My academic challenges.

After being out of school for 35 years and returning to school, this was an academic challenge in itself. There have been definite adjustments that had to be made. Time management was something that I really had to master. Each term so far has had it's challenges and rewards. First term my husband got laid off from his job and did not find work until January. Second term was the adjustment of my husband going to work and not being home to help pick up the slack with the kids. At the end of my third term my husband was diagnosed with Graves Disease so we had to face that challenge. This term has been adjusting to his radioactive iodine treatments and working from home again. All of this while going to school, homeschooling our three children, and now I will be going back to work. As I type this, it really doesn't sound that bad, at least compared to what other people have had to endure. It has been a challenge, but not anything that we have not been able to handle. I look around and realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity to return to school.

I don't look at my returning to school as a challenge anymore, I look at it as a blessing, and a life saver. I believe through my academic experience I have been able to focus on my school work and forget for a time what problems we have had to face. Through prayer and determination, I have been able to accomplish my goals up to this point. I am uncertain about what academic challenges I will face when I do return to work. I know I will have to go through another time management challenge in order to be able to find time to do my school work, and spend quality time with my family, but again through prayer and determination, all things will fall into place. I have also learned that life is too short to sweat the small stuff!

Andrea