There is a lot of hope in my life

I've got 19 minutes until my timer goes off and I have to move on to the next part of my experiement so I thought I would dash out a quick post.

I am absolutely lousy at keeping up with everybody in the family.  It isn't that I don't care, I just can't seem to find the time.  By the time I am done with everything I have to do each day, I am exhausted and just want to crawl into bed and read for a few minutes before I drop off into oblivion.  I do read everybody's blog posts and actually made an effort today to make some comments.

I have lately been reflecting on how important family relationships are in the eternal scheme of things particularly in light of the struggles we are having with one of our children at the present time.  As I knelt in prayer last night, I just turned the situation over to our Heavenly Father because there is absolutely nothing else I can do.  I fluctuate between deep sorrow and great hope. I am very grateful that each of us siblings has remained true to the gospel.  There truly is nothing more important than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

On a brighter note, Caleb's mission call is due to arrive any day now.  Church Headquarters sent it out either Friday or this morning.  We are excited for him.  I feel like a 5 year old on Chrismas Eve.  I am so proud of him for making the decision to serve and look forward to seeing the growth that he will experience in the mission field.

About a year ago, I was approached about maybe, just maybe, becoming the manager of the UI Temporal Bone Lab in addition to my current responsibilities.  It was a big maybe because the woman in the position was up in the air about retirement, finances in our department are tighter than they have ever been in the past, etc...  I didn't think much of it and actually had nearly forgotten it when my boss (Marlan) brought it up again a couple of weeks ago.  There were still some hurdles and as slowly as things happen at the UI, I figured I hear about it again in a couple of months.  Last Thursday, Marlan sat down with me and asked me how much I thought I should be paid for taking on this additional responsibility.  I threw out a number that I was pretty sure would be rejected but this afternoon Marlan called me told me that it was a done deal.  I have no doubt that the Lord had a hand in this. I was worried about how to pay my student loans and help support Caleb but the Lord has provided a way and I am deeply grateful for His ever present attention.