If I haven’t written much this week on most of my blogs, well, it’s because I’ve been pretty busy.

One of the major transitions Jaimie and I have already gone through is that I’ve picked up some extra work on the side. I now spend 10-15 hours a week doing back end web development consulting work. This is extremely helpful in terms of saving for seminary, as you can imagine: it pays well, and the money all goes directly into savings. What with Jaimie working as a nanny until sometime close to when Baby Girl comes, we will, God willing, be in fairly decent shape financially when we get to seminary.

I enjoy the work a lot. Programming appeals to me, especially in the area of web development. The field is constantly changing, so if you want to stay on top of it, you have to keep learning all the time. Anyone who knows me knows that fits my personality to a T. There are also opportunities for anyone to contribute tools that everyone else can find useful. (I made one of those already in my spare time, and have a couple more in the pipe. Some of them even normal, non-technical people might find useful!) I also find it incredibly rewarding to be able to finish projects, and most of the projects I’m working on right now have short turn-around times, so I can see results in a matter of days or weeks – unlike my regular job, where turnaround times are measured in years.

There is a downside, though. Namely, that I’m working an extra 10-15 hours a week. As you can imagine, Jaimie and I have had some challenges to work through. We have less time together, so we have to work harder at appreciating the times we do have, and at being intentional about using the time we have to really engage with one another. These are not bad things, per se, but they are different, and they are challenging.

Even these challenges are a blessing, though. This is a good preview: my time commitment now is comparable to what it will be while I am at Southeastern, so we get to make this transition well ahead of the other major transitions coming up in our lives. Everything will be thrown entirely on its head when our daughter is born, and then again when we move and I change jobs and start seminary and we have to find a new church.

Other than the fact that Baby Girl is kicking more frequently and a bit harder, not much else is changing here. As is often the case, life itself is fairly ordinary. Our sanctification happens bit by bit and piece by piece, not in great events.

The one major change we have experienced? Oklahoma decided to remember – at least for two or three days – that it is, in fact, wintertime. I opted not to go for a run today… because it was under 30º and quite windy all day. (The warmest it has felt all day is right now, because the wind finally stopped blowing.) By Tuesday, it will be back to feeling like early spring. There are worse things, I suppose, but I do miss my Colorado winters…