New Challenges

So, I just reread my last post. Fail me. I still have those lists and need to be more proactive with it. However, that now combines with a new challenge in my life...

I GOT A JOB!!!!!

Sorry for the unnecessarily large amount of exclamation points. But this was a very big deal for me. A very big deal for us really. I wish I could say it was in my field or that it was something that would start me in that direction. But unfortunately, it's not.

As usual this opportunity taught me some extremely valuable lessons, not only about myself but in how Heavenly Father blesses us. First, I did not want to apply for this job to begin with. I was devastated by the idea of not working in meteorology or even a related field. After several close encounters with jobs I would love I was broken and beaten up. The last thing I really wanted to do was apply for something so outside of my training. And so lesson number one was how to be humble. We were no longer in the position to be choosey. It was either me get a job, ANY job, or face some serious financial consequences.

Which brings me to the second valuable lesson from this experience, and that is that we rarely see the full picture. Scarecrow and I had been limping along financially on his paycheck. It's good, but not great. It's enough to cover our basic expenses each month as long as we don't use the car except for the bare necessities, don't allow the grocery bill to exceed our weekly limit, or actually go and do anything that costs any amount of money. You can imagine how easy that was to maintain. I got this job and then later in the same week all of our monthly bills came out of the account. That's when we realized how bad things would have been. And then we realized how blessed we were that I got this job. One more month would have literally been the end of the line. But Heavenly Father loves us enough to A) help us to know which opportunities to take and B) keep us somewhat ignorant of our plight until the crisis was averted so as not to have us completely fall apart. And so we are to take advantage of opportunities and know that Heavenly Father will bless us in His time, which happens to be exactly when we need it.

So the new challenge is to juggle. When I was a stay at home wife there was a small amount of that. Now that Scarecrow and I are both working full time, he's taking a night course twice a week, I have an assignment with the youth at church, he has TWO assignments with the youth at church, I'm desperately trying to finish my thesis, and Amy is here there and everywhere, juggling is becoming a skill I have to learn.

So, I'm looking for advice. Ladies and gentlemen, how do we do it? How do we make sure our family eats more than crisps and Coke for dinner (yes, that's happened an embarrassingly large number of times)? How do we make sure the laundry doesn't spill over the top and the dog gets walked? How do we do those things that are necessary for our own emotional and mental well being despite the huge demands on our time?

Any and all insight on this would be more than appreciated.

Note: no Irish tidbit. Clearly I've had no TIME! But here's a cute picture of us on a recent trip to Dublin. Toto took it, isn't she awesome?