whole parish and giving a talk - not a problem if I have a script.  The one thing I noticed that had changed was the hours were 10-30 hours.  WHOA!  That's a big difference!  They explained that during the busy seasons before the fundraiser and banquet it would require more hours.  Okay.  Got that.  Phew.  Move on.  The interview itself was painless.  I found out I was the only applicant.  (Worst and best candidate all in one - PRESSURE!)  Mike said to think about it and they'd contact me.  I suggested they find someone else to interview before deciding.  LOL  Steve said they pray for the right person to come along and leave it in God's hands.  What an example of trust!! 

I honestly thought I'd have a week to think about it.  The next morning I received a call from Mike offering me the job.  What, wait.  Huh?  I decided I should probably take the job.  Darren wanted me to have the job and the kids all said they would step up even more and handle chores, cooking, childcare of the twins, and whatever else needed to happen.  The whole family was willing to take on this job as a mission to help the radio station.

I'm going to just say right now that I could not have had this job from the start without Darren, Blase, Stephen, Cormac, Rex, Brech, Gianna, Brigid, and Kiara supporting me, helping me, and working harder at home.  They are amazing when I need to be gone or working.  If I have succeeded at this job credit needs to go to them for taking the home front responsibilities upon themselves.   I can't do both aspects of my life at the same time and do them well.  They know that if I am working they need to step up their game and they do.  Truly a family mission!

So I started working in February.  It was five hours a week to begin with then moved into more hours.  There was a point where I had worked 75 hours in 9 days, being gone for 7 of those days.  I missed Gianna's birthday and no one held it against me.  The house was clean, the kids were bathed, the school was mostly completed...maybe I should work full-time?!?!  

More about this job later - but that's your introduction to why I have been missing in action on the blog.  I've finally figured out how to balance wife, mother, teacher, cleaner, listener relationships coordinator, friend, co-worker, and the other hats I wear.  Now I can pick up the blogger hat again just in time for gardening season and summer loveliness! 

March's Moon

The moon on March 30th was beautiful!