Provision from Above

"His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me." -- An old gospel hymn.

As you may know, Donald and I have decided to take a leap of faith and invest once again in his continuing education, this time for a PhD in Nursing. In many ways, as we prayed about this decision, we have felt led by God that this was the right next step for Don, and for our family, even though on the surface it seemed impractical, if not impossible. The events of the past few weeks have proved no exception.

The opportunity for Don to attend the University of Texas at Tyler, entirely online, with a local advisor, practically fell into our laps earlier this year. The problem was going to be paying for it. If you know us, you know that my going back to work is not an option. Both Don and the kids need me too much here, and those needs only stand to increase over the coming years.

On the other hand, sending Don to the hospital to work more hours was not an option either. These years with the boys are far too precious for him to miss. If anything, we need him to be able to cut back on his hours and be at home more. Loans were not a promising option, since we still have student loans to pay back, and the job on the other side of this hurdle isn't likely to be more lucritive than his current one. Logically, it was an impossibility.

Thankfully, our God does not deal in logic and delights in bringing the impossible to light! Here's what has happened in the past month, culminating in a great big happening yesterday.

1. We learned that University of Texas will make a special exception and waive out-of-state tuition since there is no program of this kind in the state of Louisiana, cutting the tuition almost in half.

2. The University of Texas awarded Don a $1,000 competitive scholarship which we did not apply for, simply on the basis of merit through his CV and application essay. (I knew that degree in English would come in handy!)

3. We learned that graduate studies are covered by a national program to pay back in full the student loans of nurses working at certain hospitals, of which LSUHSC Shreveport is one. (We applied for this program twice before, but did not have enough debt to qualify.)

4. We were offered a federal Stafford loan which would pay Don's tuition, plus enough extra allow him to work about two days less each month. (This loan would be just enough to put us over the threshold of eligibility for the federal loan repayment program!)

5. Yesterday, we learned that Don has been awarded a special $3,000 scholarship by the American Legion, renewable every year while he is in school. There are 20 of these awarded nationwide each year to nurses dedicated to working in the field of pediatric respiratory disease.

Can you say "YAY, GOD?"

On a slightly different but related topic, Don has been asked by a local opthamologist to travel to Moscow (yes, Russia) in September to teach nurses there how to prevent blindness in premature newborns through proper oxygen therapy. It's a program Don is championing here at LSU and is apparently very much needed in Russia. That is a simplified explanation of a complicated series of events, but suffice it to say we have taken another leap of faith and bought a plane ticket to Moscow! As much as Don loves to teach, loves to travel, and loves to help children, nothing could be more up his alley. The opthamologist wrote a glowing letter to LSU's administration this week encouraging them to pay for Don's trip, so we will see what happens. Whatever the outcome, I have no doubt we are in good hands.

P.S. - Seth's reaction to the news of Don's scholarship: "We won a ship? What kind of ship? Is it a big ship? How fast does it go?" Priceless.