Saturday 28 November 2015

The First Week of August 2015

The week after camp was a busy old week, but a good one.

Monday 3rd August. Noticed I had some bruises from camp! I also cleaned the house, did loads of washing, prepared food, we had the Elders round for dinner, then at 7pm I rushed off to the local fire station for my arranged visit, so I could ask some questions in order to decide if I should apply or not.
I had prayed about the decision beforehand, and felt good about pursuing it enough to arrange the visit, then I had prayed again, and just felt that I would know what to do next following the visit.
I'd thought it would just be an informal chat, but the Station Manager was waiting for me, and we sat down for a three hour interview!
I was sure there would be some obvious reason crop up as to why I couldn't continue, and first off I said that I wouldn't be able to be on call at the weekends or any evenings. Martin ran this through the system, and said yes, the hours I was willing to do would still be useful to them. We then covered loads of other stuff on a form, and chatted a lot. I felt very relaxed. I realised afterwards that we had just completed the suitability interview, and then and there Martin faxed the form off to recruitment, with the recommendation that I be advanced through the recruitment process, telling me to get my application form in ASAP! He also said I would be OK in my final interview - that I'd relish it!
I'd not exactly planned for things to advance so quickly - this was only supposed to be a fact finding mission, but I came away feeling so positive and excited! Being at the fire station had felt like the most natural thing in the world - I felt so at home there. It actually felt like being at church - really comfortable and 'right'. I didn't sleep much on Monday night - I was too excited and too busy thinking about it all. I realised from the reading I'd done that it's difficult to pass all the tests, but I knew I needed to try, and felt very motivated to. It was all a bit of a surprise to me! It's not like it's been my life's ambition to be a Fire Fighter! The more I thought about though, the more of a good fit it seemed.

On Tuesday 4th August I went with the kids to Oundle to try out a circular 7 mile hike, ready for a Stake Youth Hike in September. We found parking OK, and walked through another car park where Lucy liked this sign, because it reminded her of France, being in the same style as French signs.

Everything in the centre of Oundle was covered with knitting and crochet! It looked so ridiculously cute! Suffice to say Lucy and I loved it, and the boys were less enthusiastic!

Awesome bollards!

The hike route was nice enough, though not the most 'out in the real countryside' of hikes'. Near the start was rather a nettley stretch.

Lucy chasing Canada Geese.

Most of the hike followed the river, and we had to go through plenty of cow fields. We were a bit wary of these bullocks! I'd gone through the field first to make sure it was safe, then the kids came through.

Lunch.

Walking through the very pretty village of Cotterstock.

Using some old carriage steps.

Walking back through the cute central street of Oundle. It was an easy enough hike, but I was really tired and achy from it for some reason.

On Wednesday 5th I made a card I needed to get done before going away, and did loads of church emails and paperwork. I also made myself fill in the Fire service application form. I'd got the details from Presidents Hirst and Clayton for their references. I also took the boys to the library and got Lucy's prescription.

Thursday 6th August. Scott took the day off, and I gradually got the laundry and the house sorted. I also did a load of calligraphy that I needed to get scanned and emailed to the owner of a rubber stamp company - Purple Onion Designs, for her to make stamps with!
Meg, Dave and Shane's kids popped round for a while too. We went to KFC for tea on our way to cleaning the chapel. After that we finally got packed and put everything downstairs, ready to go to France the next morning! We were pretty organised really, and nice and not stressed.

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