I was going to wait until I had the pictures that I wanted to post, but my camera wasn't working, so I still have to wait until someone else emails them to me. So, here's the entry, and the photos will be forthcoming.
This week was one with a few random things involved, and most of them had nothing to do with Halloween...though some of them did.
Saturday I called my brother Rob and talked about his new baby girl. Aubrey Samantha was born on Oct. 16th, which makes me an aunt...again...for the 18th time. YAY!! (For those of you who know about my family birthday calendar, I was so happy to be able to add a new block!) Rob was never great with all the details, but she was born 7 lbs. 6 oz., I think it was the late afternoon, and she was somewhere between "18 and 20 inches...or something like that," as he said. She is a healthy little girl with really dark black hair, doesn't look too much like her sisters, but she eats a lot. Apparently she eats so much that she takes formula as well as nursing. I can already tell that Rob is impressed with her appetite and is confident that she will be nice and healthy. I think one of the other kids was pretty sick, so hopefully the baby won't catch it, but so far so good.
That evening Mark and I had the evening session of Stake Conference, which was held at the chapel right next to the Boston Temple, so we did a session right before. (We figured that with the interview coming up on Monday- to be discussed below- we needed a little extra Divine help. So we thought that doing a session right before Mark left was only fitting!) We got to be the witness couple too, so that was an extra treat! It was so great to be there with Mark, but we didn't have much time to hang around after the ceremony...we knew that Stake Conference was going to start, but we had no idea what time it really was since we didn't have our phones with us. So we hurried to change and leave. Turns out we only had 5 minutes to get to the Chapel and find a seat before it started. When we arrived, we could see that there was an overflow room that was filling up fast, but Mark was walking me up the aisle to the front of the Chapel. I guess he saw seats that I didn't. Yup, that was the first and probably the ONLY time I will sit up in the Sacrament Prep area in the chapel. It was a great seat because we were able to see almost everyone in the congregation. (When you see tears in other people's eyes, it makes it harder to not cry yourself.) It was a very powerful meeting. Most of the talks were about conversion stories and missionary work, and I am so glad that we were there. The Spirit was so strong through the whole evening!
Sunday we had the other session of Stake Conference, and for the first time ever in the history of our Stake, it was being held within the boundaries of our own Stake. We did not have to venture out to hold it in a different Stake's building. It was actually held in that same Chapel by the Temple, and then broadcast to several other satellite locations where they were able to fit the different wards. It was pretty cool. That was another powerful session, and I really enjoyed it. (I think what I enjoyed the most was the little Nielson twin that came over into our row of seats and played with the hymnbook on my lap for almost an hour. I was so surprised that the book kept her occupied for so long, and she didn't start tearing or crumpling the pages either! She was so cute!)
After Conference, Mark went home teaching while I went visiting teaching. It just so happens that our companions are also married to each other, so going at the same time means that the women bring the kids, but there is no more time being taken away from family time. That night Mark took a flight to Buffalo, NY for his interview at a firm called Hodgson Russ on Monday.
Monday was a normal day for me at work, except I got some viruses on my computer, so it made it hard to really do anything with my computer with all the annoying windows that were popping-up on my screen. Mark had his interview with about 8 different people at the firm, and he felt really good about all the interviews. The Recruiter told him right at first that they had already offered out all the positions they were intending to fill before they even interviewed him. That did not boost his confidence by any means, but he also asked the different partners and associates about that very thing during his interviews. He felt that they were much more optomistic about his prospect of employment. I guess the partners have more of a right to say that they will hire one more Summer Associate than the lady in HR. Mark felt that all the interviews went really well, and the fact that the firm is trying to strategically grow their Chinese practice in definitely in Mark's favor. (How many American law students do you know that speak Mandarin AND spent the summer in China?) So, other than the challenge of them already filling their available spots, Mark felt like they were definitely going to give him the job. As for now, we don't really know, and we're just waiting to find out. There's a possibility now that he would get wait-listed for a position in the NYC office.
Tuesday the IT department was working on my computer for most of the morning and into the afternoon. I thought they were able to finally fix it, but I started getting random pop-ups and then I couldn't access certain websites (such as my hotmail email account or even this blogger site). Overall, I was still able to use the computer, but it was still a hassle. It's ok though because I was working on our costumes for the Ward Halloween party on Wednesday night. The most time-consuming part of the costume was drawing it out and then coloring it in on the white paper. I just sat at my desk and colored with my crayons while IT had taken control of my computer. That night, Mark and I did the finishing touches of the costumes by taping the papers to the cardboard boxes and trying to figure out an effective way to actually wear the cardboard pieces. We decided on fabric straps, and I think that did the trick.
We were up pretty late working on these costumes, but it was a good thing because we had an out-of-town guest arriving that night, and his flight was delayed. (He and his wife contacted the ward asking if there was a place for him to stay while he had interviews at a local school clinic for a couple days, and I offered our spare bedroom.) He was supposed to land around 6:40 PM, and he didn't actually arrive until after 11:00 PM. We suggested that he not even pick up the car he rented because there wouldn't be a place to park it at our apartment, and he would be able to get to the interview via the T very easily. After we picked him up and brought him to our place, we decided to look up exactly where he was going so that I could help him figure out how to get there (because it was REALLY close to where I worked when I was at Tufts University). Turns out, it was a totally different address than what his wife told me. In fact, it was in a totally different town that would take about 95 minutes, with a few transfers, using the public transit system. Driving there would have been only 25 minutes...and it was about 1:05 AM when we discovered this. So...since we already told him to not pick up his rental car, Mark told him to use our car because we weren't going to use it, and at least that one he can park on the street when he gets back without the risk of it getting towed. Oh, the poor guy! What a trip, and it had only begun! He will be staying through Wednesday night and flying back home Thursday evening.
Wednesday at work I was finally able to use my computer without any stupid pop-ups and spyware trying to attack the machine. What a difference it really makes! I also spent most of the day fighting sleep because I had been up really late the night before...but I was so excited for the Halloween Party the Ward was having....and to wear our costumes.
Okay...are you still trying to figure out what we dressed up as? Only one of the most strategic card games played in pairs!!!
(Insert picture 1) (Insert picture 2)
We were a PINOCHLE! Not only that, but a DOUBLE PINOCHLE! (For those of you who don't know the game Pinochle, that's the Queen of Spades and the Jack of Diamonds together. Individually they're not worth anything, but together they can rack up the points. A double pinochle is like 350 points or something.)
