Schedules and Such

The end of a 5.5 mi hike with Gromit!

So, a friend of mine pointed out to me that I have yet to really describe our schedules and daily life here in Oak Harbor, for those of you who keep track of us only via this blog.  So I thought I'd give a brief run down of what kind of routine things have settled into here on our island. 

A hike around the island under Deception Pass

Baptizing 18yr old Viviana!

Jon works Tues-Sun, though not full days, and chose Monday as his day off.  During those work afternoons, he is (currently) doing 10 individual Bible studies of about an hour each.  Half of those are for kids ranging from 8-18 years old, from either the church, church school, or from the community who have started coming to church related activities because of a church member's suggestion.  Of those kids, 2 are baptized (one just last week!), one is planning a baptism in May, two of them later on in the summer probably, and the last is about 8 yrs old so he might be a couple years :)  The other five of his Bible studies are adults, one just recently baptized, one I think was baptized into another Christian church awhile ago, and I think the rest are unbaptized. 

Jon's longest running Bible study here in Oak Harbor, they've been studying together about 3 months, basically since we moved here

Once a week Jon does the worship for the church school, Tuesday and Fridays he has youth group and junior groups and Thursday he does a young adult study, which is just starting to take off!  That all used to be one big group of kids ranging from about age 5-26, but he has since split the kids, which is much nicer for everyone and found some people who have taken charge of the juniors on a regular basis. 

Hangin out at the beach one afternoon

  


Every other week he teaches the youth Sabbath school, and he preaches about once a month (usually more).  Wednesday nights are prayer meetings (which we don't run, the head pastor does), and Sunday and Monday nights have typically been the times we schedule visitation dinners, although that has started to slow down now that we've gotten to meet most people in the church (sad, I was really enjoying all that delicious free food!).  Most mornings Jon spends in the study doing general reading, Bible study, and prepartions for all his activities, groups, sermons, studies, etc.   On Saturday afternoon/evening we try to do something with the kids 1-2 times per month like hiking, playing games, going out for frozen yogurt, shopping for someone's birthday, etc. 

Sabbath afternoon games at our house

Picture under the bridge!

And what have I been doing all this time you might ask? Not a whole lot haha :) I am enjoying being a housewife, it's true, but I have been doing some things.  I walk Gromit twice a day, catch up on my reading, teach violin lessons to two kids (contributing $100 to our monthly income!), I volunteer to walk and play with the dogs at our local animal shelter, and since February I've been voluteering with an organization here in town called CADA, Citizens Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse.  On Wednesday afternoon I go to the court house and offer court support to the clients who are using our organization for legal advocacy, and on Tues and Fri mornings I've been filling in for an advocate who's on manternity leave.  That's not to say that I've been doing advocacy, unfortunately.  While I do have a Masters in Human Rights, I'm not a trained social worker (which is what most of the advocates here are), and I don't have the specific state requirements that would allow me to the saftey planning and general advocacy that the other workers do.  So...I've been answering and directing phone calls, making and rescheduling appointments, directing clients coming in for appointments into their rooms, making copies, etc.  As exciting as all that sounds, I actually am enjoying it.  I'm glad I can help them out while they're short staffed, I'm learning a lot about this system and getting some good experience.  AND, I've recently applied for a job there that just opened up and will be having my interview hopefully at the end of this week (eek!!)! It's actually not for an advocate position but for a community educator position.  This organization has two community educators (until one recently left), who have partnered with all the schools in the county to do different presentations.  With the elementary kids they do things like talk about how we shouldn't bully, with the older kids it's more about safe dates and safe relationships, and in the evenings they offer parents classes.  It's not for sure that I'd get the job, but right now my odds are looking good.  They're trying to keep the position pretty hush hush and really be the ones to find potential applicants, and so far it's just me and one other person, with the possibility of one more applying.  So we'll see how that goes...

Toppins! Everyone's favorite place in Oak Harbor!

Well there you have it!  We're loving our life here on this island.  And while there's things we miss (more restaurants, shopping, cultural attractions, and sun), we love all the hiking and other outdoor activities (whale watching is huge, as are kayaking and sailing), and the scenic places there are to see here (San Juan islands, Canada, Seattle, etc.) ! Hope this fills in some of the gaps regarding our day to day life.  Feel free to drop us a comment and let us know how you're doing and if you have any questions about how life's going for us; we'd love to hear from you (and see who's actually reading this thing!).