Coupons?

Well, the women of Grace Bible Church have opened up a whole new world to me. Especially in light of considering grad school, I wanted to learn as much as possible about stewardship, frugality, and how to be able to serve Andrew by keeping our budget as small as possible. Enter coupons, coupon web sites, coupon blogs, weekly ads, and budget planning tools. Slightly overwhelming for someone completely unfamiliar with the whole business. Luckily, there are many wise, sweet women who have gone before, learned the best strategy, and have lovingly made their resources known and available. So, to the benefit of anyone who, like me, desires to learn how to trim a budget, here are the web pages I have found most useful thus far:

www.moneysavingmom.com

This blog gives weekly summaries of deals at CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aide, and Target. Also posts freebies, tips on budget, cooking, and thrifty ideas. This lady has a sweet heart.

www.hiptosave.com

This one has similar information, with more frequent posts on freebies. She may also be posting grocery deals in the near future.

It has taken a considerable amount of time for me to start in on this business, but one I get the hang of it I'm excited to see how I can trim our budget. All for the goal of living simply to be able to use what the Lord has given for His glory.

Thanks to the ladies of Grace Bible who already know these things are are so willing to teach!

Walking behind

Being a wife has been such a learning process for me, and today brought a sweet lesson. Every time Andrew gets more information about schools, about scholarship, and about jobs I start thinking. I start trying to guess how these pieces of information will effect Andrew's decision. I start trying to anticipate what will happen, where we will go, and how I can plan for it. And then comes the anxiety, the frustration, the unrest. Andrew sat me down today and asked me to do a few things. First, to know and believe that he is trusting the Lord with this decision. Second, to respect him in believing that he will make a decision. And third, to give up the burden I keep trying to take on to make things happen. Andrew is my leader, and I must learn to be a good follower. Not one who keeps trying to anticipate his direction and get there first. Following well for me means to keep my eyes on Andrews steps, and come behind. Going where he goes, trusting the Lord to lead him as he leads us. And to walk humbly behind. It is the same way in following the Lord. That we must not try and anticipate the will of God or decide what we think he will do. But walk humbly as He leads. And there anxiety fades, burdens are lightened, the way is clear. Simply follow in faith, walking quietly behind.

Sweeter

Another week. A few more pieces of information, some confusion, and one large breakdown later, we're still here waiting. And sweetly so for a few reasons:

- One, we are in God's perfect will! And He leads the blind in the paths they do not know. (Is. 42:16) One step at a time we are following. One step at a time is the pace.

- Two, it's hard. More so for me. This particular situation opens the door wide for my propensity toward thinking. And thinking more often than not leads me to worry and anxiety. Quite the opposite of trusting the Lord. Day after day there arises the opportunity to trust the Lord with what I don't know, with what I would love to be able to plan, and with all of the little details that will need to fall into place when we know where we are going to end up.

- This uncertainty forces both Andrew and I to focus on what is before us. We must not neglect our church, our work, and our relationship in this season, because this is where we are.

The Lord clothes the lilies, and His eye is on the sparrow. He knows the details involved in going to grad school, and moving, and changing jobs. This is the first of many large steps that Andrew and I will take together. Now is the time we get to shepherd our hearts, coach our thoughts, and indulge in patience as we wait. And Lord willing we will learn this well, so that the waiting will only get sweeter as time goes on.

And so we wait

After finding out scholarship information, course requirements, and more about atmosphere at Trinity, we remain undecided. I function off of data and deadlines, as Andrew can attest to. And what the Lord graciously showed me this week is that He doesn't have to honor my time frames. We have examined all the angles of this decision, talked, researched, and analyzed what information we have. The thing we lack at this point is assurance. Andrew has not come to the point of being confident in one school, of having peace about choosing one school over the other. What are we waiting for? A critical point that will sway us in the favor of one school? Someone we respect telling us where to go? There is peace when one rests in the pursuit of God's will. And right now, we can't say that we know where we are being called to. And so now we pray to this end: That God will show us His will. And it probably won't be in a blatant sign like a huge scholarship or a sweet job. We wait for the quiet but resolved assurance that we are in pursuit of the ministry that the Lord is calling us to. We wait to see where the Lord wants to use us in these next years. It has certainly been difficult for me to wait for something that I can't really define. But I do know that to simply make a choice for the sake of a decision will result in a flimsy foundation to begin such a radical change of course. The Lord has given me the grace for today to not know where we will go, and to not know when we will choose, but to wait. And so we will wait and pray, and see what the Lord brings.

Total it up

So, the long-awaited scholarship package ended up being scanned and sent via email since it still has yet to arrive here. And, by God's sovereign will, we were not offered any more scholarship than we had initially thought. So now all that remains is to total it up. And based on the the information on the web that I could dig up, DTS and TEDS stack up as follows:

Tuition and fees per semester:

TEDS: 5975 (after scholarship)

DTS: 5005

Rent in student housing:

TEDS: 775/month for 1 bedroom, 570/month for efficiency

DTS: 597/month plus electricity

Total tuition and fees for Andrew's degree without rent:

DTS: 25,025

TEDS: 29,875 

So, basically, the tuition each both will cost relatively the same amount. There is a large degree of variability in the housing costs, which will affect the total cost significantly.

Please pray for us as we consider these things!