I need to stop making plans for my life.
I’m not sure why I haven’t learned this lesson already. It seems that every time the Lord changes my plans I just make new ones from that point. Then, He surprises me again, disrupting my plans, and then I make all new plans. My new plan is not to make any plans.
The plan was that I would stay home with our kids until they were in school full-time. I left an amazing teaching job to be home, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I have been operating within that plan for the past 8 years. There have been many difficult days, especially when my firstborn was a baby. I missed having conversations and full nights of sleep, but we had such precious time together. Then, there was baby #2. It was busy just doing the most mundane things, and I’m so glad for that.
Everyone says the time goes quickly, and it truly does. It’s hard to remember all those hours that we filled with board books, blocks, and things I can’t even remember. Then one went to school, then we brought another one home, and I spent the past year home with my two girls. Now, as one goes off to school in the fall, the plan was that I would stay home with our youngest for a few more years. This past spring, I was trying to wrap my mind around what it would be like just to have a little one at home. We could visit the bigs at school, take trips to see my mom, and get a lot of one-on-one time. The house would stay cleaner and would be quieter. It would be strange, but it would become the norm.
Then, everything changed.
For the past 6 years, my hubby has been working with a client whose business was temporary. We knew from the beginning that it would end, but we didn’t know if it would be a couple years or many more than that. We have been so blessed that this work has lasted for all of these years and has allowed me to stay home with the kids. However, this client’s business is now changing, and that has forced us to make a big change.
I need to work full-time.
The only word I can use to describe those first couple weeks as that idea set in is devastated. I wanted to still be home with my little girl. I wanted to be able to send the older kids off to school, pop in to see them at lunch, and pick them up from school. I wanted to continue working within my plan because I obviously know what’s best…
But the Lord had already worked out His plan. He provided an incredible job for me that I am so excited about. He provided an amazing plan for my youngest to stay home with wonderful care. He continues to provide awe-inspiring reminders that He is in this (*more on this later*), and I know He will be with us through this adjustment.
So…
This fall, I will be returning to the classroom! I will be teaching freshman and sophomore English in a remarkable district located a short commute from our home. The principal and team I’ll be working with are impressive in their approach to education and their care for students. There is no doubt that this will be a great fit! There are still moments where it’s bizarre to think about leaving for work every day, and I do get sad when I think about the SAHM portion of my life being over, but I know this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
I’ve made lots of comments about how 2017 was filled with so many changes and that we were going to try to avoid anything big in 2018, but here we are! Please do pray for us, especially the girls in our family, as all three of us will have very different looking lives come fall. Thank you!