Just in case anyone wondered...

Well, yesterday was my debut (hee hee). I found it a bit overwhelming, I hope everyone else wasn't as sick of me as I was by the end of the morning! For those of you that read this and aren't a part of my church family, yesterday it was announced at my church that I am the new Co-Director of Children's Ministry :) Remember a few weeks back I posted about a top secret job opportunity...well that was it. I officially start next Tuesday, although I've already been to one staff meeting, had a few informal things, and today I'm having a meeting with my co-director. I'm really looking forward to jumping in and getting started.

I was thinking I'd tell a little bit of the story of how I got to this point. Stop reading now if you don't want to be bored with the details. You've been warned...

It's probably no secret that Prince Charming and I have struggled financially for a long time. Sometimes it's been because of poor choices we've made, and sometimes it's been "the cards we were dealt" as far as jobs, timing of children, etc. Since I've been home with the kids we've had some pretty low points, God has been very gracious with us, but it hasn't been easy. This past fall we came to the conclusion that this would be my "last year home" with the kids full-time. Miss M will go to Kindergarten next September and the thought was I could go back to teaching. We found two local private schools that I could teach at, if they would hire me, and the kids could attend free. This seemed like the best case scenario, I would be using my abilities, the kids would be taken care of as a benefit, and we would all be in a Christian school. The only problem was it made me physically sick to my stomach to think of going back to teaching while JB was still so young, I wanted more time with my little buddy!!! It was my dream to be mommy...could this really be what God wanted?!?!?!

We really just couldn't see another way, it made no sense to get a meaningless job at The Gap (sorry if that's your lifes dream, just isn't mine), get payed very little and have to find full-time childcare for the boy. So we started to pray and prepare ourselves mentally for the process of searching, interviewing and hopefully getting a job at one of these schools.

I warned you...stop reading now if you don't want your eyes to roll in the back of your head...

All of the sudden, completely out of the blue, I was approached one Sunday morning with the news that the church was looking for a Children's Ministry person, part-time, NOW! Wait, what? I've considered this 'position' two other times, in other forms, and God never gave me peace about it. Prince Charming and I could hardly wait to get in the car and figure out if this was an option. We decided it could be, so I threw my name in the mix with the thought "I don't know why I shouldn't at least apply". Well, thankfully the process took a few months, we needed that time to really pray through this, see if it was financially helpful to us, figure out childcare, and most importantly, see if God was giving me a burden for the children, and their families, at BFC. I had multiple interviews, which could be whole different post but I will spare you, and many conversations with various church staff members and my Mom (chief babysitter). God just kept opening the doors, and we kept walking through. This has been HIS journey for me right from the start!

Through the process, not only were we thrilled to learn that this would make a substantial difference to us financially, we saw God really open our hearts and get my "teacher" juices flowing. I am thrilled to be using my training and my gifts to serve families at BFC. The thought of being part of any child coming to know Jesus, being encouraged to live their life for him and possibly sharing that with their family or friends is priceless! We feel like God has blessed us with the best of both worlds. I can contribute to my family, I can use gifts and abilities that I love using, my Mom can help with the kids and I can still be home the majority of their waking hours :) Wow, I am a child of a GREAT, BIG GOD...He provided this and I can't wait to see what He is going to do now...