An update and some news

I can't believe it has been just a few days shy of a month since I blogged! Time has really flown by. Since summer school ended (thank goodness) I've been doing a lot of projects around the house. I have deep-cleaned everything I can think of, including the blinds, oven, refridgerator, couches, etc. I also started my couponing project, which so far has cost me more money than I have saved. I'm hoping that it was just the first month's "start-up" (with all the stockpiling and what-not) and that it will get better now. Lastly, I've been working ahead on my current grad school class: School Law. Unfortunately the classes load on a predetermined schedule, so I can only work ahead through the end of the current class and then I have to wait however many weeks for the next one to start. My 6th class with begin around the time school starts back and it's completion 5 weeks later with mark the halfway point of my program! Also, I have now logged 109 of my 140 site-supervised hours (including the summer projects I had planned)! It looks as though, to finish all of the required activities, I'll be logging way more than 140.

Kevin has been staying really busy with work. With the exception of a 4 day(work-related) boys' trip that he just returned from, he has been too busy to even spend much time with me during my time off. He's trying hard (once again) to keep his job, as another round of layoffs is coming in the next week or so. He thinks that his name is up, so we would certainly appreciate your prayers.

This brings me to my next big news. The job market for Kevin's industry here is not exactly booming, and it never really is. He came up here 3 years ago for a change of pace and to start this new job, but he is ready to return home to Houston. In fact, I think he has been ready for most of the time he's been up here. It's been kind of an unspoken battle of the wills between us. When I moved up here, I had nothing but I fell into the most wonderful job at the most wonderful school with the most WONDERFUL people I could have imagined. I have been putting Kevin off of the whole moving thing for quite some time now simply because I do not want to leave that.

After much prayer and thought, and reading Gary Thomas' "Sacred Marriage" (I would higly reccommend it), I decided to make the sacrifice for Kevin and agree to move next June, after this school year ends. It was a simple decision once I broke it all down: myself or Kevin. Even more black and white: my job or my marriage. And as much as I love my job, I love Kevin infinitely more.

The sacrifices don't end there though. There is a lateral transfer within the same company that could possibly be open right NOW. If that is the case, Kevin is going to take it and go ahead and move, leaving me here for 10 months. If the position is not available, things are still up in the air, where I don't like them! See, if he gets laid off then he will either do something temporary here for 10 months to wait with me, or he will look for a new job to start in Houston, to continue his career. We would really appreciate your prayers (for wisdom, guidance, and peace)on this decision. I don't want to be the reason that Kevin takes a year-long break from his career, but selfishly I don't want to live her without him either. It's tough.

Please understand that I KNOW that this is not a big deal, compared to wives whose husbands are in the armed forces, or who travel every week of the year for business, or who have to spend months in the hospital alone pregnant with their child, etc. This is a short-term deal for us, but it is still part of what is probably the most difficult decision I have made so far in my life.

We have an appointment this week with our realtor who helped us buy this house to discuss selling it. We just need to know what our best timeline is for the sale, in order to be the most successful. We're willing to move into an apartment together now if it's in our best interest, and of course if Kevin goes ahead to Houston I'll move into an apartment closer to my school.

So there you have it. The big news. I didn't blog about it sooner because I wanted to make sure that I told a lot of my friends about it before I just posted it here. Once I was able to wrap my mind around the decision to move next summer and deal with the dissappointment of having to say goodbye to my first real job and my the great friends that I have there, I was able to start thinking of some positives:

1. We'll be only 3 hours from my family in San Antonio
2. We'll be only 80-90 minutes from my family in Bryan!
3. With the same money we spent on a house here, I can get my dream house there! Maybe not DREAM house, but defintely an upgrade!
4. We have a lot of great friends in Houston, so the transition with be easier.
5. Cy-Fair is a great school district (not as great as RISD but whatever - POSITIVES)
6. Our great church-search will be over, since we already have one there. When we were dating long distance I traveled to Houston almost every weekend and we went to a wonderful church there. It was at that church that Kevin became a Christian and was baptized, so we are very happy to go back because it is so special to us.

Those are all I can think of now, but it's enough to make the decision less painful. Besides, if my heart was somewhere else and I was growing more and more unhappy in a city every day, I would hope that Kevin would make the same decision for me. Over the next 10 months I'm going to spend as much time as possible with my friends here, and make this school year (in 3rd grade) the best one yet. And then in June I'm going to pack up and move to Houston with my head held high, knowing I made the right decision.

It feels good to get all of that out. I'll blog again soon. We're headed to San Antonio for a 4-day weekend with my family this Friday. Then I have jury duty and some other obligations the next week, and then the last week of summer Kevin and I are headed with some friends to Port Aransas for a few nights on the beach. Then it'll be back to school for me! I am already excited to see my kids from 2 years ago and how much they've learned and grown, and to teach many of them again!

Thanks for sticking with me throughout this long post. I'll let you know when any more decisions are made!