Things are happening...

It's been quite a month, full of ups and downs. Probably the most frustrating was spending nearly two weeks in an emotional funk that distressed Abi and made life pretty miserable. While we think there was definitely a spiritual element to it all, an attempt by the enemy to keep my mind off of God and whatever plans He has for me (and us) here, some of it was also do to my negligence to give each day to God and spend time faithfully in His Word. I'll admit, I'm still not perfect with that, but I think overall it has gotten better. My goal is to be both more consistent with simply reading the Bible regularly, as well as spending more time in it in each session and really thinking about what I'm reading.

I go back and forth with whether or not lab work is really what I want to do with my life. I don't want to be guided primarily by just feelings, but yesterday morning I wasn't able to get my car started. It hadn't been that cold overnight, but after last winter I knew I needed a new battery, but had put it out of my mind until yesterday. I ended up at work two hours later than my regular starting time, but I found I had a lot more fun in those two hours doing a bit of writing while I waited for the auto store to open, then going to the closest store only to find out their store on the other side of town was the only one that had the battery I needed, paying for the battery, stopping at home to pick up my lunch, driving to the other side of town, picking up the new battery, and installing the battery right there in the parking lot. Now, I'm almost certain that auto repair is not the field for me, but I got a great deal more satisfaction out of that little bit of work than I think I got out of the entire week at my actual job.

I'm grateful that Abi has a job that she enjoys and is able to do from home. I'm also a tiny bit jealous. I'm trying to think of things that I could do in a similar fashion. I don't know if I will come up with such a career, but I want to explore my options. Writing is one thing that might possibly work in this capacity, though I will need more than six books with my name on them for that to work. I started writing a story yesterday that I've had somewhat plotted out for at least five years, and I have a few other ideas in mind that might work well as a start. To actually make a living writing, I'd need a lot more than what I've got planned, I'm sure.

Abi had a great idea of a craft we could sell, one that would generate significant profits compared to the expense of materials and the time involved. We're not sure how much income this would actually generate, but as a start, I'd be happy to see even an extra hundred dollars or two each month, just so we could pay that much more down on our debts and keep the interest from piling up so much.

I'm going to be looking at Odesk and other similar sites online to see if I can secure even some occasional jobs. Since I owe my current employer two years of service, I have time to develop a portfolio for whatever I find interesting, and anything extra we can earn during that time will just help us get out of debt more quickly. As it stands, we could very well be out of debt entirely by the end of 2014, earlier depending on how much extra either of us can earn. If we were out of debt by the time my commitment at work was completed, and I had a viable alternative income that I enjoyed earning, then hey, the sky's the limit!

I don't want this to be a total whine-fest, because I am very grateful to have a job, especially in this economy. And it's entirely possible I'll find a niche at work that I really enjoy and am able to fill. I know I'm still struggling with how different it is than working at Mayo and working exclusively in one specific field.

Well, I think with that I am going to call it a morning. Things to do today in preparation of the potential arrival of my sisters-in-law.