A Decision!

Over the course of the last 14-18 months, we've been doing some serious discernment about grad school options for Drake.  We feel strongly about my staying at home with our children full time and Drake being the primary source of income.  With his current degree and certification as a Board Certified Music Therapist, he's not eligible for promotion or pay raise in his current job...and our growing family is going to require that he has a different job, which ultimately means furthering his education before that.  So, we've been going through the daunting task of applying to schools and programs all over the state.  After travel for interviews, prayers, novenas, discernment, and endless conversation, we've decided that it's best for our family for Drake to pursue Doctoral studies, earning him a Psy.D (Doctorate of Psychology in Clinical Psychology).

By the grace of God, Drake has been accepted into several highly competitive programs in the Chicago area.  And while we haven't nailed down one particular school quite yet, we have prayerfully discerned that these programs are going to best suit the needs of our family.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of why or how we came to this conclusion or our reasoning for choosing this path over others.  But I will say that our Lord truly opened my heart, enabling us to come to this decision.

We're embarking on so many different things right now, all of which are exciting, nerve-wracking, and absolutely demand a deeper level of trust in God's divine plan.  Drake and I are both ecstatic and scared, typically simultaneously.  But it's time to take a leap of faith.  So here we go.

In these next few months, we'll be searching for a new place to live, determining Drake's school and new work schedule, finding a new OB and pediatrician, packing, finding a new car, finding a new parish, switching insurance plans, moving our family to our new home, settling in, preparing for our new baby's arrival.  (I think I forgot about one thousand other things that will be on our to-do list between now and our relocation).  But, despite the seemingly endless tasks, we're hopeful.  We're hopeful that God will guide our steps, our hearts, our minds, and continue to make His plan clear to us.

Toss up a prayer for us if you think of it!