Same Bat time, same Bat place

Yeah, so it's been a while. I was busy substitute teaching, then all the flurry and last minute activities involved with the end of the school year - plus my stepson graduated, which kind of snuck up on all of us. Now the dust is starting to settle and summer vacation is finally here. Except I really need to figure out what I'm going to do now.

In April, we were notified by the woman who owns our house (the same woman we have paid faithfully every month for the past almost two years and with whom we have a signed, 3-year lease agreement) that she will either have to sell the house fast or let it get foreclosed. She's really sorry, but because of her divorce she's evidently been living on our lease money intead of making her house note.

So now we're in a scramble to try to buy the house or find another place to live. My credit has some dings in it, some of which are not accurate, so I'm in the excruciating process of having those removed from my credit report. Dalton's credit is not so bad, but we have to use my income to help qualify financially. We also have to come up with a substantial amount for the down payment and closing costs and I still don't have a real job.

With the three kids at home (the two girls are so far apart in age and Joseph is getting too old to share with Savannah), we really need a four bedroom house, and those are not easy to come by out here on the Prairie. In fact, there's not much at all to choose from out here, four bedroom or otherwise, in our price range. But we have to stay here. The kids have gone through so much already in the past three years, I can't even consider switching school districts again. And Dalton lives and breathes the fire department and teaches at the high school. There's no choice but to stay here. Which leaves a great big question mark on where we're going to live. I hate question marks.

Also, I had recently, reluctantly, decided to go back to school in the fall, full time, to get a Bachelor's Degree in English with a Minor in Spanish. The idea was to keep my options open, but get my teaching certificate afterward if nothing else came up. I've been enjoying substituting, but I have the sneaking suspicion it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Even so, I'm 44 years old and I really need a way to make a living at this point. It was a tough decision to make because we would be getting into even heavier debt through substantial student loans, and it would involve a four year commitment on my part. Commitment is not my forte.

Well, it turns out the whole housing situation nipped the school situation in the bud, as we can't apply for a butt-load of student loans when we're trying to qualify for a home loan. I consider it a mixed blessing.

And through it all, I have an underlying peace that surpasses all understanding (and probably any good sense.) I really feel like God is working all this out and has a plan that's going to blow my feeble little mind.

I just wish I knew what it was.

Stay tuned.