Down to two options

neither of which keeps us in the new house. :(

After some serious discussion, some financial modeling, and many mutual tears... we agree we have to sell the new house. We call the realtor upon our return. Either we are moving to a new community to "follow the money" in the same career path and the corresponding lifestyle and goals (path A), or..

we are emptying every asset category, to zero out all debt (and savings) and start again, as if we were going on the mission field or something that drastic, in order to send me to grad school full time (path B) and change careers (to something that will eventually pay 1/4 as much but may be more rewarding in other ways.)

Either way... we sell the house and repack.

All avenues in between those two extremes have been reviewed, judged, and found wanting. What we don't know yet is... which one of these "extremes" do we choose? Which path do we go down?

In the meantime, we put the house on the market, we apply for financial aid, convert the 401K to something we can raid if needed, and keep applying for work in our respective fields/markets. And... we pray. Maybe in 4-6 weeks, we'll know a direction again. Of course, there was a time not too many weeks ago where we thought we knew exactly what that was...