Our journey actually started about four
years ago, but we have now truly reached the countdown to our new beginning.
For the last 20+ years of my life, I have
worked. My first job was waiting tables at my Gramps' restaurant at the
age of 13 and I haven't stopped since. Giving up the "freedom"
of my own income is a scary prospect for me. Not because my husband isn't
trustworthy, but because I am a "do it yourself" kind of girl, I
relish self-sufficiency and depending on someone just isn't my style. But
ever so slowly over the last four years, God has been changing my perspective
and my heart.
Four years ago, Jason & I took Dave
Ramsey's Financial Peace Class. It was a life-changer, and ever since we
have been paying off debt and lowering our overhead. Our focus at first was to become better stewards
of our money. Now, after the birth of
our beautiful baby girl, it’s been to become a one-income family.
It's amazing how priorities shifted
after Liv's arrival. The all-consuming job I had worked 6 days a week, 10
hours a day was suddenly mundane. So much more important were my baby's
first smiles, steps, words…and God melted away a little piece of my
career-oriented heart. It kept me from going back to work full-time, and
taught us we could live on less.
Then came my desire to be a better wife,
to make our home a place my husband wanted to come home to, and my Grandma came
to my mind. Thinking of the Proverbs
woman, she is the image that comes to my mind.
Smart, hard-working, respectful but not run over, she is the type of
wife I aspire to be. She could mend
clothes and kids, while keeping up her garden, landscaping her yard, managing a
beautiful house and putting home made meals on the table… all while leaping
buildings in a single bound! A lot to
live up to I know, but maybe if I make baby steps I’ll be halfway there by the
time I die!
At any rate, in the last year, I have
learned that less is more, that gardening won't kill you (although as I child I
was convinced that is what my Gram was trying to do to me), and that there are
simple joys in things like yard work, canning, laundry, sewing and homemaking.
I have gone from wanting a new car to wanting chickens and a clothes’
line, from buying 4” heels to size 6 toddler shoes, and from loving my job to
wanting to stay home.
The whole process to me has been amazing;
I never saw these things in myself until recently. And now, the countdown has begun. I’ve put in my notice and my last day is July
31st. I feel a little like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole. This is a whole new world to me, but my journey is beginning and I
am looking forward to seeing where it takes me.
