When Are You Going to Get a “Real Job”?

February Challenge Question 5:

5. Disregarding the amount of the paycheck, what career would you love to have?

Being a stay-at-home mom and housewife. That’s really disregarding the paycheck, isn’t it?



Me being housewifey. :)

In college, I decided that is what I really wanted to be.  I did enjoy school and working toward a career, but the college I first attended has this great children’s library on campus, so there were always moms on campus with their little ones, and I told God—that’s what I really want. And I feel like God told me that I could have that; I didn’t have to have a big career.  That brought me so much joy.

But when you are in college, you are working toward a career, and as time passed, I became very career minded again.  I decided that I wanted to go on to get my master’s in English and become a professor. And I started working toward that goal, even after I met Michael.  He knew of my dream to become a stay-at-home mom, and it was his dream that I could do that, too.  But I kept pursuing a career as an English professor.

After we were engaged, I started thinking about this whole becoming a professor thing more and more.  Michael supported my decision to go to grad school, but what was God’s will?  Would this be a wise decision for our family?

Then one Sunday morning, I got on my knees and really began to seek after God’s will on the issue. I asked if He could please provide me answers at church that morning.

Well, He did.

That morning, almost one year exactly from today, my pastor preached on 1 Peter 3:1-7. You can listen to the sermon here. (Listen if you can.  It’s so good.)

1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. 3 Your adornment must not be merely external -braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses ; 4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 5 For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands ; 6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. 7 You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman ; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. 1 Peter 3:1-7

God spoke straight to my heart that morning through Pastor Lance.  He said, “Women have been taught in our society that they have to go out and do something 'great'…Ladies, what could possibly be better than fulfilling your God given role that God gave to the woman in the garden with Adam  in being his helpmate [and] ministering to your children.  If you think something is better than that, you have clearly bought into the world…The greatest woman in the world is ministering to her husband and her children.” I wanted to be that woman.  I want more than anything to be the woman that God has called me to be. I also remember Lance telling the women of the church that we didn't need a Master's degree.

I silently  thanked God in my pew seat, rereading the words of Peter.  I had His answer loud and clear. 

After church, I told Michael I wanted to have lunch alone together because I wanted to talk about the sermon with him.  We sat down at Arby’s together with our beef melts, and I told him what I got out of Lance’s teaching that morning.  To tell you the truth, I was a little nervous about telling Michael I was thinking about not going to grad school. I didn’t want him to think I was a cop-out. But I just didn’t think it was a wise decision for me to go, and I had just read “do what is right without being frightened by any fear.”

Here are some of the reasons why I knew it was not a wise decision:

First of all, it would cost us lots of money and we would just have more school loans over our heads.  Second, we both want to eventually adopt, and me going to grad school would just make it even harder for us to do that, financially speaking. Third, my degree would take me at least two years to complete, and I wouldn’t even have been starting it until a year from then. Plus, I felt like I would need to use the degree and become a professor after I graduated. So how many years would that take? I wanted to have kids and be a stay- at-home mom before however long that could possibly all take.  It just didn’t make sense for me to go back to school.

And to my surprise, Michael was happy with my decision.  He didn’t want to keep me from going to grad school (He believes education is important.), but he agreed that it was a wiser decision for our family for me to not go back to school.

On my drive home after lunch that day, my shoulders felt so much lighter.  The burden of school and a career were taken away from me.

Today I’m an English tutor for two local community colleges, and I know that God is using this season of my life to prepare me to be a mom, so I am living my dream—I’m right where God wants me.  And even though people frequently question my decision to not go back to school and ask me when I’m going to get “a real job,” I know I have made the right decision.

We are planning to wait a few years before having kids.  We’re saving money to be able to buy a place to keep the little boogers—a one bedroom apartment just isn’t going to cut it. Plus we need to be in a place financially where I can stay at home. I can’t wait to see little feet pattering around!

Oh, and any advice you might possibly have for us right now in this season is much appreciated.

So what is your dream job?

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Some yarn I've been wanting was on sale today at Michael's!

Isn't it yummy?!

I can't wait to get started on new crochet projects!

   

Diamonds and Ice

It’s day 4 of the February Challenge.  I hope you will join in the fun!

Here is today's question:

4. What are your feelings about birthstones? What about zodiac signs? The Chinese calendar?

I think birthstones are very pretty.  My birthstone is the diamond, and that is my favorite birthstone. My hubby wishes my birthstone wasn’t so expensive, but he has bought me one ring with my my birthstone in it: my wedding ring.

Photo by For Keeps Photography



I never really saw many diamonds close up and in person until I got my engagement ring.  They really are gorgeous.  (God has made lots of pretties for us to enjoy, hasn't He?) Sometimes I still hold up traffic, because I get caught up staring at my ring, not realizing the light has turned green.

(By the way, the trick to keeping your diamond sparkling is to let it soak for a while in some warm water with just a tad of dish detergent mixed in it.)

As for the second part of the question, I don’t pay any attention to that other stuff, zodiac signs and the Chinese calendar.

Other news, I don’t know if it snowed last night (It was cold and dark outside, and I didn’t venture out.) but it did ice a bit.  The bottom steps of our apartment building iced over, and it was funny watching Miss Scruffy slip down each one.  (Don’t worry.  She’s low to the ground. She was fine.) I also realized that I quite like the sound of ice encased Magnolia tree leaves rustling and knocking against one another in the wind.

Natural Nails Covered with Boots & a Puppy Photo Shoot



It’s the third day of the February Challenge! It’s still not too late to join in the fun! For more information, visit Minty Fresch’s blog. 

Here’s question number 3:

3. Are your nails normally painted or bare? If they’re normally painted, what color?

My nails are normally bare. This is because a) when I paint my nails, I will most assuredly chip them in the next minute and I just think chipped nails look bad; b) I just don’t think to paint my nails, and c) my hubby doesn’t like painted nails, because he thinks they look cheap.

I do like getting French manis and pedis.  I think they are really pretty and clean looking. Plus, it’s just relaxing to get your nails done.  I’ve only gotten a French mani and pedi two times in my life: for prom and my wedding.

Also, I enjoy painting my toe nails in the summer—I think it’s fun.  I usually wear brown or deep red toe nail polish.

But right now it doesn’t matter what my toes look like, because I’ve been covering them up with socks and my knock-off Uggs from Target. It is freezing in Houston! Literally freezing! It’s supposed to snow! This doesn’t happen very often, and for that reason I really don’t think I would do well moving any further north from here.

One fun thing about the cold, though, is that I get to dress Miss Scruffy in her little winter coat, and today I realized I didn’t have any pictures of her wearing it, so we had a little photo shoot session. :)

We got this stylish coat on clearance at PetSmart...
right after she pooped from excitement on the store floor.





The camera loves you, Miss Scruffy.




The lighting really brings out your whispy stray hairs.



"Being cute makes me sleepy."



She didn't really want to take this photo, because it was walk time.



Bonbons, Do-Do, and Itineraries…Oh, My

It’s the second day of the February Challenge! It’s not too late to join in the fun! For more information, visit Minty Fresch’s blog.

It’s Day 2, so here’s question 2:

2. You have the entire day off and you’re not allowed to do any work, what do you do?

Eat bonbons and watch Lifetime!

No, that’s what my husband jokes about me doing when I don’t have work.  (I’m an English tutor for two local community colleges, so when the students are off, I’m off.) Anyway, I tell my husband, “Don’t be silly Sweetie, I crochet and watch Lifetime,” which I do do some times. (“Haha, you said do-do.” That’s what my husband would say.)

So I might do that, crochet and watch Lifetime.  I might blog. Or just read. Or get together with my mom, or sis, or other girlfriends. Or work on stuff for my good friend’s upcoming bridal shower. (I’m a matron of honor! So exciting!)

Now, if my hubby isn’t working either, then I’ll hang out with him. We like planning day trips together when we are both off.  So we’ll pick out a new Houston restaurant to try out, like Empire Café, and somewhere fun to visit, like the zoo or the Japanese gardens (where he proposed to me by the way J). My husband likes to schedule our days (Every. Day. This is something I had to get used to when we got married.) So I’ll throw out ideas of things to do, and he will build us an itinerary. And then we will go have fun!

What about you?

Why I Like My HEB and an Almost Scary Encounter I Had There

It’s the first day of the February Challenge! Hooray! For more information, visit Minty Fresch’s blog.

Here’s today’s question:

What grocery store do you generally visit and why?  Is it your store of choice?

I’m a fan of HEB.  (I already wrote some about this in a recent post about my coupon clipping craze.) I go to the HEB down the street from me—it’s about 5-10 minutes away from our apartment, which I love because grocery shopping can be time consuming already. (I started going during the week, though, instead of on Saturday, and that has helped.)

Why do I like HEB? Well, what can I say?  I like good produce and good deals.

What I like about my HEB in particular is that it’s small—it’s not one of those mega HEB’s.  Big stores overwhelm me.  I get lost.  I can’t handle all the decision making they require. I need small.

Also, the other customers at my HEB are very friendly. For example, the other day I was buying toilet paper, but after I put my 12 roll pack in the cart and started to stroll off to find ice cream, this heavy set woman, who looked like she had 8 kids and two of them were delinquents, called me over to her. “Me?” I pointed to myself. “Yes, you,” she said. I thought I was in trouble, and I was afraid to walk over to her. (And I didn’t have anyone nearby to hold my earrings for me if we got into a fight.  Okay, I’m kidding.  I’m not a fighter.) I walked over to her anyway, because I didn’t want to be passive aggressive.  She stretched out her hand and gave me an in-store coupon I missed for the toilet paper. “I’m telling you,” she said, “You got to save every penny in these hard times.” What a sweetheart!