8th Verse, Same As The First...(and 2nd, and 3rd, and you get it)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and foes alike,

We have reached that part of the semester that we have come to know as "the trenches". In the restaurant industry, they call it "the weeds". Nathan's school load is at a peak. With school and work, his stress is high. I am supporting him any way can, which sometimes involves just staying up WITH him to make sure HE doesn't fall asleep instead of write his paper, or book review, or curriculum assignment or (fill in the blank). Therefore, I am tired and under stress as well. The kids feel it and they seem a little more...stressed, I guess. It is an acute time in our life, but OH how I can't wait for it to be over!!!

This is the part of the semester that we always try and think about before we say "yes" to service opportunities and commitments outside of the home. In a non-trench time, all of our service and ministry opportunities seem easily achieved. We try (before we commit) to imagine how they will be now, during times when we are already pressed. So, here we are being pressed and serving, and trying to do it with the correct heart-attitude. Being pressed does make serving difficult. Impossible? No. VERY DIFFICULT, yes ma'am! The question I always get asked is why? Why do we teach? Why do we serve in AWANAS? The answer is very simple...

EASY AIN'T A PROMISE!!!! (said with all the love I can muster this morning).

Today, I am tired from AWANAS last night and then staying up to work on crafts for our church's ladies' outreach this weekend. I absolutely DID NOT want to stay up until 2 am to wake Nathan, so that he could get some sleep before burning the midnight oil on a deadline. Never did I think that we would sleep in our bed in shifts. That one NEVER even entered my radar until this semester. These days, it is common.

I am looking forward to being able to post this again. There is joy in the morning friends. The last day of classes this semester is December 8th! It is so close that the release of burden starts to creep into my heart like the sunlight creeps in through that slit that never seems to close in your bedroom curtains. We are pressed right now. We have a lot on us. The past two weeks, in particular, have been heavy laden for me. I am ready to put them down and breathe easy for a few weeks. Nathan's next semester promises to be just as tough as this one, but at the end of it will be a day that we have (until now) thought of in the same way some think of unicorns. He will get his undergrad at the end of this next semester and I know that we will feel SUCH a release! Whew! (I just literally yelped!) It makes me want to push through the weeds even harder now! I know that his education will immediately continue into his graduate work, but OH what a day that will be!!!!!!

So, here I am again friends--asking for your sweet prayers for our family. I am getting over the pride that tells me I ask too much. We need them ALL right now :o) We are pressed. We are weary in our well-doing right now. Last night, after I got the kids to bed (with an elevated tone and a frustrated spirit) I found myself sitting in my chair and just crying. I was so tired and so undone. I ended up spending time curled up with each of them in their beds, just hugging them and reminding them of how much I love them. They were so tired that they had already gone to sleep, but it didn't matter. Just like the 7 before it, we will get through this semester. I thank you for your prayers. The good thing about the weeds is that, as hard as they are to drudge through, you learn to appreciate open fields even more!!