May flowers?

I haven't had a whole lot to say recently. We've been super busy wrapping things up with school for the kids and with stuff at church. And I've been struggling a bit lately to stay my cheerful, positive self. To get the negative out of the way, nothing has changed on the job front. Chris continues to search with no light magically appearing at the end of the tunnel. He has a meeting with the unemployment office in a few weeks about possibly going back to school, but he really doesn't know what he wants to study. Do you try to stay in a field that you're good at and you know well even though it's burned you 3 times? Or do you step out in faith and try something totally different at 36? And how do you know what to pursue? And the door I thought I was supposed to walk through recently to make things easier got slammed shut as well. My dear friend Stacey, who's been in our exact situation a lot longer than we have and has a faith that I aspire to, told me recently that she's trying to stay focused and trust God for His direction, but she really wished He would give her an idea of where He was headed with this. I'm so grateful for her because she's one of the few people I feel I can really talk to about what I'm feeling. She knows because she's really there.
Financially, God is keeping us afloat, barely. I feel like a walking example of the story of the loaves and fishes. Our paltry income is far from enough to feed our family right now, much less cover the rest of the bills, but somehow He multiplies and we squeak by.
On an upside, we get to spend a lot of time together as a family. Just this weekend we went to King's Mountain National Military Park and enjoyed a display and demonstration of "Military though the Ages."
And our lack of income forced me to finally give in to the direction I knew God was leading me regarding school for the children. John finished up his 2nd grade year at Lakepointe Academy last week and Sarah will graduate from 4k at Oakland Day School on Wednesday. After that, we are officially a 100% Homeschooling Family. I'm more than just a little nervous. But I'm super grateful for the people God has placed in my path over the last few years that have helped me gain the confidence to take this step. They may not be so grateful as I wear them all down with my bazillions of questions. (Be prepared, Leah & Jennifer).
I am really excited about taking this step, though, and I think the kids are finally coming around as well.

Here's a slide show of our recent activity: