My week of "I"

Sorry I have been silent lately. Last week I had a minor melt-down..... Lets just say it was a week of misguided focus. Misguided in the fact that I was allowing satan to play with my mind, get my focus off the Lord and instead focus more on ME......... If John's job here wasn't so great I may have tried to talk him into coming home, however, I knew in my heart of hearts that it was God's desire for us to be right where we are and He desires that we grow and flourish here. A week of remembering what we had left behind and will we ever have this kind of awesome church family again? I basicall had an "i" problem and I am sure we all have done this a time or two. God wanted me to share it though so you all could learn from my mistakes. Here is where my focus was a bit off kilter and where I began wallowing a bit.

I am lonely
I miss my house (and really don't want to sell it)
I miss my family/friends
I miss being around anyone who has something in common with me
I miss the kids & I having playdates to enjoy the company of a familiar face
I will never be able to handle homeschooling in Florida and organizing 3 kids school records
I do not even have the option to put them in ANY sort of school since I do not have 2 years worth of school records!
I hate being under a microscope
I'm not as plugged into the church as I would like to be
I miss FALL

Being that we tend to be our own worst critic I had failed even before I tried to accomplish anything last week all because of where my attitude was. In a desperate attempt to take care of one of my "woe is me" issues I met with a lady who has successfully homeschooled 6 of her kids here in Florida to see what she did to keep records. She showed me the expectations set before me in what a portfolio/record book looked like so this put that fear to rest. Chatting with a like-minded individual was a welcome time of fellowship as well!
The truth is that most of what I was dwelling on was true and in my own strength I WAS going to fail, however, due to God's gentle, patient and loving guidance he picked up my chin to look at His eyes and renewed my focus. Reminding me once again that I can do nothing without Christ who strengthens me!

On a lighter note, John started his FTO training on Sunday. His FTO officer was probably about 15 years younger than him but rather a humble guy. He was not gung ho or full of himself at all but very detail oriented in his training so this was nice! He was even a bit slightly intimidated at John's experience and told him "well I guess I will learn a lot from you this week eh?" John's first assignment was in the barricks. This is an outdoor quanza hut like facility that is planned for destruction once the new facility is completed. There is no AC in this facility and basically John's job is to stand outside it and keep the peace in the glaring hot sun. FUN! All he could think of was that something like this would never happen in WA state since it would be a PR nightmare! He was curious what happens to the officer at this post during a hurricane and, to his surprise, it was much the same. Since inmates are opportunists the job description is still the same. Stand outside and bear the elements. John at first thought the guy was joking so he began to chuckle at his response but he made sure John knew he wasn't joking.... He said "Yeah during the hurricane it is a rough ride and you definately get wet!" The good side to this is that he will not get stuck there but is just there for training since this position will no longer be available after the first of the year when they get occupancy in the new facility!

A very cool praise happened yesterday! We got the paperwork for the house signed so it is no longer ours! I cancelled all of the utilities today so no more bills that away either! YIPEE! God is so good to us and merciful. The paperwork showed better numbers than we were expecting so this means we will get to pay off some debt! God Bless all!