Turn of events

So, some of you knew that Zac was looking to join the Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) and that he was going to take a course to get his large equipment licenses, including his AZ or Class 1 license. He went to a meeting to have EI pay for it, only to find out that he has to fill out a whole pile over paperwork with a councilor to prove he has no skills first. This would mean that he will mis the start date he had figured on. Being a somewhat angry and fickle young man, hequickly vented and said that he was not doing it if he has to wait till the next one. He went to his mother's house for the weekend, and when he came back he informed us that he has put his name in with the airforce. So, we are back to the military, and his name is actually on the list. He has to go in to Kingston to the recruitment office there to do some testing at the end of the week, and then he will move forward from there. I think he still plans to go check out the O.P.P. recruitment at the end of the month, too, but who knows at theis point? Time will tell, and we shall see.

not much to say

So, I missed a couple of weeks but, I don't really know what to say. It is March Break here, and we were blessed with a very large class at the driving school. We have been busy trying to stay on top of things. One of our instructors retired, and the other informed us she just got on full time driving for City Transit. She is not abandoning us completely, but it certainly is going to cut her hours back. Our computer monitor died suddenly last night, but fortunately for us we had bought the extended warranty. I was able to get a new one this morning, and now we are back in business. As long as the tower holds out we are good, that or it has to go before September (but we are not hoping one way or the other). We have a new curriculum now for the school, but still have to tweak it to make it work for us.

Reenacting in the cold

We had our first reenacting event this year. It was a reenactment of the battle of Ogdensburg. This was from the War of 1812. It took a fair bit of preparation, but was worth it. I made uniform jackets for John and Zac, and borrowed one for Parker. I still have to teach Zac how to do the pants up properly, but the guys look pretty sharp to me. These next two pictures are from the battle. Zac is in the group of soldiers on the left, and is the on closest to the flags. John is in the group on the right, and is in the middle of the three soldiers in light grey. If you look closely, you can sort of see Parker standing behind the flag bearers. The other one is Parker running towards us. He stepped in a puddle, so they sent him to me to warm up and dry them out once there was a break in the fighting.
















This final picture is Kierstan and I playing at the ball (I am behind the camera). They do English country dancing. The first time we went to a ball, we felt like we were just fumbling. This time John said we looked like we completely comfortable and graceful. We both will tell you that the way you dress makes a huge difference. We only had one pair of gloves between us, but they just seemed to be that reminder of grace. So fun, I think we are hooked.

*SIGHS* OF RELIEF

I know that I have been slack on writing the last few weeks, but when I get stressed this seems to be the first thing to go. I have had a lot of panic and stress moments, or so it seems. First we had to write a curriculum for the driving school. The guidelines were vague, or just downright confusing. If we called the ministry of transportation to try to clarify what they wanted, they left me more confused than when I called. After a lot of writing and editing, we had something we could live with (but we didn't like). It would at least allow us to operate in April when the rules change. We sent it in with the understanding that it would take 4-6 weeks approve. This meant the we should hear about it at the beginning of January. We didn't hear about it in January. With plans for a baptism in play, I tried to push it to the back of my mind. We had a meeting with CAA to see if we might be interested in using their curriculum. They had not even been approved yet, so the decision to call the MTO was made. I was informed that they had not even seen ours yet, it was still in the pile. We knew it was not up to the level that we wanted it to be, but didn't know where to start editing it. That, mixed with the uncertainty of what happens in April if we haven't heard from them, had me right flustered.

With planning the baptism, we had to wait until the day before to get a baptismal interview. (the Branch President has a strange work schedule). It did not occur to us until after we returned home form the interview that we did not know who was presiding at the baptism. I began calling branch presidency members to see who it would be, only to learn that the ball had been dropped. The BP was working,and both of his counsellors (father and son)were going on holidays. I was told I might just have to rebook to the next weekend. After informing them that that was not an option, with grandparents already here and aunty J. already on the plane, a scramble was on to sort this out. In the end, it was decided that the second counsellor in the Elder's Quorum would both conduct and preside. It still felt a bit crazy and disorganized, but we did it. (YAAAAAY!)

After sadly returning family to the airport to go home, we shifted focus to income taxes. I had to ensure that paper work was in order, not sure if I had even entered things into the books correctly. That has been a fiasco that I think we have finally found a way around, and then we found out that the date for our new curriculum was pushed back to September. Small Sighs all along, but I still did not know how to fix the curriculum we did not like. We received an email about an opportunity to learn about an approved curriculum, that is available for us to purchase. This was exciting, but with undertones of stress, as we had a ministry audit to ensure compliance on Friday. We were fine, but I had to make sure all the paperwork was in order.

This weekend we spent with family in Kitchener, as we had decided to attend this information session in Scarborough. I was going into this thinking and hoping it was an answer to prayer. Dear hubby went into this thinking he would buy theirs, and use it to fix ours, making it our own. After hearing what they have to say, we realized that it is what we have been looking for, and more. It would not benefit us in any way to make it fit ours, as they are calling it a "Living Curriculum". This means that as changes are made by the gov't, and in technologies, they will send us updates and how to use them. These will be sent via email, therefore making them free to receive. The cost would then only be incurred if we "chose" to print it off the email. (the choice would be ours.) The cost is only $5 per student, as opposed to the $50 per student that CAA wanted. It is such a relief to me to know that we are able to switch to a new approved curriculum that meets all our needs, and they will provide us with all the technical, and learning support we need. We have decided to switch to this new curriculum in June. This allows our old students to make up any classes they are missing, prior to the change. I can now start to look back at the pictures and moments of fun over the last few weeks, and start to put the memories together. I will be putting pics up next time.