Happenings

Tuesday was the first day of my new 12 week Beth Moore Bible study. I am very excited! :) She is just as wonderful as I remember.. :) And the book of Revelation is so timeless, relevant and interesting. I am hopeful that I will learn little nuggets of information that I can pass along to you here!
Today I have a lot planned... Get off of work, get a flu shot here at work (maybe), go home, finish a little homework, shower and then sleep......... Until 9pm. That's my day! I have been stretched thin on sleep lately.. Some of it is my own doing - I choose to stay up with the babies instead of sleeping, and some of it is just a requirement of my many job titles. Whatever the reason, I'm worn out. There is a case or two of bronchitis at work and I really don't want to get sick so I'm going proactive: I'm eating Airborne like candy and I'm going to catch up on rest. Lowell is going to pick the kids up from school and take them hiking in Buckeye Hills again (so long as its not raining) and then take care of dinner so that I am completely off the hook. I'm so spoiled, aren't I?
I'm spoiled at work too. I'm blessed to have a co-worker who is picking me up on Tuesday mornings so that we can go to Bible study together. She has also been emptying out her freezer as of late and sharing many yummy homemade treats with my family! I get lots of food welfare each night when I come to work from my second shift buddies too... Chips, soup, soda, candy... Just what I need, right? I feel so lucky that I really like the people that I work with. I don't know that my job itself is all that rewarding.. But I do enjoy the people!
Today is the end of Week 3 for this quarter at school. Each quarter is 8 weeks long, so I'm almost half-way done with another class. Next quarter I'm going to be doubling up - taking two classes at once: one in person and one online. I'm registered for Group Counseling, and Tests and Appraisals. It'll be nice to see my ground (on campus) classmates again but I'm not really looking forward to doubling up, working and doing all the at-home responsibilities. Online classes tend to be very frustrating and don't offer near the quality of education that I get when I'm actually in a classroom with a professor. I'm trying to remind myself that I will only get out of it what I put into it whether the class is online or in person.
Tax time is fast approaching and Lowell and I are anxious to see where we stand with our refund... We are so very close to being completely out of debt and Lowell is very anxious to go to school so that he can change jobs. I need to say that again because its so exciting... We are almost completely out of debt. That means in a very short while, we will not owe anyone anything.. Our only responsibilities will be our monthly bills. We are soooo excited to be nearing the end of this journey. We set this as a goal for ourselves quite awhile ago and, at the time, it seemed unattainable but now, there is light at the end of the tunnel!!! We are going to be out of debt and actually have money in savings. God is blessing us soo much! And, poor Lowell is so desperate to be away from his current job... I am very excited for him!
This also means that I may be getting close to being able to stay home full time again. I will be able to be a full time student (4 classes each semester instead of the 3 that I'm taking now) and actually take care of my kids and my house! The clean clothes may actually make it into the closet/dresser before they end up in the hamper again... I have mixed emotions about staying at home. I will miss my co-workers and I will really, really, REALLY miss my husband (he will be gone a lot for his new job) but for the betterment of our kids, we both believe that me staying home is the best choice. And the sooner I finish the classroom portion of my degree, the sooner I'll be able to go to work doing what I want to be doing - and doing it during the day while all the kids are at school. We really just need to get through another 15 months so that all the kids are in school full-time and I'm ready to do my internship. Jillie will start kindergarten in the fall, but the charter school they go to now has kinders going 2 full time days each week. Other schools in the area have them attend 5 half time days. Neither of those schedules would allow me to work so I believe that I'll be staying home until she enters the 1st grade. (Holy crap, did I just say that Boogie will be in 1st grade?!?!? That can't be really only 15 months away, can it??) Until then, I'll be able to volunteer in their classes again... Yay! :)
On that note, Nathan is starting his multiplication tables, Chloe is adding and subtracting triple digit numbers and they are both reading above grade level. Jillie is also learning to read. She's blending sounds and is tackling some Dr. Seuss. (That man was a genius! :)) They are all still loving their Wii but we only have 2 Wii-motes so they have to take turns. I'm looking forward to the day when they can all play together. Another Wii-mote for Jillie's birthday in March sounds like a plan... I still want to get a Wii Fit for me but I've decided that since we're working so hard on reaching our financial goal, maybe our fitness goals can wait just a little longer. My birthday's in January... :)