New work, at home and away

The past two months have been a flurry of questions in our house after the news of “Jon’s layoff”:/news/2009/convalescing/ hit. What will Jon’s next job be? Will he find one before his current job ends? And will we be able to stay in our beloved bungalow, or even in the same city?

p{color:gray}. Photo: “Old Main,” on North Park’s campus, is Jon’s new workday home.

After many an application, interview, and late-night discussion, Jon has taken a position at “North Park University”:http://www.northpark.edu/home/ as Online Media Manager for admissions. Although other jobs Jon was considering had definite appeal, this one stood out as the clear winner. He gets to do interesting and creative work, return to higher education on the inside, and partner with well-loved church friends as colleagues. Plus the added benefits of being less than three blocks away from our house, on a beautiful university campus, and very close to one of Lucy’s favorite city playgrounds. We couldn’t be more delighted! (In today’s economy, we’re conscious how precious any job with benefits is, and all the more thankful for God’s provision for our family.)

Jon has jumped in feet-first this week, working his tail off on a major website migration with important deadlines at the end of the day Friday. He has also found time to personalize his office with a lava lamp, a houseplant, and his trusty reference collection. He’s even been finding out who the other office Deadheads are.

It’s been a surprisingly big adjustment for us to have Jon working outside the house daily (for the first time in almost a decade). There are some small things to get used to, like packing a lunch the night before and setting up coffee to brew first thing in the morning. And some logistical challenges, like Mama figuring out how to squeeze grocery shopping in during the small windows of time when all children are awake (no longer can I leave a sleeping Rosie behind while Jon listens to the monitor!). Lucy is also working out the new system — the other day, when we were parting from Jon after a visit at his new office, Lucy declared, “Papa, you should come home.”

Perhaps the biggest adjustment for me is the sense of isolation that comes from caring for small children by myself all day. When Jon worked at home, even if he was very busy, I could often pop downstairs to the office and chat with him for a couple of minutes here and there. Now I just need to work on creating other opportunities for connection with people. This shouldn’t be hard, just something I need to be intentional about. In the meantime, the girls and I have been enjoying stopping by for a quick visit with Jon around his lunch hour. And of course, he and I are long-time IM friends. :)

I am also guessing that springtime will ease our transition to this new lifestyle. We certainly enjoyed our playground time during these recent 60° days! And with warm weather comes fewer illnesses, more friends, and more fun. If we aren’t careful, we are going to start crediting Jon’s new job at North Park with bringing all the joys of spring!