Well, I’ve got 3 weeks of work under my belt and things are going great. I can only attribute it to God’s grace. It was a really, really tough transition for me, but it stretched my faith to crazy new heights which has been such a blessing! I have a whole new appreciation for prayer and scripture. God brought to mind verses that I’d memorized decades earlier and they provided so much peace and encouragement.
It has also been awesome to see how “real” God truly is. I have always had a very cerebral faith that God could handle things, but it’s become so much more visceral since I really had to depend on Him more than ever before. My prayer is to continue to take a “heart” approach to my walk with Him rather than a “mind” approach.
I’m finally up to speed with things at work and I’ve gotten adjusted to the stuff that changed while I was gone. I’d forgotten how easy it was to get out of the groove. I mean, I used to have an adjustment period after a 1 week vacation and yet somehow I thought I’d be 100% after 8 weeks away?!
Grace has also adjusted really well to our new daily grind. She has gotten so much better at napping which has made her so much happier when she’s awake. Throughout her sleeping, eating and playing routine I’m able to get alot done for work. My laptop, home office phone and high speed internet allow me to be very productive and part of the team even from home.
In addition to working at home, I spend 3 half days at the office and Andy is home to watch Grace. After alot of prayer, consideration and number crunching we made the decision for Andy to reduce his hours at work. He’ll now be working only 2 shifts/month which is the minimum needed to be considered a contingent employee. This frees him up to have more study time, more family time and to be home with Grace while I’m at the office. Our budget has certainly tightened up, but I think it’s definitely worth it for the peace of mind that I’ll have when I’m away from the house. Plus we get Andy home on the weekends!! Woo hoo!
This weekend we headed over to the Ferndale DIY Street Fair. We went last year and really enjoyed it, so we thought it would be fun to take Grace this year. Here are a few pix:
Andy and Grace heading into the fair.
Grace and me.
Notice her little tongue sticking out…she loves to taste the air! We noticed this on the beach during our vacation and just thought she liked the salty air. Turns out she liked the taste of the street fair too!
Andy and Grace perusing the selections in the beer tent.
Grace patiently waiting for us to make our beer selections.
Happy with our selections and ready to tackle the rest of the fair.
Awww… you three are a darling family!!!
I had a really great time with you and baby bear today at the fair! Hopefully that is the first of many such fair adventures in the future!