God is Good.

Exactly 9 days ago, God laid a huge project on my heart. The human part of me instantly doubted the project all together. I get a lot of ideas in my head but this one was different.  It's different in that 1) I know I couldn't do it alone 2) It would require much time and preparation 3) If it were to work out, it would only be by God's doing. This is why I haven't told many people about it...I want to make sure this is truly a calling. The reason I mention this is because along with that project I felt like He wanted me to go back to school and finish my degree. I hate admitting that because there is part of me that was very proud I was able to pursue a job that went beyond receiving a piece of paper. I was able to bypass the student loans, the nights spent studying and go straight to what I loved to do.

Well, I went ahead and looked up our local college's information and decided to see when classes were starting. I found out that class was starting in 7 days and the application time alone could take up to 10 days to process. I said a quick prayer. Here I go God. If this is was you want, make it happen. Please confirm this crazy idea. And He did. Exactly one hour later I got accepted and was able to register for classes. Again, the human side of me began to doubt. Ok, God. This is a community college. Not a big deal. I still think this is a crazy idea. So, I began to look through classes and found that out of the 9 classes I have left to finish my degree, all of them were full and some. There were wait lists of up to 15 in most classes! I decided it would be worth a shot to email each professor and explain my situation. After a two days, 3 came back and said they would add me. This was still not enough to convince me of anything. Now I had costs to worry about. With Ethan being in the military, we make enough but not enough to pay for college, books, fees. There is a military dependent program called MyCAA that pays for spouse's tuition. I had applied to it before but I forgot how long the process is. I signed up, submitted my education plan, and waited....each day (sometimes each hour) I checked my inbox to see if they had accepted it. The process could take a minimum of 10 days they said. I only had 5. I kept waiting until today. Classes started today and this morning I woke up with an approval letter in my email. I was jumping for joy! But then I read the fine print and saw that I still need to submit a financial aid request no later than 15 days prior to the class start date. My heart sank. I kept reading over and over again the same words "no later than 15 days" in so many different areas of the application. They must really mean it. I said a quick prayer once again. I decided to call the information line and it turns out there is a one-time waiver that makes an exception for the 15 days. After several phone calls and paperwork I got the very last piece of the puzzle. My aid was approved, tuition paid for and now all I have to pay out of pocket was a $13 health fee and my books. My books did end up totaling to be $410 (I have to buy their specific college edition with an access code to their online course area) BUT the second shooting job I have been doing every now and then has been a big help.

All this to say, God is good. My doubtful mind is still uncertain about this project, but rather than worrying about the future I'm just taking one step at a time. And the first step is school.

I'm hoping to finish my business degree by the end of summer next year. Even if this project doesn't work out, I will become a more well-rounded person when it comes to running my photography business. In the mean time I will keep praying for confirmation with this project and I'm excited to see how He works through it all.