Stressful and Busy Life

Sometimes life gets frustratingly stressful to the point that you can feel every muscle in your body tense up and give you more aches and pains than you care to admit. I'm not saying that it has been so traumatic that I just want to sit down and cry (although tears are sometimes near the surface) :). It's just that I can definitely feel the muscles in my body protesting against the tension I have been feeling.

You all know that we have applied to graduate school and we are STILL anxiously waiting for the results for that little adventure. A couple of weeks ago Danny applied for a telecommuting job that would certainly be PERFECT for the "going to school full-time with an entire family to provide for" syndrome. It has been an extremely stressful couple of weeks since we can't remember a time when we applied for a job that we wanted as badly as this one.

It was an extremely arduous application and testing process. With resume round, 2 phone interviews including the "technical" interview, taking several complex technical tests on the computer, flying out to Alabama for personal interviews (4 to be exact), and security background checks... Let's just say that every step of the process consisted of us waiting somewhat impatiently. I am usually one who can just let go of the stress of the moment 'cause I know it won't help. I just couldn't find a way to do that this time.

Now let me just step back a moment and say that when Danny and I first decided to go back to school, I was willing (if it was the right thing to do) to go back to work to support our family as Danny worked on his education. It was a difficult decision, but I was willing to do it. However, as I earnestly prayed about becoming a working mother again, I was told in no uncertain terms by the spirit that I should continue as a stay-at-home mom. It was a very powerful answer to my prayers. Back to the job... Because I had had this experience, money has been a big concern of mine for when/if we go to school. (p.s. I still feel strongly that we will be accepted).

After Danny returned from Alabama, it was time for us to wait once again. After two days of waiting, we were offered the position. We are very excited about the prospects of what this job can bring and we feel so blessed.

Once again, Heavenly Father has shown me (personally and in a very real way) that He will bless us if we just leave it up to Him. I'm trying more than ever to just put our lives in His hands.

Team Player

Kaden has started basketball again. He had 2 practices and now he has a game each week. It is really fun to watch these kids play. Some of them are the "star players" and others run around chasing butterflies, as Danny would say. Kaden is somewhere in the middle - as a mother I like to think he's more on the side of star than butterfly chaser.

Danny got the chance to "coach" one of the practices as the real coach was out of town that week. I have pictures of that week but am unable to post them because we are going to be doing a system upgrade to our computer. I don't want to put any more pics on my computer that would just have to be backed up and then moved back over to our computer when the update is done. So I will post them later. But it was a lot of fun to watch Danny with the butterfly chasers - I could tell when he was getting a little frustrated. He tried to teach them some real defense and there were many who just kept saying, "when do we get to shoot?"

Danny has also been working with Kaden at home. Our seven year-old now understands the term "box out" and he has really been working on shooting one-handed. Last night at his game, Kaden was the one player that was always under the basket whether it was waiting for one of his teammates to pass him the ball so he could shoot, or waiting for the rebound. That doesn't necessarily mean he always got the ball, but he was really trying hard to be a team player.

He has said that basketball is a hard sport cause you have to keep your eye on the ball, know when you're on defense or offense, know where the guy is on the other team that you need to guard, and still try to steal the ball or make a basket. He is a very technically minded boy and therefore has to spell out exactly what he needs to do in order to play correctly. And he tries very hard to not be a ball hog. Sometimes that means he passes the ball as soon as he gets it. :)

He's doing really well and I'm excited for him to have the chance to learn more of this sport that his dad loves so much. Way to go Kaden!

(Oh, and they lost their first game but won the game last night. But, really, who's counting. :)

New Shoes For Haitians

Check out this post. I saw the first picture and was so saddened. This is a great little "fundraiser".

http://www.recessionistaparty.com/2010/02/free-shoes-for-everyonein-haiti.html