Is anything in my life not changing right now!?

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks. I told the girls at Bible study this morning that I am a control freak (well, they KNEW that part) and that it's so hard for me to have so many areas of my life out of control at once. Max and I are both interviewing and feel like we are very close to getting job offers.

Assuming we both get the jobs, so many things will change. I'll be working full-time again, and that sort of freaks me out. It will be work-from-home, though, and I have already talked to Michael (the owner) about kids and flexibility and he seems more than accommodating for that. I am also a little excited. The job sounds great, with a lot of challenges, and it would afford me some "necessary" travel to Bloomington where my entire family happens to be. :) I am anxious to meet Michael. He seems like a neat guy on the phone (this is the guy whose wife my sister used to work with...small world, huh?)

Max's potential job also sounds amazing. It'll be a pay cut, at least at first, but he'd be working with former co-workers and FOR my former manager at living.com. Small world, huh? (notice the theme here?) The position has great potential to really grow into a long-term career path for him, and it's getting back into some job functions that he really enjoys.

We're also planning, at some point this year, to list the house for sale. We've needed to do it for a long time, and even with the market in a slump, we both just feel like this is the time to do it. It will take a few months to get it ready, but I hope to be able to list it by summer.

Then, there's my Olivia. What will we do if I get the job? Keep homeschooling through the end of the year and just juggle? Enroll her in school even though there will only be a couple of months left? She wants to keep homeschooling, but knows that if I am working full-time, we won't have as much time for the fun things she enjoys so much (field trips, park days, etc) I still want to make those happen, but it won't be like it is now with me blissfully unemployed. (OK, it was hard to even type "blissfully unemployed" but you get what I mean) She did say, though, that she is fine with going to school, and will do whatever we have to do with whatever circumstances we have.

So, lots of changes, none of which are in my control. Lots of excitement, and new adventures, depending how you look at it. My Bible study this morning really got me thinking...we were talking about Abraham and Sarah, and how when they went to Egypt because of the famine, he had her lie and say they were brother and sister so that the men wouldn't kill him to have her (which they would have done if they knew they were married, because she was so beautiful) Sure enough, the Pharoah chose her for his harem. This was not what God had planned for them (duh) so He had to extricate them from the situation, much to Pharoah's chagrin (and disease). Later, God had promised Abraham descendents "as numerous as the stars" but Sarah wasn't conceiving, so they devised a plan for him to have children with her handmaiden, Hagar (HOH-GARR, right G?) Again, NOT what God had in mind at all. Yet, Abraham just kept blundering through life, trying to force situations without waiting for God's leading, for God's timing.

It really hit home with me, because I've been feeling a lot of stress from so many different angles. So many people to try to please, so many changes to consider, so many chances for me to goof it up by blundering ahead and trying to fix it myself, when maybe God has an entirely different plan for us. It was a good reminder for me to slow down, be patient and let God work.

We both feel like God has been very clear with us to this point. Arro (my old manager at living, and Max's potential new manager) had looked me up on facebook about a week before Max was laid off, so that opened the door for Max to interview for this job (he has wanted to work for the company since at least 2003). I just blindly sent a resume off to the only software company I could find in Bloomington, for a position that wasn't even listed, only to find out that my sister knows the owners of the company and that Michael had just said that week that he REALLY needed a QA person! It has just been unreal to me how clearly God has opened some doors and slammed others shut tight. I have applied for all sorts of other jobs, in Austin, Bloomington, Georgia, you name it...without a single response. Same for Max. Funny thing is, normally, I would be freaking out with both of us only having one real solid lead and the clock ticking on his contract, but I feel like it's all under control -- just not MY control. And that makes me feel even better.