Change is Here!

Hello Everyone! Lots of changes coming up! It will be one month tomorrow until my Lyme Disease doctor appointment in SC. Seems like these weeks are flying by! I am sitting here at home in my office waiting to take calls for my job and the call volume is pretty slow so I thought I would write an update! I promise to only type when I am not assisting customers, lol. :) After today, I will have two days left of work! Yipee!!! I have not been feeling the best lately and it's getting tougher to make it through the 10 hour shifts, so this is coming at a good time. We had a another praise this week about my job. My supervisor got approval that I will be able to come back to work in January. I am SO thankful for this gift. It will really take the stress off of me having to find and train on another home-based job as they are pretty tough to find in general and the state of the economy has certainly not helped. I will now have about seven months off to get through the beginning of my Lyme Disease treatment. So, Yay God!

Brian is doing well! He is really enjoying time off this summer and only having to work part-time. This is the first time he has had this kind of break in many, many years. He has almost beat the entire Xbox 360 game Lego Batman. :0) I am glad he gets to do these kind of things. He needs a little fun in his life instead of working all the time. He will be starting training next week as the back-up bookkeeper at his grocery store and will be working 4 days a week 4:00AM until 12:30PM. Boy, I could not do that, but Brian doesn't mind and said he will just hook up the IV line to caffeine. Ha!

We are all set to move on June 25th and will take possession of our new apartment on Monday the 15th. We will start moving things over gradually next week. We try to do as much as we can by ourselves to save money on the moving service. Go muscles! Please still be praying that I won't have any problems in the new apartment. I think I have said before, it is always such a faith walk for us when we go to a new place. However, we look at the past and God has provided for us every step of the way. We know He will do so will this move also. One more quick prayer request, our lovely puppy (I say that sarcastically at this moment) ate two holes (1 1/2 inches in size) out of our carpet at the house we are renting. UGHHH!!! There goes our deposit. If you guys could pray that they won't charge us an insane amount of money, we would really appreciate it. We have no idea why he just started doing this as he had finally got to that stage where we thought we didn't have to watch him all the time. I guess we learned. He is now spending a lot of quality time in his doggy pen, lol.

Lately, Brian and I have been reading a christian book together called "Polishing God's Monuments" by Pastor Jim Andrews. This book was recommended to us by one of my friends who I have met who also has Lyme Disease. The basis of the book is about his daughter and son-in-law who were faced with struggles much like our own. She developed multiple chemical sensitivities (like me) as a result of chronic fatigue syndrome. She went from living a normal life to barely being able to live within the walls of her own house reacting to everything (clothing, furniture, paint, carpet, soap, the list goes on and on). The restrictions and hoops her and her husband have to jump through are unbelievable. It makes what Brian and I have to deal with on a daily basis seem minor in comparison. Through their ongoing trial, God is always at the center of their focus and their testimony is amazing. Pastor Jim talks about their method of coping which is to focus on "God's monuments" or in other words focusing on the positive/good things of the past where God obviously made his mark on situations and relying on those to carry you through the tough times. It seems like an obvious thing to do, but his book is backed by scripture and hits so close to home as we are going on year 5 of me being ill and having to deal with such a restricted life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Finally, the last piece of news is that I have actually decided to change the school I will be getting my master's at because I found a program that I would like to study. Walden University, an reputable online university, is offering a Master's of Science in Education with a specialization in online learning. If I could create a program that would be exactly what I am interested in, this would be it. This Master's degree would not just open up opportunities for me to teach in an online setting, but will also give me the knowledge to help develop/manage virtual training programs or classes for a school/district or even at a corporate level. Ever since I was a virtual trainer at Alpine Access, this is what I have been interested in. It's so exciting to be able to have this opportunity as there are few schools that have developed these types of programs and it seems as technology grows, this is where education is heading. I need to get accepted first, but the enrollment advisor I spoke to was wonderful and if everything goes according to plan I will start classes at the beginning of September.

Well, that is all for now. I hope everyone is getting a chance to "catch some rays" this summer. :0) I will send some heat and sunshine your way because goodness knows, we have enough to share. I will definitely update you on our move and our new apartment in the weeks to come!

Blessings!