Well, the week has been really great for many reasons. The biggest is that Sarah and I continue to grow closer together as a couple pretty much daily.
Another reason is we now completely have a furnished apartment. How, you might ask? Yesterday, Sarah and I got a bookshelf from our friend and coworker, Anew (She was the one that told us about that Indian Restaurant from a couple weeks back). But that is not all. While I was unloading the boxes and boxes of books we have and realizing that this one bookshelf would for sure not be able to fit all our books, we get a call and knock on our door. Carlos and Elizabeth Santos have come to visit, but not just to visit, they brought two heavy boxes to our door. We look at the boxes and they come in and tell us these two things are for us. We look at the boxes surprised, and we realize that one box is of a bookshelf and the other was a bigger box full of a dining table and chairs, all of which need to be assembled. We were shocked and didn't know what to say. Sarah started jumping up and down and hugging each person. They said they were thinking of us and knew we had a lot of books and a need for both pieces of furniture. Later that night, they helped us assemble the bookshelf and promised to come tomorrow for FHE to help us assemble the table. What miracles!
Those aren't the only pieces of furniture we got this week, though. On Monday, we went to Goodwill with the intention of just looking for a coffee table for our living room. Well, to our surprise as well, they had a super nice looking coffee table for only $20. With the help of previous Presidente Cruz, we were able to pick it up the next day. Fortunately, the Goodwill is like across the street from our apartments.
Then, to add to all the toppings, a couple days later, I was throwing out the trash, and I noticed three pieces of black wood furniture: two night tables, and one dresser. I raced to see Sarah and tell her and we decided to bring them upstairs and into our house. Needless to say, this week has been one of furniture acquiring and now we probably have filled our house with all the furniture it needs or can really fit. Really, all three events were true miracles and the Lord just pours out his blessings upon us. In total, if all the furniture had an accumlated cost, we only spent $30 for everything and the rest was gifts.
I spent a good portion of last night organizing things. Our previous coffee table was a table made from the boxes of all our books, covered in my BYU blanket. So when we replaced it with a real coffee table we had twelve very full boxes in our house everywhere. That is what I took the time to unpack yesterday, and fold the boxes up so they only take the room of flat boxes in our outside closet. The dresser is underneath our kitchen bar, centered, and the two black end tables replaced the plastic drawers we had on the side of the couch. So, after all that, we still have a bit more to unpack, but it shouldn't take that long.
Life at Mesa High School has been pretty interesting. On Thursday, our class, with some students of all the special ed classes went on a fishing field trip. Prior to going, I had been really dreading going because Gavin has been a flighty pain in the neck the past few weeks. I talked with the leader of this fieldtrip about my misgivings of taking Gavin on this trip, seeing as how there would not be a moment of peace with him there. I told her I would rather play it safe and stay with Gavin at school than go. She said that was fine and told me to talk to the teacher I work with. Well, I get to the classroom to tell Eva and after playing with my already upset emotions, she told me that Gavin's mom decided he shouldn't go to this field trip. Hallelujah!
The fishing trip was really fun, actually. Another student decided to stay home, so we ended up having four instead of the normal six. It was super cold, though. But that didn't stop all the kids from actually catching some fish. I was actually around when one student (not ours) caught a fish. I, honestly, had a hard time fishing. I'm not very good at it, not yet. I helped Brady try to catch a fish, and he wasn't very interested. We had volunteer fisherman come help the kids and one man was with Ryan in his wheelchair. The funny thing is Ryan, when the fisherman helped him with his fishing pole, he just took it and waved it around carefree. The aides also laughed at me because my small hook got caught in my jacket. It was funny. It did pour after we ate lunch. And it was so cold that Eva and the other aides took all our 4 kids back to the vans. It was a good thing because Jenna's fingers and lips were turning blue.
Even though we went with our four kids, I was assigned to be in a van with our friend, Shellie Guyver (an aide that Sarah and I love so much), and about 10 other girls. They wanted to split the boys and girls apart because of a boyfriend and girlfriend problem, haha. Well, it was quite the adventure and gave me a taste at parenting teenage girls. Two girls in particular were battling it out in front about the kinda radio station we should listen to. One girl, Jocelyn, was very animated when it came to singing songs out loud. It bugged the other girl, Teresa, to the core. So, ultimately, I decided to turn off the radio all together. Teresa was also bugged by other girls taking pictures. She didn't want to be in any of the pictures. I still like her, though; she means well in the long run, and she comes to our classroom to help.
Like was mentioned previously, Gavin was having a heyday of a week this last week. Since I'm the only one that really goes after him, it was kinda exhausting. It was also upsetting because one day, when I came back from lunch, I look around and notice that I can't find Gavin. I ask where he his, and shear panic feels Eva. He was gone. She and I leave the classroom, and look at his normal outside route, and after some scanning, Eva spots him, practically running all the way across the campus. I run after him and catch up with him. Nothing bad happened, but I still let our boss know how annoying that was. Hopefully, something will be done. Not only that, but I think the same day, the teacher tells me to take him outside for a walk. It would've been fine if Gavin was fin, but he was not. I kid you not, we walked his normal route 5 times before someone came to help redirect him. The security was also really annoyed with us because I kept calling them for help. They were like, why don't you take him out to the stadium where the track is? I got annoyed by their annoyance. I got more than 20,000 steps that day.
Our Amazon office changed buildings this last week. So, a lot of things have changed, which takes some getting use to. Change is usually good. Anyways, it's different. Everything felt new, even though I have worked at Amazon the past three or so months. We do have a popcorn machine, though. And the break room is still pretty well-equipped. The views from the break room aren't anything to brag about, like the last building's views, but we do have a nice view of a small river from the work area. Parking is good.
Sarah came to pick me up for lunch on Saturday, because my shifts had an hour and a half in between them. We went to Kneaders.
One more thing, instead of a vlog this week, I worked on a Wedding Video for our friend, Nicole Rodriguez, who is a special ed teacher at Mesa. It turned out really good. I will send it to you soon. Probably not tonight, though.
Otherwise, great week.
Love you, brother. I hope you are doing well. Thanks for everything you do.
John
