Wednesday, May 21, 2014

We have ourselves a missionary in the family

My baby brother got his mission call today. Yay! He was called to the Brazil Curitiba Mission and leaves for the Brazil MTC on October 22. I am so proud of Brother for choosing to serve, even though I am going to miss him like crazy!! Congrats Zach. I am super happy for you.

Life is full of surprises

For the past two weeks bitter sweet feelings have been devouring my soul. You see, I am no longer working at the library, you know, that job I had that I mostly loved. I have so many mixed emotions about this change in my life. Things were definitely going downhill at work and I was missing so much of my son's life working there that it began to be a struggle to go to work everyday. I do miss my job. I miss some of my coworkers terribly. I miss having a life outside of the home.

But....

Oh how I love staying home too. I always said I would never be a stay at home mom but oh my goodness these last two weeks I feel like I have fallen in love with my kiddo all over again. The days I worked I was only able to see him three or four hours a day. Now I spend the entire day with him and already our relationship has grown. He may only be nine months old but I know for a fact that he loves his mommy and he loves when she is home with him!

But...

There were days I struggled too. Like on Monday when I didn't get out of my pajamas all day, because really, what was the point? Or last week when his top teeth were popping through and I wondered who exchanged my angel baby for a little monster. And how all of a sudden I go to bed every night more exhausted physically and emotionally than any day I worked at the library.

But... (are you sick of my buts yet?)
......
However...

My kitchen has never been cleaner. I have time for cleaning, laundry, yard work, walks, fetch with Zorro, and so many other things that I never really made a priority to fit into my hectic schedule as a working mom. I am so pumped that I get to go on all my mini vacations with my family this summer and don't have to pick and choose because I don't have enough vacation hours saved up. I don't have to plan family time around my days off. I have seen my mom more in the last two weeks than I had in the last two months. I am now faced with so much freedom! It's completely liberating.

Financially though, we are still trying to work things out and see if we can even afford this one income thing. I have been thinking that maybe even a part time job would be okay, one where I only have to work four hours a day. Ideally I would love a work from home type job, but really, who knows. My future is pretty uncertain right now - you can add that tally mark to the con side of my ongoing list of pros and cons of working vs. staying at home. I am not a big fan of uncertainty, but I can guarantee that this new stage of life came from God and is a lesson in faith to trust Him in all things. I am both grateful and scared for this test of faith. Already it has brought me closer to my Heavenly Father so when it's all over I am 100% sure that I will be completely grateful for this test.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Pay it Forward


The other day at the library I was helping a woman who had a $1.00 fine. She handed me a ten dollar bill and asked me if I would put the extra money towards someone’s fines that really needed it because they were struggling financially or what not. She said she hadn’t done any service for the day yet and so decided that this would be her service. I was very touched by this. It sounded like she tried to do something like this at least once a day. What a great way to live right? All that she asked was that I ask the person who received the money to pay it forward in some small act of service for someone else.

A little later on a new mom came in with her three small children and a newborn in her arms. She had a substantial fine (for the library anyway) and said that she hadn’t been able to bring the books back on time because she was on bed rest and maternity leave. I decided that this would be the perfect person to give the money to. When I told her that someone had paid for her fines she was shocked and seemed so incredibly grateful. I told her that her benefactor simply asked her to do some kind of service for someone else in return. The lady said that she most definitely would and thanked me profusely, though I didn’t do anything.

I know nine dollars doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it kind of was to me. And I’m sure it was to the woman who received it. It inspired her and all of the librarians to do something kind and pay it forward. I want to live like this generous woman. I may not have a lot of excess money, but I can do small things. She made me want to pay it forward, and I hope this story makes you want to too! 

The Divine Calling of Motherhood

It's late. I need to be in bed right now, but the pull to write is stronger than the pull of my night time meds, so .... here I am. T...