A request for prayers

If I might be so bold, I would like to ask for prayers from all of my friends, both online and in person.  Here's why.  For those of you who know us well, you know that the last few years have been, quite simply, hell for us.  Our peace of mind has been totally shattered and there are days when I find it difficult to understand why this has all happened.  For those of you who don't know the story, suffice it to say that God has definitely put us through trials and tribulations.  We've come out on the other side, with the help of God and a lot of friends, but with a lot of scars for Rich, Mariah and myself. 

For the last few months, I've been working at a temp assignment that is an hour and a half from our house.  We live in the country and with bad weather the roads get dangerous.  One morning I ended up in a ditch facing the direction I had come from.  Thankfully, neither my car nor I were hurt.  I don't get home until between 6:30 and 7pm, which makes it hard to help Mariah with homework.  After I get her in bed, then I have to do my own homework.  Housework has gone out the window.  I finally made a difficult decision and called Office Team to ask them to find someone else to go to this assignment and find me an assignment closer to home.  They said they would, but as of yesterday they hadn't even started. 

I interviewed last week for a 2 month temp assignment that was 15 minutes from my house.  They chose someone else. 

Last week, I found out that 2 of the girls in the office had birthdays over the weekend.  I baked strawberry cookies and cherry chipotle brownies and took them in on Thursday for treats. 

Today, I got to work and 1 of the birthday girls handed me a card and a Lindt dark chocolate chili bar.  The card was a thank you note for the treats on Thursday.  Later, I had a long talk with the assistant dean where I'm working as a temp. She asked me how my interview went last week and I told her that even though I thought it had gone well, I didn't get the job.  That seems to be the norm lately.  The college is having a Mock Interview Day next week and she offered to put me on the list to see if I'm doing something wrong and change it.  She also offered to sign me up for some computer classes that the college offers so that I could pick up some office skills that I don't have.  Lastly, she let me know that she had discovered that I'm only getting $9.48 an hour from Office Team for my assignment.  The girl who I'm replacing had made $17 an hour, but she had been there for 15 years.  She expects a brand new person will start at $12-15 an hour.  She also said that she hopes to make a decision about what's going to happen with my position (are they going to hire someone for the 2 days a week that I'm working or make it a full time position and let the woman who has worked the other 3 days for 20 years go?)  sometime within the next 3 or 4 weeks.  Several times the staff in the office have let me know that they hope my assignment doesn't end any time soon. 

Now, here's my dilemma.  I'm going to call Office Team in the morning and tell them to stop looking to replace me - I can continue on as a temp for 3-4 weeks.  I know that I can interview for the position and I've already been told that I would have more consideration since I've been there since October.  If I got it, I would have to hire someone to help Mariah with her homework until school is done.  I would also need to hire someone to help with the housework.  Possibly the same person??  Anyone know an Alice or an Aunt Bea?  If they decide to make it full time, starting pay would be $17 an hour with full benefits.  I have been against going back to work full time for a while now for a lot of reasons - my school, Mariah -  but that's very tempting and it would go a long way towards healing some of those scars.  It's also quite possible that I could do some of my teacher's aide requirements for my degree in the preschool and kindergarten that they have there on campus.  It would be more likely if I'm already working there.

I've prayed several times for guidance regarding this position.  Since I have not been able to find anything close to home, and since Office Team has known that I wanted a replacement for over a week and hasn't even started looking, part of me is leaning towards the thought that God is telling me to stay there.  But is that me imposing my will on Him?  Or is that His still small voice speaking to me? 

I'm asking all of you to pray that I make the right decision, the decision that He wants me to make.  Feel free to pass this request along to your prayer groups and prayer chains.  I can use all the help, voices and prayers that I can get.  And thank you.

Kim