GMAT, Metal Fences, and Christmas Blessings

The past two weeks have been crazy. Have I mentioned that already? Josh is taking the GMAT on December 21st which means two nights a week he goes to a three hour long class, the rest of his time is filled with studying and homework. In his free time (?), he is writing essays, applying to graduate schools, and looking for assistanceships. So far he has applied to schools in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, and New Mexico.

He is also working more than full time as the students are getting ready to leave.Can we say busy, stressed, preoccupied, worried? The weight of our future is a heavy burden.

In my efforts to be an encouraging and supportive wife I have been frantically trying to get ready for Christmas while finishing up my work before the break, completing my final project and exam for grad school, attending every imaginable Christmas or church event, and getting completely frazzled.

Frazzled does not equal encouraging.

Due to my frenetic attempts to be encouraging as well as be the queen of Christmas, work, and graduate school, I wore myself a little thin. Which resulted in me sideswiping a metal fence in our only car as I have previously mentioned. In a couple seconds I incurred $2600 worth of damage to our poor car. Thank the Lord for insurance. Who knew such awfulness could happen while going five miles an hour. After this sad affair I was weepy, cranky, and frustrated until the car was fixed.

Which was about a week and a half later.

So much for encouraging.

My poor, poor, dear husband.

THEN, I went for a run with a friend in the sunshiny, mid-seventies loveliness yesterday afternoon and was suddenly overwhelmed by the blessings made so evident through the trying circumstances of the past few weeks.

Its about time!

There have been SO MANY blessings through all of this nuttiness and it has taken me awhile to snap out of it and be thankful.

My husband never once was upset or laid blame when I hit that hateful fence. He was only kind, gentle, and or course, encouraging. I love him so very very much.

We did not have to rent a car through the ten whole days we were without one. We were able to borrow my parent's cars at different times because they were both out of town at some point during the week. We also borrowed a friend's car for two evenings. A co-worker even gave me a ride to work on a couple chilly mornings. The Lord provides.

The week I crashed the car, I was awarded a scholarship for my spring semester classes. It was more than what we had to pay for our insurance deductible. The Lord provides for everything, every detail.

The future is bright. Josh already has received an acceptance letter to a school he applied too, less than a week after he applied. He is a great candidate. I know that in the spring we will have even more exciting options. Despite the current uncertainty, we are both excited about our chosen career paths. The future is full of promise. The Lord has proven himself faithful again and again.

We both can't wait to drive away from it all next Monday after his exam. We are packing ourselves, our christmas presents, and our dog into our newly fixed and beautifully detailed (Thanks Caliber Collision Services!) car and hitting the road to Amarillo for Christmas. Hallelujah.