Just Remembering

God changed my heart long before my circumstances changed. I found myself desperately wanting to be at home but I wasn't. I found myself wanting to homeschool, but I wasn't. But this evening I'm reminded of some of the blessings that God poured out on our family during that time.

I had quit work and stayed home one year, babysitting for extra money. We were broke. I had to go back to work at least part time. Being the teacher's aide at a preschool doesn't pay well so I eventually found myself as the part-time secretary at our church. This was a job I had NEVER done before and I was a little lost with the financial part of it, but it was not that stressful. I guess when you work for people you've known all your life, it makes you relax.

Anyway, because of that job, I was able to pull Sweetheart out of her public school (where she was floundering) and enroll her in the private Christian school in our church. ALL OF US....Little Bit, Sweetheart, and I drove to the same building each day. This was really something new! Little Bit went to 4 hours of daycare down the hall, Sweetheart went to 1st grade down the other hall, and I was right there in my office.

Why was this so significant? Well, the two reasons I had been praying so hard about getting home was 1. I wanted to physically take care of, and raise, my children and 2. I wanted to be the one in charge of their education.

So it hit me tonight that both of those prayers began to be answered before I was even home. There was the day that Sweetheart had an accident at school and the teacher just came to get me. Off she and I went home to change and back to school. No big deal. There was also the day one of the lunch ladies called my office from the kitchen,

"Have you seen the bite on your daughter's leg?I told her I had and that we had put medicine on it that morning.
"Yeah, that's what she said. Um....you wanna come down here and look at it?"

It turned out the bite was infected and she had a bump on her leg the size of a walnut. I took her right on to the doctor and it was taken care of. Had I been working across town and she in a public school cafeteria....do you think that scene would have played out the same?

God had let me be *more* involved with the physical care of my children!

And obviously, since I was just there in the building, I was also more involved in her academic life. Conferences with the teacher? We ran into each other in the hallway all the time! (Also good for sneaking hugs in from my daughter!) I could walk down there anytime and peek in or chat with the teachers to find out how she was doing. It was still frustrating to watch her get bad scores on tests that I would never have bothered giving her....but still. God had allowed me to be more involved with her education.

After 18 months at that job (the end of Sweetheart's 1st grade year) I found myself home. It's like it was a "bridge year" for us.

God is so good. If you are unhappy with your situation right now, PRAY. And look for His answers in ways you don't expect. I never realized until this evening that He was answering my prayers long before I thought He was.