What a blessing!

I was talking to a girl from my ward last night on the way home from Enrichment. She and her husband are from Norway and have been in the U.S. for about 2 years now. Her husband will finish MBA school next year and they will return to Norway. I asked her if she was looking forward to going back home and she said, "NO!" And, I really loved her response! She explained that when they lived in Norway, they had a mortgage, a car payment, and all of the other day-to-day stresses of normal life. She is the only member of the LDS Church in her family and neighborhood, so she feels the extra stress of setting a good example for them. She said that life here is easy--all they have to do is pay rent and their electricity bill and they're done! They don't have to worry about all of the other little things that come with their normal life.

This got me thinking about Ryan's and my preparation for grad school. When fall semester comes, we will have our car paid off and will have no debt, except for school loans. To this day, I still can't really figure out why we sold our condo just to rent a place--but selling has helped us pay off our car and be in a better financial position for grad school. Also, today, I realized that renting itself is a great thing for the next two years. While Ryan needs to focus his time and energy on school, he won't have to worry about a broken water heater, fixing something broken in the house, or any other home-owner type issues. Because we are here, he will be able to focus his energies on school and preparing more for the future. It might sound strange, but I feel like all of the things that have happened in our life recently are great blessings!