Stay at Home Mom Goes to Work…and Likes it

My husband and I have always agreed that I would be a stay at home mom. We stacked the list of supporting reasons to include (but not limited to)

-making the few years you get to teach your children to, well, teach our child(ren).

-most likely any job I would score would not bring enough income to pay for childcare let alone gas to get there.

-I would be able to spend the time and energy on creating healthy meals for the family

-housework can get done so evenings can be more family oriented

…so on and so on…

I’ve always liked the saying “Want to hear God laugh? Tell Him your plans”. We always think and plan but the future is always at least a little different from we imagine.

We were seven months pregnant when we moved so my husband could attend grad school. Crazy. I know. I still don’t know how it all worked out-but it did! Then the opportunity arose for me to work part-time for an after school program at a local school. My husband is going to school full-time and also works diligently at three jobs (it was four but the paper route proved a bit too much). Not only is he a hard worker, but he’s an incredible husband and father. Thank God for this man. When this opportunity to take some weight off of my husband’s broad, strong shoulders presented itself we couldn’t say “no” because -get this- our son is welcome to come to work with me! PERFECT!

I have always been the type of person who was smiling and singing and exceptionally happy no matter what was happening. “The worst thing that could happen is death, but then again that would be the best as it would be the moment I would meet my Lord” was my mantra. The past year or so has been the worst of my life, but at the same time has been the sweetest, most humbling, grace-filled year I’ve ever lived. God’s people have been too kind to us. Blessings have flown freely and flooded my family. God truly is good. This job has been rough on me, though. I have had jobs I’ve disliked more and that’s for certain. There is something over whelming about this vocation that I’ve been entrusted with. This is the reason I was shocked to feel what I felt the first day back after Christmas break. JOY. I was overcome with joy. I smiled and strangely felt a familiarity I hadn’t expected to feel- not here, not now. Although we pulled into town from our excursion to see the family over Christmas days ago, it was this moment I finally knew I was home. Ha, who knew?

Well… funny question. God knew.