75 days and counting...

We have a long summer coming up. I hate it too, because we always look forward to summer so much and the fun it brings. But we have some unfinished business we must take care of. Today I dropped Steve off at the airport in SLC for a 2.5 month stint in Stillwater, OK. Why? Well you see we left OSU back in '02 and he had not completed his Masters of Science Degree. The only thing left was the thesis and defense. (I use the term only very loosely :) He was done with research and class work, we were sick of being in school with 2 kids, had another baby (Trace) due in a month and well we were just ready to get on with life. We jumped on the first job offer that came along and left Stillwater, thinking Steve could easily work and write his thesis and get the degree done. Well FF 5.5 years and here we are...wishing we would have completed business when we were there. (Don't you love the whole hindsight 20/20 deal?) We found it impossible to write and work at the same time. But before it's too late, we have a chance to press pause and get it done. So Steve is spending his first night in Stillwater tonight. He has until July 18, to dig up any new research, finish writing, make corrections, defend and publish the research he did in Graduate School. (Honestly I have no idea all the tasks he must get done to get this accomplished. These are all steps I've heard him say he had to get done)

I (we) miss him unbelievably bad. I'm used to short business trips knowing he'll be back in a couple days, a week is the longest he's ever been gone. So this a new experience for me. I have a hard time imagining getting through the next 75 days (yes we're counting!) without him around.

We got to spend a fun few days this past weekend with Steve's sister and family and his parents. The visit seemed like a nice breath of fresh air, we had a wonderful time! Thank you to our families for your love and support in this, we soooo appreciate it.

We put our house up for sale last week before we left for the weekend, as we are not sure what lies ahead of us. We have been looking for places pretty hard the last year, but nothing ever fell into place. We kind of got discouraged over that. Now, I'm kind of getting the picture of why maybe things didn't work out. I'm anxious, nervous yet excited to see what lies ahead of us. I know sacrifices for education will pay off so I'm putting my brave face on and marching forward! My hope is we get to stay here in Twin. We love it here, it feels like home. We have invested allot in this little town and hope to stay. I will say that over the past month (as these events cumulated in the past 3-4 weeks) that I have overwhelmingly felt the Lord's hand directing our lives. We had experiences back in Feb that were precursors to these events. At the time it seemed to have dropped out of nowhere. But I know where it came from. Things have fallen into place and obstacles that could have been insurmountable have leveled out and paved the path for this to happen. I am grateful for the opportunity we have to finish this degree. I am grateful for answers to prayers (we have had many already) and I am grateful for a husband that is willing to do what it takes to get this done. I'll just be so happy when Stephen J. Mayo can put M.S. behind his signature and we are one, happy family together again!