Mommin' It Up!

August 22, 2014August 22, 2014

Everything is Awesome.

I’ve been saying for awhile now, “When Jonah goes to kindergarten [in 2 years] I’m going to have to do something more…” meaning, I’m going to have to get a job. After all, we send the kids to Christian school and it ain’t cheap. When I went to kindergarten my mom went back to school and got her master’s degree and then started a new job when I went into 1st grade…so my parents could afford to send us to the very same school where I send my kids. (History repeating itself, much?)

Not that I’m considering getting a master’s degree. GIRL, PLEASE you know I am too lazy for that. I mean I tried my darnedest to convince Emily it was too much effort when she got hers, but she NEVER LISTENS TO ME, as you all have seen many, many times. But anyway.

I’ve done freelance work, both blog and non-blog-related, for a couple of years now. This spring I started a new job working just 5 or so hours a week for the video website, Faithit.com, and I really liked it. I was good at it, it paid well, and it didn’t take too much time away from my kids. Win upon win!

Everything was flowing along quite smoothly until sometime in early July when I got an email from my Faithit boss telling me about another opportunity with the parent company. Although still part-time, it would be lots more hours, and basically, it would be a real job. A big-girl job, the likes of which I’ve not had for many years. What he proposed is that I would be the editor of a new site the company is launching specifically for moms. My first thought was “There’s no way I can handle it.” The first words out of my husband’s mouth were “It sounds like it was made for you.”

Can I just say I am thankful for my husband? Those words forced me to accept the possibility that I might be capable of more than I think I am. And also that yes, when Jonah goes to kindergarten, maybe I will need a job, but maybe I will already have one. Because as I should know by now, everything in life does not happen on the time table that I thought was right.

Anyway, after lots of prayer, talking, emails and a few phone calls, I’ve accepted the position of editor of an as-yet-unnamed web site for moms. {Update, it has a name as of yesterday but I am not at liberty to say yet.} It’s going to be awe-some, y’all. It will combine humor with faith, hacks, and practical life stuff. It’s going to be funny and helpful and basically a big slice of mom awesomeness on the interwebz. I can’t wait and you can better bet I’ll be directing you that way when the time comes.

But back to the subject at hand, which is ME. I have a job. I have an awesome babysitter for Jonah (and the big kids briefly after school) 10 hours a week. I have a home office and a mobile office in various and sundry coffee shops in the Dayton area. (And a Macbook Pro, praise the LORD!!! I love it so much. )

And so far, I’m loving it. And thankful to Him who has given me exceedingly and abundantly more than I could have dreamed or asked for.

WHO’S EXCITED ABOUT BEING A GROWN UP?

THIS GIRL!

jenny at work — Look! Mobile office! Also, another gratuitous selfie for Emily’s benefit!

And I’m glad to have you riding along on this new adventure with me, too!

August 20, 2014

School is in SESSION!

Cheers, my friends. All 3 kids are in school! Although they are doing staggered start for Jonah’s preschool so he will be back home tomorrow, I AM STILL TAKING IT. Also, his preschool now starts at 7:30 which is brutal BUT I AM SO HAPPY I don’t care right now!!

I am going to savor my delicious aloneness for 55 more minutes before I have to go pick him up from preschool. Then I am going to hug and kiss him and squeeze him and take his picture because he wouldn’t let me take it this morning. I can’t wait to hear about his first day!

But right now, I have some butt to kick: housework, work work, oh and I need to fit in ONE more cup of coffee. I’ve got some exciting things going on that I can’t wait to tell you about, but…I will wait, until it’s time.

Are your kiddos back in school yet? Are you like me and happy about it or are you actually a good mom and miss them terribly? 🙂

August 18, 2014August 17, 2014

The Unknown Road

I am a girl who likes to know where I am and where I’m going. There are few things that evoke more panic in me than being lost does (one of those things is being stuck in an elevator, naturally). In the olden days, when Emily and I worked together in a suburb of Cincinnati and had flip phones and no GPS, I would constantly call her to give me directions – unlike me, Emily has an excellent sense of direction and always knows where she is. Most of the time, she knew where I was, too.

I was reminiscing about that GPS-less existence last week when I attended an event in Cincinnati. I had gone there after dropping the kids at my sister-in-law’s house just a few blocks away from mine, but I was picking them up at yet another sister-in-law’s house 20 minutes east of my own home. As I sat in my van getting ready to start the long drive to pick up my kids, I tried to decide which route to take.

I could just go the way I came, and then head east when I get downtown, I thought. There’s probably a shorter way, but I’m not familiar with the roads it will take me on, I’m sure. I don’t know what to expect. There could be construction or delays.

I put my brother and sister-in-law’s address into my GPS and sure enough, it would take me 20 minutes less to get there if I took the unfamiliar route. It was way shorter in distance and time, but I was still uneasy. Because I honestly believe I have never in my life traveled the section of highway and subsequent back roads I was about to take to get to my children. These roads were completely unknown to me. They were known to whatever magic satellite in the sky communicates with my GPS and thousands of other people, but not to me.

You’re an insane person. I told myself. It’s 20 minutes shorter. It’s the way everyone goes from where you are now to where you need to be. Trust in the magic satellite and get on your way.

Apparently I am good at giving myself motivational speeches, because that’s exactly what I did. I followed my GPS’ instructions. I traveled an unfamiliar highway and subsequent backroads. I passed exits and towns I’d never passed before. And I arrived, safe and sound, in a very timely manner.

But while I was driving, I felt a voice inside me, not my own, telling me, “You are living a metaphor, girl. Sometimes I ask you to follow the unknown road. You don’t always have to see what’s ahead of you. You just have to trust that I will give you the directions, and then you have to follow them.”

Instantly a verse sprang to mind; a verse I memorized long ago and which both my big kids have memorized for school as well. It’s one I can rattle off without a thought, which is sad because there is no point to rattling off scripture without a thought. There should be lots and lots of thoughts devoted to it. But anyway. It’s Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.

I have friends that are this very week embarking upon their own unknown roads. Some are homeschooling their kids for the first time and others are pursuing adoption and they can’t even believe they’re doing it because “WHAT? ME? No way!” – they never saw themselves going down this unknown road. But they are not leaning on their own understanding of what they thought their lives were going to be like. They are acknowledging that God’s ways are not their ways and they are trusting in His promise that the unknown road will get them to where they are supposed to be. They are following something much better than the most high-tech GPS – something real but unseen. Kind of like a loving, gracious, powerful, infallible version of the magic satellite in the sky.

Although I didn’t encounter any bumps on the literal unknown road I took a couple of weeks ago, I do know that God doesn’t promise that our paths will always be easy when we follow Him. Our paths will often be rough…but they will be straight. And they will lead us to where we are supposed to be. And if we trust in Him, that’s all we really need to know.

Have you ever put one foot in front of the other on the Unknown Road? I’d love to hear about it.

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Photo Credit: Nicholas_T via Compfight cc