My New Career

I have a degree in Nutrition.  I have an associates degree in Massage Therapy.  I am an EMT and left the Air Force as a Tech Sergeant.  I just left a bank job I have worked since I was 14.  And yet here I am about to embark on a crazy journey in the most difficult career I have ever attempted.  That of a stay-at-home mom. 

I am finally excited to stay home.  I believe that staying home is where God wants me.  Yes, it will be difficult and sometimes seem overwhelming and  I will have bad days.  Yet I can't help but be inspired by the fact that I am able to help shape at least 2 little people to enter the world as a loving, compassionate, hard-working, serving, God-loving (I pray) member of society.  I get to serve my husband and family in this role and I will be learning a LOT.

Both my mom and MIL worked full-time so I had to work through some guilt about not working "as hard" as these women.  I felt that they sacrificed so much and that I was taking the easy way out. Plus, it's a little overwhelming not having some model to follow.  As in, I will be learning how to do this on my own.  Does anyone have a manual?

I have also tried this once before and I had a difficult time with it.  Staying at home with a little infant can sometimes be a bit mundane and lonely.  At least I learned what not to do.

Since the hubby and I started discussing this months ago (well, we had discussed it before marriage too) I have learned a lot and I can see how God has been working to prepare me. 

The biggest lesson I have learned is that I need to look to the Lord for my contentment, not anywhere else, including a cranky child.  The next big lesson is that I need to have a servant's heart.  I wrote a while back about serving outside of the home, but then realized that I didn't have a servant's heart IN the home first.  It has made a big difference in my home life and outlook.  Lastly, I have learned that while society will always be trying to shape what I believe, I know I am not of this world.  Because of this, I can't listen to all the messages we are bombarded with in daily life, the list long enough for a post all it's own.

So here we are in week three of my career change.  I guess I can finally talk about the fact that I left work unexpectadly early a couple of weeks ago due to family sickness and a sudden lack of childcare.  It was just too much going on and honestly, it's all still going on, but I can at least help out with family things being at home.  We are adjusting well and there have been some difficult days but overall I am so happy to be here.  My mom took Asher on Monday so I could get things done and I couldn't believe how strange it was not to have him already.  I used to leave him 3 days a week and here I was feeling like I was missing an arm.

I am praying for a somewhat smooth transition when the new little one arrives, which I can only hope will be soon at this point.  I can't believe how done with being pregnant I am! I don't remember feeling this way with the first, but I'm sure the hubby would remind me how cranky I was then too...