I am so up to the yazoo with paperwork, it's not even funny.  Here I am, trying to plan the school year for the kids, plus I have portfolios for Grs. 9-11 to set up for our 17 yo for her umbrella program (if I leave it all for the school year, it will never get done), plus I have re-organizing in the house to do, a yard sale to plan and homeschool materials to declutter, list, and sell.  On top of that, I am still working on rehabing my leg and knees (I had an injury 13 months ago that I am 90% recovered from, but there are still issues...) and dental and eye doctor appts to make.  Am I complaining too much?  I just feel a little overwhelmed right now.  It's a lot, believe me...

If I can get through all of that, I will finally be in the position to get back on track with finishing my degree.  I really need to get these other things out of the way in order to have the time and the money.  I've wanted to finish my degree for a long time and this will give me the opportunity to do so.  I'm going to need the Lord to stretch the hours and my ability and energy this summer to get the job done.

Menopausal symptoms are still going pretty easy, except for a nasty tendency towards insomnia, as evidenced by the hour I am making this post (4 am).  My other symptoms are some of the mildest my doctor has ever seen.  He's not even convinced that the insomnia is from menopause, and says that it could very well be that I have too much on my plate (not to mention my hubby's occasional snoring keeping me up - LOL).

Now, for some really good news, well, potentially anyway...About 6 1/2 years ago, my husband was promoted from his original position with the company he works for (he's in wireless telecom and was originally hired as an inventory specialist) to field technician.  At that time, he told me that he had the goal of becoming a switch tech.  A switch tech does the same basic type of work as a field tech, but does it at one central location.  About a month ago, he felt impressed of the Lord to mention his interest in becoming a switch tech to one of the managers there (this man manages the switch).  Less than 2 weeks later, this man let my husband know that there was a possibility that one of the current switch techs was being promoted and that his position was going to open up.  Well, the long and short of it is that this other tech was, in fact, promoted and the position opened up.  Although it is not official yet, it looks almost certain that my husband is getting the position.  It still is not official and won't be for a while.  He has to go through the usual channels, but it looks very good.  He's very excited about it and we are just praising God for the way He seems to be putting this all together.  He knows and gets along with the others that work in this capacity, including the manager, and they are all very excited about him on board.  One of the other techs is another believer, so he will have fellowship on the job if this all works out as well. 

His hours will change some; his base hours now are 8am-4pm and they will be noon-8pm, but the change is so severe that it will have any kind of major effect on our family life (the only 2 things that will change is that I or one of our older children will transport our teenage girls and younger son to evening activities and any fellowship he and I attend during the week will see us a little late and we will not be able to eat dinner together unless I drive the crew over to the office and bring or pick up dindin (which we may do sometimes - aside from that, we may not eat dinner together, but we'll be able to have breakfast together instead, as well as dessert most evenings.  He will lose the company car that he uses on the field, but the partial differential pay should help us be able to afford another car.  Most importantly, my husband will have the opportunity to achieve a goal, a job that he's wanted to do for a long, long time.  I am soooo thrilled to see God answer his prayers like this.  It's been a growing time for my husband too.  Despite how much he wants this, he truly left it in the Lord's Hands.

We are still praying for wisdom regarding our church change.  We love the Vineyard church we are attending and are being so blessed there, but are keeping ties with the church we previously attended, attending some Sunday evening services, so our daughters and oldest son will be allowed to continue to work with the Missionettes, Royal Rangers, and youth group.  Without some kind of regular attendance, despite the lack of workers there, they will not be able to help.  This church has become one that is attended mostly by those over 50 and has lost a lot of its youth, except for in activities.  We love the people there, but are broken about the way the pastor and others in authority there are ignoring the youth in their weekly services.  They are so set in their ways, and so many there that we know are so frustrated, but the pastor, who is in her early 80's, refuses to see, yet can not understand why the church, which years ago was packed with over 200 people, is down to 50 - 60, with almost no one ages 12-30!!  We still hope to see this dying church revive.  We've known many of these people, including the pastor through various activities and, the pastor and her husband through the pastor who married us, for 25-30 years, and we can't just totally walk away unless we feel that the Lord is showing us that we must.  It's a heartache and a sacrifice, but we feel to stay open to this, at least for this season...