Eight Weeks to Go

Can you believe that after this week, Russ only has eight weeks left?  I can't believe how fast this school year has gone.  These last couple months will be pretty rough with lots of papers and assignments coming due while keeping up with regular class assignments and the volumes of reading.  Thankfully, he does have a spring break in there to help with "catch-up".

Since the end of this school year is in sight we have a couple decisions to make that we are praying about:  1) What will our summer look like?  2) Where does Caleb go to school next year?   The Sioux Center Hospital P.T. Department is looking for fill-in this summer for a therapist on maternity leave so we batted around the idea of spending the summer in Iowa while I worked and made a little money for the family.  Russ could do a little shingling for Dad, and the kids would spend the summer around family and old friends.  But that leaves us in the situation we were in last summer; we own a home several hundred miles away and need to someone to mow the lawn, etc.   The yard and landscape has been severely neglected the last several years and we had planned to do some intense work on it this summer.   We were uneasy about committing to an entire summer away from our Michigan home, so did not commit to the job in Sioux Center.  So, I have been wondering where I should apply for work here and Russ is wondering if he should find work here, or go back home to do some shingling while I stay in GR...But then this morning we may have had an answer to our prayers!  We have been attending Harvest OPC in the evenings.  Kevin DeYoung actually recommended this church to us as the pastor, Dale Van Dyke, is a good friend of his.  Harvest has grown quite a bit the last few years and is in the process of planting a new church in Alger.  They are hoping that at least a dozen families will commit to attend the new church plant to make the size of the current church more "manageable".  To make things more complicated, the associate pastor just took a call to a church in Maryland, increasing the workload on Pastor Dale.   So, this morning, as on all Wednesday mornings, Russ took the boys to the homeschool building for orchestra (which is really close to the Harvest church) and then went to the Target snack bar area to get a cup of coffee and study Hebrew until the boys were done.  This morning Pastor Dale walked in to get a cup of coffee, saw Russ and sat down and visited with him.  The result of the conversation was that there may be the possibility of an internship at Harvest for Russ this summer.    We both think this would be wonderful if it would work out, but will continue to wait for the Lord's leading.

The second decision is what Caleb will do for high school next fall.  We have some time to work on this, but it would be nice to have this figured out, if nothing else, for Caleb's sake (he likes resolution).  The options are homeschool full time, go to high school full-time (we are currently looking at NorthPointe which is a solid Baptist school right next to PRTS), work with NorthPointe and homeschool part-time, or try another homeschool route called Classical Conversations.  Caleb's choice is to go to school full-time which both Russ and I support.  Funds will be the only problem--thus we need to talk to someone at NorthPointe regarding financial aid before we can make a firm decision.  We would appreciate prayers for wisdom on this as well!

Not too much else going on here in Grand Rapids. We have a cold rainy day today, but the younger three did go splash in a few puddles and the boys played basketball with a neighbor boy.  We also listened to the MOC-FV state basketball game on-line and were disappointed they were unable to advance.

In other news...Last Saturday afternoon Caleb had a violin recital.  He played Adoration by Felix Borowski and did a great job.  He hit the high notes perfectly!  We treated the kids to ice cream afterward.  I had the seminary wives meeting last night which is always great fellowship.   I took my turn leading devotions last night before we discussed counseling.  Lots of different views out there so made for interesting discussion.   We finish our unit on India this week so will blog about our adventures in India sometime this weekend.