sNOw thank you

Alright, snow. I realize that it's Michigan, and January, and that I should just be used to you by now. But I'm not, and I might never be. Well, I have things to do, so you just need to go away. Because I'm not equipped to handle you very well, and honestly, neither is my car. Have you SEEN my car lately? Between you and uncle cold-temp, I can't get my passenger door open. It's better than last year when I couldn't get my driver door open, but still. I've got things to do, life to live, and you're really cramping my style here. Listen, I'll even make you a deal. Have your last hurrah this week. Snow as MUCH as you want, as often as you want. But after this week, you're done. Because I have things to do - things that already scare me a little - and I don't need your brand of help, ok?

I'm feeling pretty dumpy about myself tonight (*cough*girlissues*cough*), so I'm going to mention the encouraging thing first. I did an impromptu measurement of my pants tonight, and then measured my waist, and the difference was 3.5" inches. These jeans are two inches smaller (but the same tag size...odd) than the last jeans I had, so I would say that it's a reasonable estimate that I've lost about 5" from my waist recently. (I can't remember when I bought these pants. I thought I blogged about it, but I can't find the entry...so maybe I just said something on facebook? Egad. Technology. I want to say that I bought them *around* November. Anyway.

We got another letter from our Compassion child today! Sarata and her family are doing well, and for Christmas, Sarata was working on doing some drama and dancing with her friends. When I read those letters ... I really don't care if we ever make a ton of money. But I'd love to be able to sponsor more children some day. It also strengthens the idea in my head that maybe *I* don't want to have kids, but take care of those that are already here.

Also, as far as "big announcements" go, I have a couple. The first is that I'm actually going to go through with wanting to volunteer at the local pregnancy center. That's where my plea with the snow comes in. I've found something good, solid and productive to do, now the weather needs to work with me on this one.

The second, is that I'm looking into going back to school sometime in the near-ish future. It's not something I'm rushing or taking lightly. I did send away for some information from Mott, but I'm not really certain about anything. If I DO end up pursuing this, it'll only be one or two classes at a time, being as that's all we can afford at any given time. The thought of all the people I'd have to talk to and interact with, and all that ... is really is an overload for me, which is why I can't just jump on in. But over the past couple months, I've been thinking a lot about counseling. I think it would be a really good way to tie together a lot of things that I'm good at/enjoy...but it's a really long road, even longer by the fact that we financially can't put me through at a "normal" pace. I do trust though, that if this is what I'm supposed to do, God will open the appropriate doors and windows. I don't expect it to be easy by any means, but if it's right, the necessary things will happen. At any rate, I wouldn't want to take a full course load for a while anyway, because, as luck would have it, one of my phobias is failing at college. So, starting small, like with one teeny little class that I couldn't fail if I tried? I'm Sarah, and I approve this method.

That leaves me in limbo as far as the photography is concerned. Man, do I want to succeed with that. It makes me pull hair to see people worse than I am, charging $2,500 or more for pictures. If I pushed, and really marketed myself, I could use the photography to make tuition money, since Michigan is SO stingy on the part-time jobs. But I hate charging so much money for something I love and is relatively simple in my eyes. See why I have a pattern of questions that are answered only leading to MORE questions? If you can answer this conundrum for me, (and I heed your wisdom) I'll bake you something.

Overall, I'm very excited about life, see why? I've got a direction. Granted, it's a fuzzy direction, and it's pretty overwhelming with scary thoughts. But it's better than a spinning compass, at any rate.

And that's more than enough for one blog entry. Sorry about the length, folks.