In Case You Haven't Heard...

I am a (part-time) working woman again! Yes, my days as a lady of leisure are over. No more sleeping in (wait, not true...), no more morning coffee with my neighbor (just Fridays now) and no more afternoon hikes (unless you count the walk to work). However, I always have three day weekends, I get to have a discipleship day with Blythe, and my mornings are spent with my cute husband.

Hmmm... my days are still sounding rather leisurely...

Brilliant!

So the job--I'm working as a part-time nanny for a family with a 4 1/2 year old autistic boy and his 3 year old little sister. The benefits of the job include my awesome schedule, the pay, the ability to work with a special needs kiddo, and the flexibility of my vacation time. I only work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (for a grand total of 18 hours) which still leaves time for exploring Oxford, weekend trips, volunteering for a local ministry, and quality time with Will. The pay (although no teacher's salary like last year) is far above minimum wage, which will more than take care of our bills and allow us to start putting money aside for traveling. We're thinking Scotland or Ireland in the next month or two. The family is super flexible with vacations--the mom works from home so she only needs a week's notice for any time off and she'd be able to arrange her schedule to be with the kids. This will be perfect for whenever we do make the long voyage back to the States. We're thinking September. :)

Before you start imagining my job to be all kinds of Mary Poppins happy I should remind you that working with a special needs child is not always a "spoon full of sugar" kind of easy. His diagnosis was very recent so the entire family is readjusting to this new way of life. My job is to ease some of that transition and to be an extra experienced hand of support. New situations are really difficult for autistic children and, as I had expected, my first week saw some very difficult behavior from the little boy and his little sister, who is watching her brother's behavior and imitating the fits to get what she wants. The three of us are definitely still getting used to one another. Lord willing, I'll quickly find the balance between having fun with the kids and working with this little boy on some behavior goals.

And on that note--I must get ready for work! Happy Monday, everyone.