Day 8: Things You Hope for In 2012

I am going to cheat a bit and switch days 7 and 8.  I already have the post for day 7 and have had it completed for awhile, but it is saved in a place that I do not have access to at the current moment so it will have to wait!  It is a good post, one that I cannot wait to share!  But, here is today's post (which is actually supposed to be today's post anyhow).

Day 8:  Things You Hope for In 2012

There are several things that I am hoping for in 2012.  The main thing right now would be for Justin and I to both have stable, full-time education jobs for the 2012-2013 school year.  I hope that Justin will be able to continue working where he is currently working, but that he will be able to move to a kindergarten position.  I also hope that this position will pay him at the level he is supposed to be at, with 8 years experience at a Masters degree level.  I am hoping that I will be able to continue working at my school as a school counselor.  I have heard (unofficially) that they are no longer talking about cutting an elementary school counselor position for next school year, and I am hoping that is the case.  Seeing as I am now the counselor on the very bottom of the totem pole (since the only person below me left for another job in another place), I would be the one on the chopping block.  I also hope that at some point Justin and I will be able to either stop working our second jobs or that we will just be able to use the money for fun things, or to save for McKenna for college.  Right now we need to work our second jobs just to make ends meet, and with my second job being seasonal, that doesn't make things any easier.  Justin stopped working his second job this past March or April so that he could spend more time at home on the weekends and evenings with McKenna and I.  Unfortunately he recently had to re-apply and will start working again tomorrow (after teaching a full day) from 6:00-10:15.  Then of course he will have to get up on Tuesday morning and teach all day again!  I am hoping that 2012 will be a time when we don't have to worry so much about how we are going to pay all the bills on time, buy groceries, etc. 
I am also hoping that in 2012 we may have a little brother or sister for McKenna!  We're not getting any younger and I don't want our kids to be too far apart in age (2-3 years apart would be great).  I tell people that I am not having any kids past the age of 38, and I always get the "Oh, people have kids into their 40s nowadays" line.  That is fine for other people, but it is not what we plan on doing.  So, if I am talking to you about having another child or children and I tell you that my cutoff age is 38, please don't tell me what I stated above.  I would like to be under 60 when my kids graduate from high school, thank you very much. 
I also hope that in 2012 I can re-connect with some friends that I have been out of touch with.  There are a couple in particular that I have not been very good at keeping in touch with and I'd like to be a better friend and better about keeping in touch with them.
I think that's a pretty good explanation of my hopes for the coming year. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually come to fruition.