for all the inquiring minds out there who wonder what in the world I do all day, here it is.
first, a little background info...
ever since bobby and I got married, my life has been anything but routine or ordinary. I figure most people get up and go to the same job everyday of their life. that's what most people I knew growing up did. that's what I did shortly after graduating from college. I had a pretty great job (at the beginning) just north of pittsburgh and I figured I would do that everyday til I started having kids, then maybe even after that with the help of daycare, or whatever. and I would marry someone that did that also. maybe we could even carpool. haha. but my "prince charming" wasn't in pittsburgh, he was in oklahoma. but he did have the 9 to 5 job. so would we get married and both work 9 to 5 jobs together? nope. we moved to st louis for him to go to seminary. for four years bobby worked at the same job, but it was ups, so the hours changed a few times, and classes filled his off hours. and as for me, I was never able to find that stable 9 to 5 job for very long... I worked as a nanny/personal assistant, an admin, sort of a project manager, and then a travel agent/sales consultant... the goal was to make money to pay rent & bills while bobby worked to pay for seminary. our life was not ordinary.
then he graduated seminary and entered another masters program and we moved to a farm in a very rural county in southwest pennsylvania. sound ordinary to you? definately not. bobby was enrolled full-time and then had an assistant-ship as an academic advisor which paid for tuition. we were able to live rent-free so my need to work wasn't imminent. plus, there were a lot of animals/pets on this farm so I helped out when I could. (if you've read my blog for awhile you have seen lots of pictures of said animals that we miss so dearly!) it seemed like a pretty good setup for awhile. then the need arose for some additional income (aka doctor bills) so I took a job at our church. oh yeah, I forgot to mention that bobby was also the assistant pastor at our church and in charge of the youth group. soon we were both working at the same place, and once a dweek we carpooled to work! my dream came true. ha.
fast-forward to august 2009, our time in pennsylvania came to an end and we moved to oklahoma where bobby accepted the call (sounds better than "took a job") to be assistant pastor at our church / church planter apprentice. once again, I was upheaved from my job, familiar surroundings, people I knew, etc. what to do now?
here's where I finally get to the point of this post!
as many of you know, the only job I want right now is to be a SAHM. since that hasn't happened yet, I struggle daily with "my calling." I really do love the flexibility & freedom of not having a full-time job, which is really great when your husband is a pastor and has very erratic working hours. it's also great when you move to a new city because I can take time to explore the area, establish roots (whatever that means), hang out with & get to know people, and mostly set up our house because this is the first time we've ever owned our own home. so, what does my typical day look like? lately, I have been getting up around 730, make coffee, and bobby & I catch up on our social media outlets, read the news, blogs, devotions. then he goes to work and I finish my coffee & reading. (drinking coffee is a new thing to me, so I'm really enjoying it) then typically I clean the kitchen & bathrooms, workout in some capacity, shower, talk to my mom on her lunch break, then decide how to best utilize my afternoon hours. I've been trying to do a lot of home projects, so I usually have HGTV on while I'm cleaning out & organizing closets and/or the garage, painting trim or furniture, of course I spend lots of quality time with my furry friends, decorating/redecorating rooms, writing & rewriting my to-do list (which is always a mile long), bills, errands, grocery shopping, laundry, and before I know it, bobby is home from the office and it's dinnertime. (I'm also newly involved in a bible study which meets weds mornings.) I realize that what I do during the day, most people accomplish in the morning before they go to work or in the evenings, but our evenings usually do not allow for such things. and we keep a pretty late schedule so I would not be getting up any earlier to do them either. (I know... I would if I had to...) most wednesday nights we go to OURUF which doesn't end until 11 pm. that's just one of the community events that bobby likes to participate in. he really loves being with people all the time (a new development) so we have people over to our house all the time (which is great) but that proves that I need to spend a huge chunk of my day cleaning (and bobby is really messy. ha!)
this is quite a timely post because last night at small group (which bobby leads, here at our house) we talked about work & callings, specifically what proverbs has to say about the subject. I feel convicted when I read about the the diligent vs the sluggard/slothful. because frankly, somedays I'm not very productive and I fear that God (and bobby) will judge me because I'm not working full-time, outside the home, and I also feel guilty for not providing financially for us and our future. So this is definately a struggle for me. I want to be the "do-everything proverbs 31 lady" but I don't know how. I want to make some extra money, but I don't want a job to ruin our current lifestyle. Plus, I don't even know what I would do. Do I just work & do whatever, like I did the past 6 years, or do I try to pursue a career? I want to have a baby, but unfortunately for us, that takes a lot of money. How about all those catch 22's?
I have more thoughts on this subject... maybe I'll do a part 2 someday.
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