This was supposed to be my year

It's December 27th, 2010 and I'm on Christmas vacation reflecting on what has happened in the past ten months since I wrote in my blog. I remember celebrating New Years Eve 2009-2010 and saying to myself this was going to be my year; a year filled with decisions, growth and opportunities. I did finish my masters on December 8, 2010, defending at 11:00 a.m. in the Winn Center and then going to lunch with Dr. Jacobs and two other classmates that defended earlier that same day. We had a nice celebration at Mancy's Italian and I then went out with my family that night to celebrate my completion at Rosie's. We had a nice dinner and it truly was an enjoyable evening. Now what? I want to go on for my Ph.D, but is it a wise move. I know advancing your education, no matter what your age, is internally beneficial. But the cost, how much in loans can I take on? Will expanding my education, receiving my Ph.D help me financially? Since Robbie died, working and living on a Catholic school teachers salary has been a paycheck to paycheck experience. After 4 years I need to be able to be able to put something aside but there is never anything left. What to do, what to do? Maybe 2010 was my prepping year so 2011 would be my year; the year when I can close my eyes at night without financial worries.
As far as my Ph.D, I think I would like to pursue curriculum and instruction again. I truly am an advocate for the arts and believe that the arts are a way in helping our students obtain true understanding. Through my research for my masters so many scholars were addressing the education of our children of the 21st century and how the traditional way of teaching was not meeting their needs. I have thought of many ways of implementing the arts into core curriculum studies. The question is: how to get educators to listen? Maybe 2011 is the year that some of my ideas, ideas that use the arts to teach, will be recognized as concepts worth pursuing.