Maybe weekly is a reasonable goal....

Well - today I am updating during the time we are supposed to be at Push the Rock.  We aren't at PTR as the twins are not feeling well.  To be honest I am not feeling well either, and last night Mike asked if he could have a box of tissues to bring to work.  He isn't 100% either.  He has been working 6 AM until 5:40 ish PM so far this week.  We are in week two of training out of three - almost half through!!  Then his schedule will go back to 7 AM until done (and they will be working at full staff at that point).  They are also hiring 18 more people (possibly) as actual employees.  He has two exams and a project due this week - and he is done for the semester.  I think we are both looking forward to that being over.  With all the overtime he has had to work, his grades have suffered a bit.  Not much, but enough for us both to be a bit concerned about the timing of his degree.

I have several things on my heart as far as both prayer requests and just general blessings that we have seen in the last 48 hours or so (God is amazing!), but first an update on the "rest of us".

Michael Ben is having his best allergy year in a long time.  He is starting to get the bug to get outside a lot more, and I am grateful that that seems to be a possibility (after the rain is over...). Kate is growing really fast and has been helping me out a whole lot around here.  I am really enjoying her - she is very perceptive and sometimes even asks if I need something before I even realize I need it.  She is changing so fast!  Chris is perfecting his writing.  He also knows just how to tilt his head so mommy says yes.  He course corrects me a lot with his winsomeness.  I helps me realize I don't have to "always" say no...  Stephen is reading up a storm.  I have never seen anything like it .  He read the word "comfortable" to me in a book he picked up and I almost hit the floor!  Homeschooling has its surprises even for the teacher!

Mike is an amazing man.  We had a good long conversation last night (at least a lot longer than we have been able to have in a while - you know women - it's never quite long enough for me!) about where we are and what we think we are called to do.  Since everything started moving everywhere at once we have felt kind of "reactive".  As I had alluded to in an earlier post, there were some things that we were setting aside as we felt called to this really crazy season.  You know - for me I like to pick a direction and go there until it ends or gets abruptly interrupted.  There is safety in a plan.  I am 33 - and guess what -  I just figured out that life doesn't work that way.  Always thought it was wisdom - now wondering if it was safety - or laziness.  Figure it out, let it "run itself", move on to the next thing.  Mike has always been a more reasonable view in that.  I want to know why the washer we bought didn't last forever - I had checked that off of my list of things to do.  He is the one saying - um... let's get over that now.  God is good to have us opposite - Mike keeps me sane.  Well - maybe most of the time.  But that's another post - maybe one called "Why until I got married did I think I was sane".  But I digress.

What has happened over the last 48 ish hours?  Well - we had the honor of having lunch with a very dear family to us on Sunday that asked us some questions that seemed at the time to be pretty straight forward, but triggered something in both of our minds that lead to more questions.  Vague, I know.  Let me fill in some blanks.

Mike is working insane hours right now to support our family.  Mike is doing school part time.  Mike is finishing the semester and we have a choice to make.  Continue with school in the hope that his schedule at work lessens up quickly or take 8 weeks (or more) off?

Mike is feeling an emptiness in his heart where he had held something close that was put aside so he could work said hours and do school in any and all free time that he had (including any family, us, or church time).  This job will provide for our needs if he becomes a permanent employee - but our needs could be even "better" provided for if he "moved up higher" in the company by pursuing an interest he has.  That interest, if he pursued it and he was successful in his pursuit would move us out of this area into the Exton, PA area.  Our friends asked us if there weren't other job opportunities that would allow us to stay in the Valley.  Mike said no - as far as he knows, if he is going to get a job that uses his recent degree we would have to move somewhere.  Me, being completely ignorant of geography only knew that Exton meant south.  And one of our desires is to move south, right? Souderton is south.

Yeah.  I looked up Exton on Google Maps (love that thing).  Exton is beautiful I am sure.  There is even an SGM church in Downingtown (a new plant) which is 5 minutes from Exton.  Logic would then dictate that if SGM has a plant down there it is no where near Souderton.  Like 45 minutes too far south.  Is it "wrong" for us to pursue that?

Sinful - no.  But then there is that "call" close to my husbands heart.  And that call has a whole lot to do with Souderton and the Lehigh Valley.  And by staying where he is, and not "moving up" necessarily in this company, but being content with the provision God is giving us through the job He has already provided, and waiting to see if God has indeed closed a door, or we just got really tired in the waiting (which can be translated impatient, but also just weary), we may be surprised to find He has gone before us (Ps 139:5). By taking some time off of school, Mike would be opening time up to pursue that call he really feels God is leading him to do, and would also benefit us as a couple and family since when he was here then, he would be here and not "in the tower". We would be able to spend time together again instead of passing each other.

Is this wise?  I know that James tells us that if we lack wisdom we should ask God for it.  And we both took time yesterday before we talked to do that.  I also benefitted from some very wise counsel from my Care Group leader's wife (thanks Laura!), as she patiently listened to me rattle off a host of "issues" I was having in complete confusion.  She listened as I cried about how complicated it seemed and how tough this has been.  How I wanted to do better.  She answered with a phrase that really stuck out.  "Is this necessary?"  Is it necessary for Mike to be doing the amount of school he is doing right now - at this moment? I knew the answer to that - and it had changed over the last few weeks.  The answer was "no".  No.  It isn't necessary.  It was "the plan".  Mike and I talked last night.  He already had the same conclusion.  No.  No more.  Not for the next semester any way.  He is building relationships at work.  He will finish this week and turn his energy back into us, his family, and begin to redirect his thought back to his leading as well.  Come fall, we may have another change of direction in this area.  He is all set up with financial aid and other things for that time should we choose to start up again.  There was a peace last night as we finished our talk.  It was good.

And this morning, at the meeting they have at work, it was announced that they had just created a management position.  One that requires a degree in Business Administration (Mike's recent degree).  They encouraged those in the warehouse to apply.  The position would be at the Allentown Facility.  He takes the test on Friday, and the application process opens up on Monday. Could this be our answer already?  I don't know that either.  It is a matter of prayer for sure, and anticipation - not just that maybe this is "that job" we were hoping for, but also that if it isn't, God is still doing something beyond all we could ask or imagine.