Sunday, January 17, 2010

Timing is Everything

These last couple of days have been interesting. Thursday, we got an email from the stake president (regional bishop you might say) to ask if he could meet with us on Sunday. Friday, Matthew got laid off from his job. The story goes that his boss was planning on letting him go due to a shortage of incoming work the very night Matthew told him his plans for grad school. Supposedly, he and his wife (the firm administrator) sat on the information for a day before deciding to let him go anyway. They could be acting vindictively but for me and my belief in humanity, I'm choosing to believe their story. However, with the lay off we have little incentive to stay in Wenatchee. So with that in mind we fasted and prayed today on what the next step should be. Also today, the stake president released Matthew of his calling in our ward as the Elder's Quorum President (he said it just felt like the right timing) and the Bishop (also feeling the Spirit before he knew about our situation) asked if I would speak in church next Sunday on overcoming adversity.

Now as I see it, we have here just too many seemingly aligned coincidences to go without notice. The one thing that has been perfectly clear through this weekend (although we are still sans any specific plans for the future) is that the Lord is intensely aware of our small lives and that He has a specific plan for them. Who knows if we are just supposed to be learning how to get by on less or what the process is for claiming unemployment. Or maybe we're supposed to see the Lord's hand as he prepares a wonderful temporary job that will lead him to bigger and better things in the future. That part of the plan has yet to be revealed. But for now, faith in the Lord's awareness and love are enough.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I can finally let my secret out

And no, I'm not pregnant. Last summer Matt and I decided that although his current job here in the Wenatch is a good opportunity it isn't the direction he wants his career to take. So after, some soul searching, talking to good parents, and serious prayer, we decided the best course of action for Matthew to take is to head back for yet another graduate degree - this time an MBA. I always thought I'd kill Matt before I'd let him go back to school but everything so far has been falling into place and we both feel really good about the decision.
He did well on the GMAT, sent in his applications fairly early, and got a good response from his employer when we broke the news. He's applied to BYU, Penn State (no not Wharton), Michigan State, and MIT. I'm not not sure Matthew is leaning towards any particular school. They all have their pros and cons and I think Matt could go to any of them and feel perfectly happy with his choice. I'm just excited I can finally openly talk about it. It's been a major topic of conversation around our apartment for what seems like forever but since Wenatchee is a small town I was sworn to secrecy lest his employer find out before he was ready to commit to this endeavor.
But now that it's out, let me just say publicly that I hope and pray that when some new employer reviews his resume and sees Micro Biology undergrad, law school, patent license, and business school they don't think, crazy person who doesn't know what they want to do when they grow up but rather, this person is uniquely and perfectly qualified for just this position.
Wish us luck.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Weak Sauce

I've realized over the last week that I am grateful for many things but my weak sauce sense of willpower is most definitely not one of them.

In December, like most people, I totally OD'ed on sugar so I decided I was going to give up sweets for the month of January. Yeah, I only made it 10 days before choking. Matthew said he was going to be good about supporting me, but kept talking about how great Apple Crisp would be. It didn't help that my resolve was already somewhat shaky at this point. But with the excuse that I was helping my husband more than hurting myself I gave in and made the dessert. It was really good too.

I'm also really bad about not reading the end of a book before I'm there by honest means. It's the reason I've never gotten into the mystery genre. I enjoy knowing the end of the beginning too much to be a good mystery reader. Sometimes, I'll even read ahead just to see if certain characters I like/dislike are still there further down the road. Sad, and almost offensive to some, I know.

Thus, because of this complete lack self-control, I am immensely grateful for two things. 1. That I don't have serious weight issues. I'm not sure I would be any good on a strict or even semi-strict diet; and 2. That I've grown up LDS and thus have never tried alcohol, coffee, tea, or tobacco. They pose no threat to me now, but who knows the troubles I'd see if I had to give them up today. Perish that thought.

Any way, I just felt the desire to fess up to my weak sauce willpower. If you are like me, just know you are not alone.