Home with My Kids

It is my hope that by sharing this piece of my story another woman may be encouraged to wait upon the Lord and His timing. There have been many long days, weeks, months. Times of questioning and doubting. Moments of reflection and refocusing. We serve a great and mighty God who sees our big picture even when we are stuck in the everyday and if we wait upon Him we will be rewarded.

My journey of coming home began 4 years ago as I was at the start of a maternity leave for my third child. Following the birth and blessed one year leave we get in Canada of my first two, I had returned back to my downtown job in the oil and gas industry. I liked the work and the people too but as challenged as I was, I never felt satisfied and would frequently find myself daydreaming of what I could be doing if I was at home with my kids. I was in a very fortunate position to have my mother looking after them so it was never a question of the care they were receiving but my struggles with the fact that I was not the one providing it.

This particular maternity leave forced me to lay my hopes and dreams on the table for discussion with my husband. He absolutely saw the benefit of me being home to care for our children but reality was it would cause us great financial strain and no matter how much he supported me if we could not pay the bills it just would not be feasible. My journey from that point forward became two-fold. I knew I wanted to be home with our children and needed to physically find a way to do so and I knew that I had to have faith and believe that if being home is what God intended for me then He would lead me to the right path.

I am just a little bit of a control freak (hey, before kids I was much worse but trust me having four kids there is no way you are in control of everything always) so letting go of my plans enough to let God nudge me in the right direction was hard. Over these past 4 years of working towards my goal of being home with my children, I have been drawn closer to the home and life that God would have me lead. I had wandered and strayed and avoided but now I am finally finding my way back into a fulfilling relationship with God and wow has it had its blessing on my family.

God did open doors and I began running a private dayhome finding new clients from recommendations. The income source was enough to allow me to be at home for my children but because most of my dayhome kids were little (under 4) and demanded so much care I have never really felt like I achieved the goal of being home with my children. I have spent much of the past year praying over how this could ever be a reality but God knew my heart and provided once again. This past fall, my husband got a new job, something he had been actively pursuing for over a year, that has allowed me to give notice to my final dayhome client.

I am so thrilled that in a little over a month, I will finally be able to say that I am home with my kids. I thank God daily for working his timing and plans for our lives and I know that so long as I am seeking His will He will provide.

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