The craziest 8 weeks!

I can't believe I have not blogged in 2 months! But, yet, I can believe it. We have just come through some of the hardest weeks we've encountered in awhile.  It's amazing at the end of it how we can look back at how God got us through.
I started an online class at the beginning of January on the Gospel of John. I took the course through BBC and the professor is a good friend of mine. That didn't end up being an issue, but all the work was!  There was reading of textbooks, the Bible, online discussions, and assignments.  Then there was the inductive Bible study section which included highlighting and marking key words/phrases throughout the book of John. Then there were the essay questions and the observation lists...  That doesn't include the numerous well thought out posts in the forum each week. AND (if that's not all) there were the 2 papers- one was a major project/presentation and the other a critical reflection paper.  Needless to say, it makes me tired just reading what I wrote out!  I spent nearly every afternoon and then evening on homework.

The second major stressor was work. Sometime in January, we lost a full-time nurse. We were expected to pick up extra time. I was asked to consistently work two days a week. To full-time people, this seems minor, but to a (mostly) SAHM this is huge! It also was two days I couldn't really do any schoolwork- thus doubling up on other nights. Work in an of itself is stressful but being away from home just made it worse!

I rarely saw friends and not much of my husband either.  Josh and I enjoyed a weekend alone in January and then a couple dates in Feb. I was happy to get a nice picture of the boys on Valentine's Day.  Tommy took the one of Josh and I under careful supervision!  We did have some fun thrown in there, thankfully!

Not long after this, we battled the flu for close to a week.  Tommy had fevers and horrible leg pain that I learned was from the virus.  I was dog-sick for a day and really came to appreciate my husband for holding down the fort!  Never was I so glad to get better!

Winter has always been hard on me.  Josh calls me a plant.  I thrive and have energy on sunny days and go limp on dreary ones! I long for the nicer days so we can go outside when it's warm.  I've been running on the treadmill.  This is hard, too, b/c I miss the fresh air and change of scenery.  But, I don't feel well running in the cold.  I keep telling myself "this too shall pass"  It always does. I try to remember God gives us the cold/clouds to appreciate the warm and sun!