New job report

So, I have been working for about a month now at my job with Christian Horizons. It is a job that helps handicapped adults live independently. I am still feeling overwhelmed with all the information and training they have you do. Here are the training courses I have to take: Non-violent crisis intervention (NVCI), first aid and CPR, key values (training on what the company values are), HASMAT (hazardous materials info.), driving course, emergency training, medication training, and I am sure I am missing some others! It is ALOT of information at once! Getting to know each of the 5 residents that live in the home I work is has been fun and challenging. They are all non-toileting except 1 and all non-verbal for the most part. This creates some challenges in knowing what they want. I don't enjoy changing the adult diapers too much either! Today, though, we took 4 of them to a movie in the theater and it was pretty neat to get paid to see a movie! (Evan Almighty) 4 of the residents go to a day program during the week, while the 1 stays at home due to behaviour issues. The staff at home does housework and takes care of this resident, which can be a handful. The other staff takes the 4 other residents to the day program doing mostly fun stuff, like swimming, shopping, to the market, movies, bowling, etc. The only thing is that some of the residents have behaviour issues during their outings. So, we will see where this all goes. I am still waiting to hear about the part time job at the post office.
The three older kids and I are doing the neighbors chores for him while they are gone. They are the ones next door who raise German Shepherd dogs. They currently have 15 pups, 2 female dogs, 1 large parrot, 1 cat and 4 horses. (and 2 trampolines!) They like this job! I am a little nervous around the one older female dog, who can be pretty grumpy (or watchful) when we are going in the house. She growls and barks at you, so we watch her closely. We are supposed to get $15 a day and if we sell a pup, $100. (He sells them for $1500 each!)

Show girls

Julia and Leah were at a horse show this past Saturday. This was the first time Julia got to show, but her pony was pretty rusty! She liked it though, especially the barrel racing. We have set up some barrels in our arena at home, so she can practice. I am not sure how much her pony likes all this riding!

Goodbye, Topsy

We sadly say farewell to Topsy as we have found another home for her. She will be missed, but our kids are hoping she does have pups. We told the new owners that we would like the pups if she has any. I can't say I miss having to clean up dog doodoo off the floor, though!

Hard at work

Here are some pictures of Jim and Andrew working at the Walton MX races. They were working the big "elevator" jump when we saw them. This is a VERY large double jump, and you can see it in the background of the above picture. Jim worked the bottom of the jump, while Andrew worked the top of it. They were to only use their "emergency" flags if someone crashed because it would probably be a bad situation. Note: In the top picture of Andrew working, there is a camera guy just beside him. This guy was filming for the speed channel on cable TV. (Our boys know what this channel is, they like to watch the car racing or bike racing when we are somewhere that gets cable).

Back at home, Hannah was busy at work making a delicious cake for all of us. She made a 4 layer cake with different flavors in each layer. She is very good at this and seems to enjoy baking.

Another one rides the bike. . . .

Julia finally got her chance to ride a dirt bike. At the Walton MX races, they had a Yamaha school where they would teach kids how to ride the dirt bikes with all the gear. Julia was very happy to finally get to ride a real dirt bike. She did say today that horses were better, though! (One more person on the horse lovers' side!!!)

Dream Job

This week from Wednesday to Sunday, Jim and Andrew are working at a VERY big motocross race in Walton, ON. They are working as flag men, who stand next to the track and watch for racers who have crashed or broken down on the track. They have two flags they wave to caution the other riders, one which is a yellow caution flag for when a rider crashes and is trying to get going again. The second is a red and white flag, which is a emergency flag for when a rider crashes and is not getting up. This signals for the emergency workers to come over and help. They are thrilled to be getting PAID to stand right next to the track (isn't that a little dangerous???) by a big double jump, watch all the races, and get in free to one a Canada's most important MX races of the year! They just might get their fill of MX racing for this year!

Various pictures

Just some more pictures of when the Siebenthals were here. We had a great day at the beach and later that week went swimming at the indoor pool with the slide. Trent and Trista both went off the platform dive, which almost gave Jan a heart attack! A fun time was had by all!

The Siebenthal cowboys (and girl)

Fun at the Baxter Ranch

Blabbing. . . .

This past week has been a busy one. I started working on Friday (July 28) and have done 2 shifts at Christian Horizons. This is an agency who helps mentally (and some physically) handicapped adults live independently in the community. The house I work in has 5 residents, 4 female and 1 male. They are all non-verbal except the one lady who can communicate some. They are all non-toileting and need help in some way or other with their toilet needs. I am surprised that they are in a resident/community house, but I guess the government is shutting down the large institutions and wanting them to live in the community. The one resident has mental issues which lead to aggressive behaviours sometimes. I have to do a lot of training and that includes how to do bed restraints (for this resident). This is a very intense job, and the house has had trouble staffing because of this. We will see how it goes.

Last Saturday, Leah, Julia, and I went to a local horse show. Leah brought Sierra and showed in 10 classes (5 of which were gaming classes). Leah brought home 6 ribbons and lots of experience. Her best class was the trail class, which she got second place in her age division. This class is a bunch of obstacles set up and you have to navigate them with your horse. Julia was in the lead-line class, so that was the only class she could be in for the day. She really wants to take Stella the next time (the shows are once a month in the summer). Yesterday, the three of us went to horse jumping lessons. This is all new to me, although I just watched. Julia rode Stella and Leah rode Doc. This is all English riding and that is like greek to me. (I call us the hillbilly English!) Their teacher is really nice and experienced, so I think we will all learn alot. Being in pony club has good advantages. Leah gets $150 worth of free lessons in any type of riding she would like. Julia can't be in it until next year because you have to be 7 to join. This is an English club, so it is very educating!

Hannah and Leah have 2 weeks off from babysitting because their kids' mom is off for vacation time. They are happy for the break. They are the book worms in our family and read a stack of chapter books a week.

Daniel is back to riding dirt bikes after a week off. (He left the horse's pasture gate open too many times when he was getting the bike into the pasture, so he had to be off of it for a week) Poor guy, he has a good memory for the "important" things, but the horses getting out aren't on his list of important things!

Hannah is bonding with the dogs and eagerly awaiting the arrival of new kittens. We are still looking for a home for Topsy and she is in charge of making the flyer for posting. She is good at designing. She is also always in the mood for shopping and does well at it. She has a great eye for sales and fashion, even though she doesn't like to spend her money. She is always trying to convince me that this is something I should be buying for her!