bubbles

phil texted to say that he has been officially hired by county.  actually, he was official as of yesterday, but they didn’t bother to tell him until today.  after 7 months and 21 days of waiting for this news, it was, well, a bit anti-climactic.

the up side is that phil has a job!!!  only took 10 years, 7 months, and 21 days to get to this point.  God is good.

the down side is that we still feel like we’re living with a huge question mark looming over our heads.  i’m not sure that phil really even wants this job aside from the fact that it’s a secure position and it allows us to continue to live in this area we’ve really come to love.

but, i don’t want him to take this job if he doesn’t really want to be there.  i keep telling him i’m okay with moving away if that would give him opportunity to work somewhere he would actually enjoy.  this current job he has means he’ll be working upwards of 60-80 hours a week.  so, back to being single mom a lot of the time.  add to that the myriad ways some of the ‘higher ups’ keep trying to make his life miserable.  he’s been moonlighting there in the interim while waiting for the official hire and they keep having him take overnight shifts since they’re severely short-staffed.  and they keep pawning off the extra workload onto him so that he ends up coming home completely thrashed and exhausted the next morning.  we’ve all been sorta miserable lately.

so the big question is if he should stay there or if he should look elsewhere.  and if so, where?  and now that he’s finally got the job, do we continue the house hunt (we’ve started but so far have come up with nothing) or wait a bit longer?  and if we wait any longer, i may actually go completely crazy living in the tight space we’re living in.

i’ll admit, i’ve been pretty darn miserable lately.

i would have never guessed that the most stressful, uncertain times for us would have come after phil completed medical school/residency/fellowship.  wasn’t this supposed to be the easier part?!

man, being a grown-up is hard.  (remember in the movie “up” when russell slumps onto a log and sighs in defeat, “tents are hard.”  that’s about how i feel right now).

phil concluded his text this morning with, “i don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”  and i’m right there with him.

so, that’s where we are right now.  kinda wishing God worked through billboards, like seeing one that says, “phil and michelle, I want you guys to live _____, work _____, and _____school the kids.  thank you for obeying me.  continue on and I will be with you and go before you.”  but knowing that God doesn’t work that way, we’re still trying to determine what to do.  so we’d definitely appreciate your prayers for us!

sorry to be debbie downer on this one.  i think i need a break from adulthood.  thankfully, i have four precious little ones who do a great job helping me to lighten up, to remember all that i have to be thankful for, and all the joy that God pours into my life when i remember to look for it.

and what could be better than being a little kid blowing bubbles in her pajamas with nary a care in the world.

and when that little kid invites her weary mommy to come enjoy the bubbles with her?

well, that certainly is an invitation not to be turned down.

because she’ll only be this little for the blink of an eye.

so the cares of the world can wait while i revel in her littleness.

this is when she started trying to feel the bubble on her cheek.  it popped immediately on contact.

she kept trying though, cuz she’s persistent like that.

and that’s something i really like about this one.

her face is another thing i really, really like about this one.

and just like that, i’m already feeling a bit better.  thank the good Lord for little ones, for they truly are a blessing and a gift.