New Job

So I was a victim advocate.

Then I got a great new job as an educator teaching life skills classes to soldiers and their families.

Now I am making another job change starting Aug 18th.

It’s in a similar field.

It involves supporting a soldier and will definitely put my life skills knowledge and my marriage and family therapy degree to good use.

The hours are longer but the pay is amazing with lots of bonuses too.

Oh and the commute is awesome.

Have you figured it out yet?

I am going to be a…..

Homemaker!

Pick up your jaw and give me a chance to explain my not so socially acceptable choice to leave my blooming career of training hundreds of soldiers to folding laundry and handing my husband a beer.

I have always been pretty ambitious and motivated. Heck, I potty trained myself at 18 months! I pushed my way through high school finishing at 16. Finished my bachelors at 18. Finished my masters at 22. All with the goal of filling in the blank in the sentence “I am a _______.”

Of course I wanted to fill the blank with something I could be proud of and people would react with “Oh, really!” Then I could feel fulfilled, smart and successful.

All the while, playing lip service to “seeking God’s will for my life”.

I am not saying that I didn’t genuinely want to become a Marriage and Family Therapist or help people or that that wasn’t part of God’s plan for my life.

What I am saying is that in my search for my “true” identity, I lost it.

I was searching for recognition and a way to feel proud and accomplished in the world’s eyes.

In the end, I was left ashamed by my neglect of my husband, my home, my church, and most importantly, my relationship with God.

I realized it is much more of an accomplishment to be a good wife and mother than a therapist.

I also realized that I had been blind all along to God’s will for my life.

The Bible is perfectly clear in this.

The infamous Proverbs 31 woman is a homemaker. In Titus 2 Paul encourages older women to teach the younger women to be "workers at home". All throughout the Bible you see the great holy women faithfully supporting their husbands and raising their children.

I am not trying to make the blanket statement that women shouldn’t work. I am making the statement that a woman’s first priority is to her husband and children.

All this deep philosophical/theological thinking of course came with some practical experience as well.

I am going to be very honest, it’s embarrassing but, our house is a pig sty. It’s really dirty and really messy, almost all the time.

Stephen and I hate it. But after a long day at work, neither of us want to clean. The dogs don’t get walked or brushed. And everything is neglected.

What really did it was when Stephen’s work became really stressful and he would come home beat and upset. I was too tired from work to deal with him let alone take care of him and help him relax. How silly is it that all my energy and time was going to help strangers deal with stress and have better marriages all the while neglecting to help my own husband.

This reminds me of a quote I recently read that states this well: "Much of the world would agree that being a housekeeper is acceptable as long as you are not caring for your own home; treating men with attentive devotion would also be right as long as the man is the boss of the office and not your husband; caring for children would even be deemed heroic service for which presidential awards could be given as long as the children are someone else's and not your own."

In Genesis it describes the first woman, Eve, as “a helper suitable”. As a working woman, I was in no way being a helper suitable. A clean house, good food and a caring wife is much more help to my husband than a paycheck.

So after much talking and prayer we made the decision that I would quit my job, tighten the belt and stay home. It may be difficult at times but we both feel it is the right decision.

That’s the short answer to the “why?” Did you pick up your jaw yet?

So now inquiring minds want to know, what will I be doing with all this “free time”?

Read my Bible and pray daily

Make things from scratch like bread, pasta, pasta sauce, pesto, humus, peanut butter, ice cream, sorbet…etc

Keep the house spotless (hard to do with 3 dogs, 2 cats and a husband)

Laundry (Stephen has had to do his own since we’ve been married)

Keep up our fruit, vegetable and herb garden

Preserving and canning any extras from the garden

Go to the farmer’s market weekly

Be more involved in church

Walk the dogs daily

Go to yoga twice a week

Run regularly

Become a certified Doula

Become a certified Yoga instructor

Volunteer at the local crisis pregnancy center

Learn to play the violin Stephen bought me for Christmas

Get back into photography

Get back into sewing

Get back into general crafty/artsy stuff

Read more

Put together a detailed family tree/history

Blog more

Be more generous with my time to help friends and others around me

Eventually have beautiful babies that will not have to go to daycare and will be
homeschooled

“Free time”? What free time?

I am excited about this new adventure.

I just hope I am up to the task.

Keep me in your prayers that I may be faithful and persevere as a true "helper suitable".

- Megan - Homemaker Extraordinaire (in training)