The Lord's Provision Financially - part 2

Shortly after our one year anniversary we found out that our family would expand by one! I was extremely excited while hubby was nervous. He was still a full time student and I didn't have a job! I had just graduated with my degree in education and was pursuing my teaching career. He had every reason to be nervous about fatherhood with our situation. I don't remember ever fully worrying about this which is strange since I worry about many things. I was in the throes of morning sickness when the morning of my first interview. I can remember prying myself off the couch to be presentable and make sure I wasn't giving away the detail that life was growing inside of me. Interview went extremely well (I didn't get sick!). Now I just had to wait. I didn't have any other leads for a job so I waited and waited. I remember very vividly the call I received for the job offer! I later found out that I was in very close running with a more experienced woman. I can only explain the Lord's provision in getting this job.

Since we knew that our little one would be arriving in the spring we began to save nearly my entire paycheck, only keeping out a small percentage for living expenses. We had many things to purchase and needed to make sure we could pay our medical expenses in cash. During that time my mom purchased some maternity clothes for me (I had no hand me downs since I was the first of my friends and family to start a family). It was the little things such as these that made a huge difference so we could financially prepare for our expanding family.

When I accepted this teaching position knowing I was pregnant, I had every intention of being a working mom. In fact I told Jeff from the beginning that I would NEVER be a stay at home mom! I could NEVER do that! I began looking into day cares and even had money pulled out of my paycheck to save for childcare expenses. I believe it was right before Christmas break or so that I heard something so dramatic from the Lord that it completely changed the course of my life. Jeff and I were not considering me to be at home because it was not possible and quite frankly, I didn't have the desire to do it.

One morning in my quiet time with the Lord I heard him speak so clearly to me that I ran out to the kitchen to tell Jeff that God was calling me to be at home. His response..."I'd like that to but I don't see how its a possibility right now." I suggested we pray about it and see if we can't just make a plan that would allow me to quit my full time teaching position. I don't remember much else from there except it was so strong on my heart that I couldn't deny it even when others discouraged us. We created a very tight budget that we believed we could live on and the decision was made....I would be at home full time. We would be losing exactly half of our income for me to stay at home. I believe in January I announced it and did all the paperwork, etc necessary to let the corporation know that when my baby was born in March, I would not be returning.

This was a huge step of faith! We lived on less than the average household income and because the Lord was part of it, He made sure everything was taken care of.

The final part of my story will resume later....