Excitement

I'm feeling kind of "up" on life right now! It's an exciting feeling because I've been feeling a fair amount of uncertainty about things lately, and though I've been trying hard to put my faith in God that things will fall into place just as they should, I still worry. I'm a planner (OH, am I!) and the unknown scares me!

We knew when I quit my job that things would be tight financially and that I would need to find some part-time or at-home work to bring in a little bit of money each month. I had planned on doing childcare and hopefully finding one full time child or a couple of part time kids to bring in some cash. When I unexpectedly had some postpartum depression, things got pushed back. Steve ended up taking a longer paternity leave than we had planned (only a small part of that was because of my troubles, it was mostly just because he wanted to), which was a huge blessing! We got two whole months as a family before he had to return to work. Simply wonderful.

When I was feeling better and felt that I could start doing more than just getting through the day (ha), I posted a childcare ad on craigslist, hoping for a reply. Instead, I got scammed. I received 3 different emails from people with totally bogus stories, wanting to pay me up front, offering 3x what I had asked for pay and contradicting themselves left and right. I politely said no thank you (though Jordan thought I should write back, "Dear criminals"). I was feeling a bit discouraged after that because I had no idea where else to advertise my services.

But then! My best friend Aslan, who I am SO UNBELIEVABLY thankful for, talked to me. This girl is amazing. She and I were caregivers for Dorothy together. We were pregnant at the same time and she had her baby 3 weeks before P was born. She had to have major surgery the day her son was born and had immediate milk supply issues because of blood loss. I have more milk than we need and I pump to supplement her little guy. We've just created this incredible friendship that I am so, so thankful for.

Aslan sells Pampered Chef. And she's hugely successful at it. During the month of October there was a startup special for new consultants and she talked me into it! So I am now officially a Pampered Chef consultant. :) I'll be honest, I'm scared to death about it because it's a huge new endeavor but I'm also extremely excited because I know I can be very successful at it and can actually make some decent money to help pay the bills.

Oh, but that's not all!

I was still feeling kind of discouraged about the childcare thing because I had hoped that would work out. I knew I would have to work really hard at Pampered Chef to make the kind of money I should be bringing in. Then yesterday a friend (and former coworker) of mine posted on Facebook that she was looking for a good daycare/preschool for her 3 year old daughter. I commented that I am technically neither of those things but that I would be very interested in watching her! After texting my friend for awhile we made decisions about hours and pay and I start watching Adeline in two weeks!

I'm thrilled about these two jobs because they are both things that I can do while still being at home with my kids (something I LOVE) and I'm not spending long days at a job that I'm not happy with. I believe I will be quite happy with these jobs! :)