Colleges, cars and marriage

Time passes so quickly, it's scary.
I took the Singer to FSU last Monday for a campus tour. The campus is beautiful and actually has hills (a novelty in Florida). But the Singer wasn't impressed. From the tour it appears the school is very science oriented...the Singer is NOT. She's thinking of going into education and when she asked the tour guide about the College of Education, not much was said. We definitely got the impression that education was a step-child there. USF has an honors program for education majors (SCATT). I happen to have been in that program not long after it had been established. The Singer had no idea and was thrilled that I could tell her so much about it. USF has over a 99% placement rate for its education graduates. Another pro for USF is that it has offered the most scholarship money and a good friend of hers is going there and wants to room with her. It appears her decision is made, and she'll be putting in for room assignment in the next 2 weeks. We're quite proud of her accomplishments. In addition to the scholarship money offered by USF, she just found out she is a finalist for the Watson Scholarship offered to IBM employees' dependants. It's looking like she won't have much out-of-pocket expenses.
Now we're left with the decision on the Imp and high school. The IB program definitely has some remarkable qualities. In addition, it is significantly closer than Bishop McLaughlin. But we still have a few weeks before having to pay a non-refundable registration fee at Bishop.

Last night, Hubby and I went and picked up our brand new Toyota Corolla. This is our 4th Corolla and 5th Toyota in the last 25 years. Our old Corolla still runs, but has a mean shimmy and loud engine. We've had it for 12 years and got it with 42,000 miles on it. It's been very good to us. Our new Corolla is deep blue (indigo ink pearl) and since it's been 8 years since we purchased our last car, it's quite an event. The girls were a little disappointed that we got "another Corolla" which really is quite "boring." We told them, they can pick the vehicle when they're footing the bill. The sales rep at the dealership was refreshingly easy to work with. Within the first 3 minutes, he sized us up as ultra-conservative (economically) and that we had already done our shopping before arriving at the dealership. We had our draft from our credit union due to our pre-approval. We had option and packages circled on our printout from researching Toyota's online, and we had our Consumer Reports print out as well. We had picked our car and had a test drive within 30 minutes. The financial guy was a pain...trying much too hard to sell us an extended warranty (even after we told him, more than once, we had made up our minds). Hubby finally said, "Look, we're buying a Toyota Corolla because of its dependability...are you telling me I'm wrong?" It sure feels decadent to drive around in the new car. We figure we'll have this one for 10-12 years as well. Our Sienna is 8 years old and has 135,000 miles. It purrs like a kitten and we've not done much work on it, other than standard wear & tear maintenance (new tires, brakes, etc).

We just got back from a wedding rehearsal dinner. The Singer is singing a solo at the wedding tomorrow, and the Imp is the "Greeter" by the guest book. The couple getting married seems to have much going for them, primarily their belief in marriage and that being married doesn't guarantee "happily ever after." That's something they must work at. They are very much in love and their lives are centered on their church. When Fred proposed (yes, he had an audience...long story) I had tears in my eyes, he was so eloquent. He asked Marie to enter into a life with him and God and that he believed with God's help they would make it. He has a giving spirit and we all love him.

Between some things I've read recently and this marriage, I've been thinking about God's call to individuals vs. God's call to married couples. Theoretically and/or theologically, would God call two people married to each other in different directions? Would God call the husband to be a missionary, and not also touch the wife's heart in that direction? If a married couple truly felt called in different directions, would you assume one of them wasn't listening to God very well, but in fact, was listening to their own wants/desires? It is disquieting for me to imagine what I would do if Hubby and I felt called to two opposing 'vocations' where if one of us said "yes" the other would have to say "no." How does a couple approach such an impasse? Could I say 'no' to my call 'for my husband?' If I insisted I indeed had a calling, wouldn't I be implying that he didn't? I don't believe in divorce, but is divorce preferable to saying 'no' to God? And what about smaller issues that couples may disagree on. If I think 'fudging' on our tax return is immoral, what do I do if Hubby insists? (This is not to imply anything against Hubby...he wouldn't knowingly 'cheat' on anything.) As I have been contemplating what I want to do when I (I mean my kids) grow up, I have thought extensively about becoming a family counselor (my Christian beliefs would be a driving force). This kind of dilemma would be hard to deal with. I believe many (or at least too many) marriages/families struggle because of the lack of some basic skills at living together. The hardest part of dealing with those families, would be any unwillingness to learn. As a teacher, not a new phenomenon. But could I handle the situations that didn't have a "good solution?" Whatever the answer to that question may be, I think I'm willing to try...and in fact may be called to do so. Fortunately, Hubby thinks this is a great idea. Some more prayer and discernment are needed. Not something to act on tomorrow, but definite food for thought.