Nothin' like a little phone call from the ol' madre to get you thinking...

Let me just say that our God is an Awesome God. Sometimes it takes us rehashing our current events to someone for us to see just how blessed we are, as was the case today. I was talking on the phone with my mom today and just sharing how things were going and talking about how I was heading back into the workforce. For those of you who may not know, I took a year off from teaching to stay at home with our baby (who is now one!). Wow, looking back I can't believe we made it on one income. We had to make a lot of budget cuts and did some major re-figuring of our finances, which wasn't super fun, but it was 100% worth it. When you have a child, you realize some things just aren't as important as they used to be. Thanks be to God for blessing me with the opportunity to stay at home with Kate and to just be there with her during her first year. There were a lot of milestones that I was able to witness and share with her that I feel I may have missed if she were in daycare somewhere. Now don't get me wrong, everyday wasn't bright, cheery and perfect. There were definitely days that I just wanted to go and crawl in a hole somewhere, days I felt like I had lost my identity. Thankfully those times were way out numbered by days that were filled with laughter, celebration, and smiles. After talking with many other women with children, I realize that I was truly blessed to be able to stay at home for a year.

Now, headed back to work, I have mixed emotions. I am excited to be able to teach again and to take part in some adult conversations on a daily basis. I am also looking forward to bringing in some income for our family. On the other hand, I feel a bit sad about leaving Kate everyday and I know that the first few days, weeks, (okay, months) will be hard on me and I'll probably arrive at work a little red-faced and puffy-eyed in the beginning. But I do realize that having a job is another blessing from God. God listens to even the smallest details as we pray and knows the desires of our heart. For the past four years I have taught in the school which I attended as a child. However, it's in a different area than where I live now so I applied for a job in the county I now reside. I ended up getting hired for the position and it is exactly what I wanted! I used to joke with my fellow teachers that I would love for someone to come in and teach my math lessons for me. (Math is not my fave subject.) I also often joked about how I should have majored in P.E. Well, that is exactly how my new job worked out. I will be teaching 3rd grade reading, writing, and science (no math!) the first half of the day and the second half I will be teaching P.E. Believe it or not, the school is so small that it only needs a PE teacher for half of the day. Another blessing!

The only other problem I had to worry about was who was going to keep Kate? Nothing against daycares, but I really wanted someone I knew to keep her either at their house or ours. M to the Izz-A says that I want too much and that I need to realize that every situation can't be perfect all the time. Well ,I know that, but couldn't we at least try?? After talking with some people at church about our situation, we ended up finding someone for the job. Our Sunday school teacher told us of someone who had kept her children in the past. Well, it turns out that she is very interested in keeping Kate! Seriously, blessing after blessing, God still never ceases to amaze me at the things he does for me.

The sad thing is, I never really took the time to sit back and realize that every one of those things were direct blessings from God. Yes, we had prayed about each one of them but I guess life happens so fast sometimes that when things finally worked out, we felt relieved, and to be honest, probably started worrying about the next thing on our list. Today just really opened my eyes to how awesome our Lord is. We (I) exert so much energy with worrying that when doors finally open for us, it's all we (I) can do to fall into them with a great sigh of relief. I know I didn't do anything to deserve the blessings God gives me but I am truly thankful for all He does. He is constantly blessing us...but I fail to give him thanks and glory like I should. Anything good that happens in my life is because of Him.

Quick pic of one of my GREATEST blessings!

I know this wasn't the most exciting, quick-witted post I could have written, but it was on my heart, and if nothing else, maybe it will give someone encouragement and insight...it did for me. To God be the glory, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!


This blog brings to mind one of my favorite songs by Chris Tomlin - Indescribable. It's worded way better than anything I've typed today.

"In everything you do, put GOD first, and he will direct you and crown your effort with success."
Proverbs 3:6



P.S. On a side note, what I had originally planned to post today (before my mom called and got my emotions running!) was a straight up awesome recipe I found in my grandma's recipe box with corn as the main ingredient. I'll post it soon! I know you're gonna LURV it!!