When I first thought about being a stay at home mom, the other thought that quickly came was to home school my children. The thought of trying to home school my children on my own seemed very overwhelming. Their education is so important that I thought I wouldn't be able to do it any justice. Therefore I was considering an online e-learning school. This way I had both the curriculum in front of me as well as the accountability to make sure I was on track.
As I considered this more, I was a little concerned at trying to keep up three kids all in different grades and log enough time etc. A local radio host recently switched to homeschooling her children and talked on her blog about the curriculum coming and all. I started to think, well if I can get an entire curriculum, then that will be my guidance and ensure my kids are "keeping up with their grade".
The other benefit to traditional homeschooling is that I could put my older boys on the same curriculum. Currently, one is in first grade and the other in second. But my first grader is already reading at a third grade level and basically breezing through first grade. I would consider putting both of them on a third grade curriculum.
I had lunch with a good friend of mine last week to discuss homeschooling and what she does with her children. I started researching curriculum's and homeschooling conferences. I am learning more and more and will continue to post things that impact us here.
So that is the direction we are heading in now.... homeschooling our children next year. I'm still relying on God for wisdom and guidance but figure it's a lot easier to steer a moving car. If I move in the direction I feel that God is leading, I can trust that He will turn me if I'm going the wrong way rather than staying still until I'm sure one way or another. As I've heard it before, "You can't turn a parked car".
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Redeeming The Time
Last Wednesday on the way to work, I once again was struggling with whether or not quitting my job was lacking wisdom or exercising faith. I prayed this morning "Lord, you're going to have to have someone I trust tell me straight out what to do" It was a quick prayer, but prayed with sincerity and need. On the way home I was listening to Moody Radio and there is a little segment called Redeeming The Time. The 30 seconds of dialogue really spoke to me. I sent a note to the radio station to get the transcript. Here is a link to the transcript.
http://www.lifechangingseminars.com/read.php?requested=1184
It wasn't "someone I trusted" per say, but it still felt like God was speaking to me. I even started crying in my car. It's so amazing to me when you feel like the Lord is meeting you right where you are. The part that really got me was "One way to know God’s will is to ask the question- “What activity is there, that I and only I, can do, that if done well could have great results throughout eternity?” "
Wow.
http://www.lifechangingseminars.com/read.php?requested=1184
It wasn't "someone I trusted" per say, but it still felt like God was speaking to me. I even started crying in my car. It's so amazing to me when you feel like the Lord is meeting you right where you are. The part that really got me was "One way to know God’s will is to ask the question- “What activity is there, that I and only I, can do, that if done well could have great results throughout eternity?” "
Wow.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Food for thought
Last weekend the in-laws were over. My sister-in-law wanted an update on where we were. I told her a little bit about what's been going on. She encouraged me that this decision wouldn't only have physical effects, but would also have powerful spiritual effects as well.
Something my brother-in-law said though really made me think. He said sure you can continue to work and get out of debt and get the budget to where everything works, but then who gets the glory? It would be easy to look at myself and everything that I did to make the finances come in line. He said if we make this move and trust God to meet our needs and bring the finances, then who gets the glory?
Hmmm, food for thought......
Something my brother-in-law said though really made me think. He said sure you can continue to work and get out of debt and get the budget to where everything works, but then who gets the glory? It would be easy to look at myself and everything that I did to make the finances come in line. He said if we make this move and trust God to meet our needs and bring the finances, then who gets the glory?
Hmmm, food for thought......
Friday, January 7, 2011
That's Plan B?
A few weeks ago, I was pursuing Christian schools pretty heavily. One particular school had really caught my attention and I was seriously considering how we could send our children there next year. Well I was at least leaving it as an option.
I spoke with my husband about my thoughts and he said he really didn't know how we could afford to do that. My response was "well then what are we going to do?" He proceeded to tell me quite firmly that he really thought I needed to quit. Not firmly in a mean way, but in an assured way. His confidence about the matter kind of struck me.
Me being a planner of sorts (long term planning, not day to day) wanted options. Well if that doesn't work out, then what is Plan B. He said Plan B is status quo, we do what we're doing now... au pair for child care, kids in public school, etc. Hmph, that wasn't a good plan B to me. I feel like change is necessary, but with the cost of Christian education, the options surely were limited.
We talked some more about the situation and he pretty much said he is SURE this is the route we are supposed to take -- me quitting. God has been moving SO much in our lives and speaking through other people that it can't be leading up to staying status quo. I agreed, but my question comes down to one of timing. I don't doubt that I will quit and be home with my children, but the bigger question is WHEN??
I thought for a while about what he said. I asked him if he was willing to do whatever it takes to make up the extra money we would need. He said yes.
The things we talked about had my mind reeling for days. Biblically the man is the leader and head of the household, so it wouldn't surprise me that God could give him a clear peace and "knowing" about this situation. However, I was still struggling with the idea. The fact is I WANT TO STAY HOME. I want to stay home a LOT! Therefore, I feel like that may be clouding my vision.
I remember when I was single, I had a crush on this guy in my bible study (not my husband). At one point, I felt sure that God had told me I would marry him. Well as the months passed the crush faded and obviously I didn't marry him. I was so blinded by infatuation that I really had no idea what God was speaking, and if He was speaking at all in that situation.
I'm kind of afraid of the same thing here. Therefore, I've kind of been on this roller coaster. One day I think we'll be able to do it and the next I'm considering working forever.
I pray for greater clarity and wisdom. I want God's will most of all!
I spoke with my husband about my thoughts and he said he really didn't know how we could afford to do that. My response was "well then what are we going to do?" He proceeded to tell me quite firmly that he really thought I needed to quit. Not firmly in a mean way, but in an assured way. His confidence about the matter kind of struck me.
Me being a planner of sorts (long term planning, not day to day) wanted options. Well if that doesn't work out, then what is Plan B. He said Plan B is status quo, we do what we're doing now... au pair for child care, kids in public school, etc. Hmph, that wasn't a good plan B to me. I feel like change is necessary, but with the cost of Christian education, the options surely were limited.
We talked some more about the situation and he pretty much said he is SURE this is the route we are supposed to take -- me quitting. God has been moving SO much in our lives and speaking through other people that it can't be leading up to staying status quo. I agreed, but my question comes down to one of timing. I don't doubt that I will quit and be home with my children, but the bigger question is WHEN??
I thought for a while about what he said. I asked him if he was willing to do whatever it takes to make up the extra money we would need. He said yes.
The things we talked about had my mind reeling for days. Biblically the man is the leader and head of the household, so it wouldn't surprise me that God could give him a clear peace and "knowing" about this situation. However, I was still struggling with the idea. The fact is I WANT TO STAY HOME. I want to stay home a LOT! Therefore, I feel like that may be clouding my vision.
I remember when I was single, I had a crush on this guy in my bible study (not my husband). At one point, I felt sure that God had told me I would marry him. Well as the months passed the crush faded and obviously I didn't marry him. I was so blinded by infatuation that I really had no idea what God was speaking, and if He was speaking at all in that situation.
I'm kind of afraid of the same thing here. Therefore, I've kind of been on this roller coaster. One day I think we'll be able to do it and the next I'm considering working forever.
I pray for greater clarity and wisdom. I want God's will most of all!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Technology and Hope
So I think there's one more story that needs to be told before moving into current day stuff. I had spent the past five years of my career as a Business Systems Consultant (BSC). Prior to that, I was a programmer for 10 years. Being a BSC meant dealing a lot with people. I facilitated meetings, created processes, mapped processes, implemented solutions, dealt with organizational change management, the list goes on. I started finding myself missing the technical part of my programming job. Sure I was implementing new software solutions for our customers, but really dealing with the process and people parts of the project, not the inner workings of the software. I started looking for jobs in Information Technology (IT) within our company. What I did not know is that once you leave the IT department in our company, it's pretty hard to get back in. I had applied for numerous tranfer positions and none of them seemed to pan out.
A few months ago, around August, a Quality Assurance job came up on the job board. It fit my qualifications almost perfectly. I had been implementing Oracle eBusiness Suite modules (a software package supplied by Oracle) in my old position and this job was to test those pieces of software among others. I applied for the position and went through the interview process.
I got the job!
The reason this is something to mention is that my old position would not allow any part timers to work less than 4 days a week. I have considered trying to work 1-2 days a week to make up for the income we will be lacking, but that was never a possibility before. I'm not sure what this position holds, if I may have more opportunities for flexibility or not, but at least now I can hope! Plus I really love what I am doing again. It's fresh and new and right back in the technical world.
Even if it's just temporary and I do end up leaving, I still believe God's hand was in it all!
A few months ago, around August, a Quality Assurance job came up on the job board. It fit my qualifications almost perfectly. I had been implementing Oracle eBusiness Suite modules (a software package supplied by Oracle) in my old position and this job was to test those pieces of software among others. I applied for the position and went through the interview process.
I got the job!
The reason this is something to mention is that my old position would not allow any part timers to work less than 4 days a week. I have considered trying to work 1-2 days a week to make up for the income we will be lacking, but that was never a possibility before. I'm not sure what this position holds, if I may have more opportunities for flexibility or not, but at least now I can hope! Plus I really love what I am doing again. It's fresh and new and right back in the technical world.
Even if it's just temporary and I do end up leaving, I still believe God's hand was in it all!
Monday, January 3, 2011
A byte of success
So here it was end of May, our babysitter, Sarah would finish out the month. Hannah, our weekend babysitter would fill in for two months and then Iza, our au pair would arrive in August. We basically were set with child care for the next fourteen months. This was when the thought of July 2011 started to come to me.
Maybe if we really focused for the 14 months, paid off some loans, we would be able to make the jump at the end of July 2011. I really hesitate stating that "God said this" or "God said that", because its just so hard to know. Unless an audible voice spoke to me from heaven, I still question in my heart is it me or God? So not knowing if this was the Lord or not, July became a line in the sand to strive for.
As I mentioned earlier, my husband really started looking for a career change the second time he left construction. When we got married, he worked in construction and even then I could already see the up and down cycle, the dependency on weather, the changing of jobs consistently just to chase the work. Shortly after we got married my husband decided to pursue a degree in computers. I had gotten an associates degree in computers and had a very successful career in the field. My husband pursued a 2 year degree at the same college I had attended. When he graduated, I suggested trying to get his foot in the door of a large company that he would then be able to grow with. He landed a job on the help desk of a large insurance firm. Little did we know at the time, that because it is such a large company you only get exposure to little pieces of work. He spent the next five years on the help desk, never getting the chance to do any hands on computer work, which is really what he wanted to do. After 5 years of just taking phone calls to solve people's computer problems, it basically only made him qualified for a glorified customer service job. He became very frustrated with his job and tried looking for others outside of the company. As I mentioned, with no hands on experience, he really wasn't qualified to do anything really technical. A maintenance job came up in his current company, so he jumped at the chance to just do something new and something with his hands.
Now making templates for marble and granite surfaces got him a little exposure to technical things. The computer/laser setup he was using was pretty high tech and fascinated him. Even still, he was keeping his eyes open for computer related jobs, classes, opportunities, anything!!
An email came out from our church that a local computer shop was hiring a level 1 technician. Okay, okay, I know you know he already got the job from the previous posts, but it was a cool road to get there. So hang with me...
He decided to apply. Not really having any computer experience except for those initial five years and that experience being almost five years old in the computer industry meant that getting this job was a long shot to say the least. But it couldn't hurt to try right? Plus God was already moving in miraculous ways in our lives and we were fully trusting Him to direct our paths.
My husband's current schedule consisted of very long days and lots of traveling, sometimes near 12 hour days. Trying to fit in an interview schedule was going to be tough. Plus he had only been at the company for 4 -5 months, so its not like he had vacation time to work with. The owner of the company called and requested an interview. My husband explained his situation and the owner graciously offered to interview him on a Saturday! How cool was that!! He didn't even have to miss a day of work.
My husband went to the interview dressed in his best suit looking all spiffy. The owner interviewed my husband and proceeded to tell him during the interview that when he saw this large insurance firm on his resume, he called a good friend of his who also worked there on the help desk. Would you believe, this "good friend" was the guy that sat next to my husband for well over a year! They were both Christians and basically totally hit it off. AND the "good friend" grew up with the owner and had known him for years. The down side of the interview was that my husband really lacked the skills they were looking for, go figure!
My husband came home pretty sure there was no way he would get the job. He did his best to convince them that he could learn quickly and pick up the skills they needed very fast.
Surprisingly, Monday morning, they called him back and requested a second interview. They also offered to have the interview over the phone during the lunch hour on Tuesday. We were both shocked and just thought, "Ok Lord, this is totally in Your hands!"
The second interview went as well as you could expect. My husbands knowledge was pretty much on a bunch of old technology. The only plus is that somewhere near the end of that five years on the help desk, we forked out a bunch of money for my husband to attend a Cisco networking certification course. My husband had taken the test at the end of that week and came close to passing it, but we didn't have enough money to pursue it further. His CCNA (Cisco certification) knowledge and relationship with this good friend was all he had going for him. Oh of course it helped that the Creator of the Universe was going to bat for him too :-)
Amazingly they offered him the job. The owner and other managers that worked at the company shared that they had prayed and felt like my husband was who they were supposed to hire.
Praise the Lord, my husband had gotten a job that could really be a career path and as an added bonus, it was only 3 miles from home!!
Maybe if we really focused for the 14 months, paid off some loans, we would be able to make the jump at the end of July 2011. I really hesitate stating that "God said this" or "God said that", because its just so hard to know. Unless an audible voice spoke to me from heaven, I still question in my heart is it me or God? So not knowing if this was the Lord or not, July became a line in the sand to strive for.
As I mentioned earlier, my husband really started looking for a career change the second time he left construction. When we got married, he worked in construction and even then I could already see the up and down cycle, the dependency on weather, the changing of jobs consistently just to chase the work. Shortly after we got married my husband decided to pursue a degree in computers. I had gotten an associates degree in computers and had a very successful career in the field. My husband pursued a 2 year degree at the same college I had attended. When he graduated, I suggested trying to get his foot in the door of a large company that he would then be able to grow with. He landed a job on the help desk of a large insurance firm. Little did we know at the time, that because it is such a large company you only get exposure to little pieces of work. He spent the next five years on the help desk, never getting the chance to do any hands on computer work, which is really what he wanted to do. After 5 years of just taking phone calls to solve people's computer problems, it basically only made him qualified for a glorified customer service job. He became very frustrated with his job and tried looking for others outside of the company. As I mentioned, with no hands on experience, he really wasn't qualified to do anything really technical. A maintenance job came up in his current company, so he jumped at the chance to just do something new and something with his hands.
Now making templates for marble and granite surfaces got him a little exposure to technical things. The computer/laser setup he was using was pretty high tech and fascinated him. Even still, he was keeping his eyes open for computer related jobs, classes, opportunities, anything!!
An email came out from our church that a local computer shop was hiring a level 1 technician. Okay, okay, I know you know he already got the job from the previous posts, but it was a cool road to get there. So hang with me...
He decided to apply. Not really having any computer experience except for those initial five years and that experience being almost five years old in the computer industry meant that getting this job was a long shot to say the least. But it couldn't hurt to try right? Plus God was already moving in miraculous ways in our lives and we were fully trusting Him to direct our paths.
My husband's current schedule consisted of very long days and lots of traveling, sometimes near 12 hour days. Trying to fit in an interview schedule was going to be tough. Plus he had only been at the company for 4 -5 months, so its not like he had vacation time to work with. The owner of the company called and requested an interview. My husband explained his situation and the owner graciously offered to interview him on a Saturday! How cool was that!! He didn't even have to miss a day of work.
My husband went to the interview dressed in his best suit looking all spiffy. The owner interviewed my husband and proceeded to tell him during the interview that when he saw this large insurance firm on his resume, he called a good friend of his who also worked there on the help desk. Would you believe, this "good friend" was the guy that sat next to my husband for well over a year! They were both Christians and basically totally hit it off. AND the "good friend" grew up with the owner and had known him for years. The down side of the interview was that my husband really lacked the skills they were looking for, go figure!
My husband came home pretty sure there was no way he would get the job. He did his best to convince them that he could learn quickly and pick up the skills they needed very fast.
Surprisingly, Monday morning, they called him back and requested a second interview. They also offered to have the interview over the phone during the lunch hour on Tuesday. We were both shocked and just thought, "Ok Lord, this is totally in Your hands!"
The second interview went as well as you could expect. My husbands knowledge was pretty much on a bunch of old technology. The only plus is that somewhere near the end of that five years on the help desk, we forked out a bunch of money for my husband to attend a Cisco networking certification course. My husband had taken the test at the end of that week and came close to passing it, but we didn't have enough money to pursue it further. His CCNA (Cisco certification) knowledge and relationship with this good friend was all he had going for him. Oh of course it helped that the Creator of the Universe was going to bat for him too :-)
Amazingly they offered him the job. The owner and other managers that worked at the company shared that they had prayed and felt like my husband was who they were supposed to hire.
Praise the Lord, my husband had gotten a job that could really be a career path and as an added bonus, it was only 3 miles from home!!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
A Polish Blessing
My husband spent the first twelve weeks of this new job out of town for training. Luckily he was home on weekends, so I wasn't completely by myself for this entire time. This twelve weeks proved to be a good test for me. I was very nervous about having the kids myself for such long periods of time. Not that I couldn't handle it, but I think because I'm gone most of the time, when I come home, I get swarmed. After a tiring day at work, sometimes its just too much.
It taught me a lot though. I was able to handle it very well. I had the proper mind set to come home and start dinner right away, get through the homework, baths, and then too bed.
This job was looking so good. My husband thoroughly enjoyed what he was doing
About 7 months prior to this, in the midst of job changes and being laid off, our babysitter found out she was pregnant. Luckily, she was due in June, so we were able to line up our weekend babysitter (a high school student) to watch them for the summer months. I had every expectation that Sarah would be coming back to us after 6 or 12 weeks. We had very open discussions about the summer with her.
At some point around April she mentioned that she was considering looking for a position closer to home. She had been driving about 40 minutes to our house every day and in the winter through lots of snow! She didn't want to bring her new baby that far every day, let alone through the snow.
The child care discussions started again.
Could I quit in the summer of 2010? My husbands job was paying overtime... we started looking at the possibilities. There was just no way. BUT, this was the closest we had ever been.
We started looking for other babysitters, but it seemed that in two years the cost of care for 5 children had gone up. We quickly landed on getting an au pair because it was the most inexpensive route for child care, ensured that someone was here when the kids were sick, and no matter how much snow fell, she would be here.
I've already spoke about the matching process for locating an au pair. Considering you are inviting someone to come live with you for a year, conducting interviews and exchanging emails is hardly enough information to know if someone will really work. I really started to pray as we looked for an au pair that we would find someone who meshed with our family. From our previous experiences, we were determined to make this year work with whomever we chose.
In order to meet our mid-summer goal for arrival of our au pair, we had to match with someone by the end of May. Cultural Care takes your application and tries to systematically match you with candidates that meet the qualifications you are looking for. We were given three candidates initially and contacted all of them via email. What I quickly found is that having five kids was just a tad intimidating. I had exchanged emails with two young ladies from South Korea a few times to find out after a few days that they did not think watching five kids was for them.
The other option with Cultural Care is to look through the list of candidates that are not currently matched or potential matches for another host family. You generally have a little bit of information about them and some of them even include a video about themselves. Once you request that they become a potential match for your family, then you are able to see their entire application. I found a young lady from Poland whose father was a Baptist minister. From what I could see, she looked like she might be a good candidate. This was the first and only candidate that I had specifically requested to be a potential candidate for us, the rest had been supplied by Cultural Care's matching process.
When I first began communicating with Iza, the polish young lady, via email, she informed me that she was really hoping to be with a family who had girls. She was also a little surprised with us having 5 kids. She immediately asked us about our relationship with Jesus and the church we attended. For me this was a good sign, if she was asking about it so up front, I knew it must be important to her.
I spoke with her on the telephone, as is required by hosting an au pair, and what really stood out to me was her sense of humor and spunk. I really enjoyed speaking with her and her English was pretty good! I asked if I could speak with her in a couple of days. The next phone call (you are required to have 2), my husband and I both spoke with her. My husband thought she had a great personality as well.
Little did I know at the time, that Iza was also praying for a good host family. As we spoke with her she prayed about coming to stay with us. She had been waiting nearly 2 months after she put in her application with Cultural Care with absolutely no potential matches to even consider. She had just started to think, "okay Lord, is this what I'm really supposed to do?" Our email arrived in her inbox the next day!
As a blessing to both of us, God had his hand in bringing us together. Iza took on the challenge of watching 5 children, 4 of them being boys. We matched with her and planned for her arrival date to be the first week of August.
In hindsight, as it is of course now January, Iza was a true blessing from the Lord. She has been a great temporary addition to our family and has been wonderful with our kids!! She is very dedicated both to working for us and to her relationship with the Lord. We are very blessed to know her!
It taught me a lot though. I was able to handle it very well. I had the proper mind set to come home and start dinner right away, get through the homework, baths, and then too bed.
This job was looking so good. My husband thoroughly enjoyed what he was doing
About 7 months prior to this, in the midst of job changes and being laid off, our babysitter found out she was pregnant. Luckily, she was due in June, so we were able to line up our weekend babysitter (a high school student) to watch them for the summer months. I had every expectation that Sarah would be coming back to us after 6 or 12 weeks. We had very open discussions about the summer with her.
At some point around April she mentioned that she was considering looking for a position closer to home. She had been driving about 40 minutes to our house every day and in the winter through lots of snow! She didn't want to bring her new baby that far every day, let alone through the snow.
The child care discussions started again.
Could I quit in the summer of 2010? My husbands job was paying overtime... we started looking at the possibilities. There was just no way. BUT, this was the closest we had ever been.
We started looking for other babysitters, but it seemed that in two years the cost of care for 5 children had gone up. We quickly landed on getting an au pair because it was the most inexpensive route for child care, ensured that someone was here when the kids were sick, and no matter how much snow fell, she would be here.
I've already spoke about the matching process for locating an au pair. Considering you are inviting someone to come live with you for a year, conducting interviews and exchanging emails is hardly enough information to know if someone will really work. I really started to pray as we looked for an au pair that we would find someone who meshed with our family. From our previous experiences, we were determined to make this year work with whomever we chose.
In order to meet our mid-summer goal for arrival of our au pair, we had to match with someone by the end of May. Cultural Care takes your application and tries to systematically match you with candidates that meet the qualifications you are looking for. We were given three candidates initially and contacted all of them via email. What I quickly found is that having five kids was just a tad intimidating. I had exchanged emails with two young ladies from South Korea a few times to find out after a few days that they did not think watching five kids was for them.
The other option with Cultural Care is to look through the list of candidates that are not currently matched or potential matches for another host family. You generally have a little bit of information about them and some of them even include a video about themselves. Once you request that they become a potential match for your family, then you are able to see their entire application. I found a young lady from Poland whose father was a Baptist minister. From what I could see, she looked like she might be a good candidate. This was the first and only candidate that I had specifically requested to be a potential candidate for us, the rest had been supplied by Cultural Care's matching process.
When I first began communicating with Iza, the polish young lady, via email, she informed me that she was really hoping to be with a family who had girls. She was also a little surprised with us having 5 kids. She immediately asked us about our relationship with Jesus and the church we attended. For me this was a good sign, if she was asking about it so up front, I knew it must be important to her.
I spoke with her on the telephone, as is required by hosting an au pair, and what really stood out to me was her sense of humor and spunk. I really enjoyed speaking with her and her English was pretty good! I asked if I could speak with her in a couple of days. The next phone call (you are required to have 2), my husband and I both spoke with her. My husband thought she had a great personality as well.
Little did I know at the time, that Iza was also praying for a good host family. As we spoke with her she prayed about coming to stay with us. She had been waiting nearly 2 months after she put in her application with Cultural Care with absolutely no potential matches to even consider. She had just started to think, "okay Lord, is this what I'm really supposed to do?" Our email arrived in her inbox the next day!
As a blessing to both of us, God had his hand in bringing us together. Iza took on the challenge of watching 5 children, 4 of them being boys. We matched with her and planned for her arrival date to be the first week of August.
In hindsight, as it is of course now January, Iza was a true blessing from the Lord. She has been a great temporary addition to our family and has been wonderful with our kids!! She is very dedicated both to working for us and to her relationship with the Lord. We are very blessed to know her!
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