I'm sitting here at home with my coffee while Finn is asleep in the crib, and I am overwhelmed with thankfulness in all the Lord has done with my family recently.
I've always known that I wanted to stay home once we had kids, but Jeremy and I were not in a position for me to be able to do so when we found out I was pregnant with Finn. So we prayed and prayed, sought out counsel from other couples and diligently searched for a new job for Jeremy.
As we hoped for things to move, the Holy Spirit gave us steadfast patience, comfort and peace. I knew the desire to be home with Finn was a good thing from the Lord, and His Word says that He will grant my heart's desires as I delight myself in Him. We were to praise and find joy in God and rest assured that He would fulfill His word in His time. So that was what we strove to do.
God gave us major signs of His hand at work as we praised, sought and waited. They were such acts of grace and they spurred us on to faithfully believe His good plan. A few examples were:
• We have great friends and mentors, Kevin and Shannon Chafin. After talking to Shannon about wanting to stay home, she said she would be praying that there would be some way for me to be home soon. The week she began praying was the week I went back to work at Philips and as soon as I returned I found out that they were closing our office. Being forced out of a job wasn't the way we expected me to be home, but I knew this was God's way of me stopping work.
• Also, when I was about go back to work in October, Jeremy told me that his goal was to have a new job in six months. Like I said above, I found out our office was closing and this would be...April 1. Six months away. This was more confirmation that God was working. Another friend of mine, Natalie, encouraged us to pray specific prayers. So, in the meantime, we began praying Jeremy would get a job at Boeing.
• During my last week of work I was asked to extend my contract two additional weeks in order to oversee the move of our office. The reason this is so cool is because I did not get paid for my first two weeks of maternity leave due to a misunderstanding. Working the two extra weeks made up for the two I missed earlier.
These happenings were not just by "happenstance." The timing and details were too perfect to not know that the Lord was completely over this. It brought such joy in my heart to know God cares so much about us that He would show us these steps in our journey and provide in the ways He did.
Now I get to be here (this is the setup of ours and our neighbors front yards for when our babies play together)...
...and see this silly face more.
But we'll still go to Mrs. Nilsa's weekly so that the two Pebbles and Bam Bam can hang out.
Oh, and if you're wondering if Jeremy got a job within this six months, the answer is
YES and it was at...
Boeing. God is so very good.
