It Is Finished

My heart is bursting with joy.

It is heavy with happiness for my Husband and for our family.

I have too many blessings to count.

But most recently it is because my Husband just graduated college and started a new job on the same day.

That's right. We got married in high school, almost 11 years ago, and 8 of those years one of us has been in school full time. Now it is finally over.

I may go to college one day, because I would love counsel when my children leave the house. And he has talked about seminary. (Lord, help us if he goes!) But the most important thing is that we no longer have to deal with school as an "only means to move forward."

He worked at Comcast almost all of his adult working life, and we knew that nothing would get him out of the field, out of manual labor, and pay as well as Comcast without a degree. So he went to school.

Every Sunday was devoted to schoolwork-and many evenings after work were spent trying to get motivated to complete assignments. I will never understand the amount of energy and drive it took him just complete each assignment after working 40-55 hours a week (sometimes more if he was traveling).

Many weeks he drug his feet and during the last year, he caught Senioritis and began skipping assignments here and there, but he did it.

And I am SO proud of him.

He landed a job nearby our house working IT with a promise that if he meets their expectations that they will move him into the brand new cyber security division when they get it up and running later in the year.

It is a stable company that has been around years and years. Amazing benefits. Pay is comparable to what he was making minus the overtime. And they are family and community oriented. (Volunteer projects, we can go eat lunch with him at the office, he can keep the girls for up to 2 hours if I need to go somewhere without them, etc.).

My heart is full. More time with my Husband AND he will finally be doing something that he is happy doing. No more dragging the ground exhausted because he just worked 10 hours out in the heat that day. No more soaking wet freezing cold boots dragging the floor when he gets home, just wanting to get under the covers because it's cold.

There will be challenges. And hard days. Who knows, probably some office politics. But he is moving forward and he is nervous-but happy to be out of his office on wheels.

It's funny. We always thought, "You won't know what to do with all your free time once you finish school."

It is already filling up fast. With good things of course, but I am having to remind him of balance.

One thing I never want to forget is that we are a family and family time is a priority. Our weeks together are numbered and they go by too fast. Mondays used to be reserved as a family day for us, which was much easier to do than reserving a Saturday will be because everybody wants to hang out and do things on the weekends. I'm a little worried, but balance will just need to be a priority.

I can see God's hand in this. The story being woven is beautiful, and I am praying that this will lead into a place where we can build our relationship with each other and with God and use it for His purpose.

That is the biggest reason why my heart is full.