Last week, my husband and I started to explore the possibility of me returning to school full-time. I’m feeling pulled towards a career in teaching more and more, and getting a bachelor’s degree is obviously a mandatory step towards reaching that goal. Unfortunately, working part-time and doing school part-time is a pretty slow way of doing it. It would take me more than five years to get my degree if I could only take two classes per semester, and then there would be another two years for the teaching credential program. That means I would be in school for another seven years!

While that is something I’d be willing to do if it came down to it, it obviously isn’t optimal. But the real problem is the cost of a bachelor’s degree program. With me working part-time and Cory working full-time, we still can’t cover our costs of living without some assistance. Add on the cost of school, which for a university can be quite expensive, and it becomes literally impossible.

Last but not least, there is the issue of my happiness. I know that life isn’t always going to be perfect (actually, it never will be, at least not on earth), and I am certainly willing to make sacrifices now for good things in the future. That’s just basic common sense! But there is a limit to how unhappy I will let myself become. And if I’m being perfectly honest, I was very close to miserable at my old University. There were many reasons for that: the environment was not at all right for a married, Christian woman, for one; the classes were uninteresting and there were few professors who I felt were of good quality; the controlling nature of the school was stifling and frustrating; and the requirement of every student to participate in three months of studying abroad (which would be a huge disruption of my life) was constantly looming over my head. It all comes down to this; different schools are right for different people, and not everybody can work well in every school. My last university was simply not a good fit for me.

When I first left, I thought it was because I wasn’t the “college type.” And maybe that’s still the truth, or maybe there’s another possibility. Perhaps I just wasn’t the right type of student for that specific university, or maybe I’m not the traditional college type at all. Since I left, I’ve been taking classes online at my local community college, and I have found school to be exponentially more enjoyable. I’m driven enough to make sure that I get all of the work done, but I can do it on my own time. I don’t have to feel trapped in a classroom, listening to some professor drawl on while I watch the clock. Instead, I’m free to work whenever and wherever I want! I love the freedom that this type of schooling offers, and it’s made me realize that there may be a way for me to get my bachelor’s degree after all, without sacrificing my happiness for several years of my life. The only problem is affording it.

As I mentioned before, my husband and I are just not financially capable of supporting ourselves with me going to school at the same time, even if it’s just part-time. But last week, Cory’s parents made us an amazing offer that changed all of that. Basically, they’ve offered to pay all of our living expenses while we’re in school if we both go back full-time. Not only that, but they will pay for our school as well! In other words, they are enabling us to do something we simply wouldn’t be able to do on our own; earn our bachelor’s degrees while we’re still young, and do so without taking on any extra debt. It is an amazing gift that they are offering, and we are so humbled by their generosity.

This turn of events has changed my career direction completely. It’s an amazing opportunity that I’ve been offered, and I am eager to accept it! This is a brand new dream of mine and I can’t wait to see where it takes me. Of course, I know that life is an ever-changing journey and I can never really know for sure where it will lead. God has a funny way of changing things up on me and I’m learning not to hold on to any of my own plans too tightly! But until He tells me to do something else, I’m going to keep my sights on becoming a teacher.

So for the next year, I will be taking classes online full-time at my community college to earn my associates degree. After that, I am hoping to transfer to Brandman University, where they have a program for earning a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies with an emphasis on multiple subject teaching. I can take all of my classes online or choose to take some of them on-campus. Since there is a campus right near where we are moving to and a campus very close to where we live now, it won’t even matter if we end up moving back to Orange County in a year or two. It’s a great school and a great program for me, and I’m so excited to get there!

My husband still has his dream to be an entrepreneur, but he is also going to take this amazing opportunity to earn his bachelor’s degree. Like me, he hopes to complete his associate’s degree through our community college and then go to Brandman University, where he wants to earn a bachelor’s in business administration. He plans to start in the spring, since the fall semester is starting in just a few weeks and the classes that he needs are already full. Then we’ll both be full-time college students again, back where we were a year ago! It’s funny how things can change so much.

Well, I think that’s just about enough of an update for this week. Next week, we’ll be all moved out of our apartment and I’m sure that I’ll have plenty more to share. Until then, have a wonderful week and thanks for reading!