Opportunities

Staying home full time has presented me with some new opportunities and challenges.  For the past almost month, I have been busier than I ever thought I would be staying home.  I think that I had a vision in my mind about what staying home would look like, but how quickly I am reminded that my plans are not always the way things work out.   So I am going to let you in on some opportunities that I have had since staying home this year.

First I want to start by saying that I chose not to pursue a lot of things that I could have gotten involved in this year.  I am the type of person who likes to have a few things I'm involved in, but not too many things.  It could have been so easy for me to dive into many activities and then have spread myself too thin.  I prayed about each new opportunity that came my way and chose the ones that I reallly felt led to be apart of.

Library
Once a week Jaycee and I go to the Library.  In Wichita, there are a lot of libraries with lots of activities, but the one that we have been going to is in a little town about 10-15 minutes east of where we live.  They have a great program, and Jaycee loves doing the craft at the end that goes along with the theme for that day.  Lately, we have been getting there a little early, which is quite the task for me, I seem to be running behind a lot these days.  When we get there I let her choose a few books to keep for the week, and I look up ahead of time some that I want to read.  Right now I am into a futuristic series called Uglies.  I'm not sure what I think about it yet, but I will let you know.  Sometimes the books we choose are not great, and sometimes we keep them for an additional week.  It has been one of the things that we enjoy doing every week.

BSF
Bible Study Fellowship.  Every Wednesday morning Jaycee and I go to Bible Study Fellowship.  It is a Bible study for women and their kids.  What I like about this program is that whatever lesson for the week that I am learning, Jaycee also learns too.  They give me a lesson guide as to what types of things she talked about and what kinds of questions to ask her.  This year we are studying Genesis.  I have never taken such an in depth look at how God formed our world.  It is pretty amazing the way that He had a specific order as to how he created each part of our world.  So far I am getting so much more about how much God loves me through reading Genesis in such an in depth way.  I can also tell a difference in Jaycee too.  They have been showing her how to have quiet times and interacting with others while learning about God's love for us.  I need to really do more follow-up than I do on the quiet times with her.  I think it is a great thing to teach at a young age.  We both are really looking forward to what God is going to teach us this year.

Church Days
This kind of fell into my lap.  One Sunday morning when we were picking Jaycee up from her class in church, there was a sign in the nursery looking for help.  Our church is pretty big, so they need help all the time.  I started volunteering one Sunday a month in Jaycee's class, and started to get to know the nursery workers.  I asked one of the ladies about the sign, and they said that they were needing some extra help some mornings and evenings.  They also said that this was a paid position and I could do as many or as few hours as I wanted.  The other really great thing about it is that I can bring Jaycee with me.  It gives me a scheduled time to get out of the house, while giving Jaycee time to play and learn with some other kids her age.  I never thought there was a job like that out there.  So once a week Jaycee and I go to church and have a "church day".  I also help out one evening during the week or weekend.  While these days get us both up and out earlier than I would like, I am glad for the opportunity to help, serve, and make a little extra cash for my family. 

A couple of days a week Jaycee and I have days just for us.  I like those days, because there are not structured activities and we can have fun doing things that we want to.  Some of our favorite activities lately have been playing in our new basement.  I borrowed a Mandisa cd from my friend a couple of weeks ago, and we have been singing and dancing to it.  I made up a game with her about some stars that I used for bulletin boards at school, and she goes up to the top of the stairs while I hide the stars.  Then she has to comes down and tries to find them all.  One day we played this game for close to about 40 minutes.  I couldn't believe how a simple idea that I came up with on the spot kept her attention for that long.

I am grateful for the many blessings and opportunities that God has brought my way.  Had I not been obedient in quitting my job, I would never have known that what I really needed was a slower pace for myself so that I could better serve my family without stress and deadlines.  I believe that God has been working on my heart and is teaching me so much about myself and the way that I see him.  I do miss the adult interactions at times, but I enjoy how I am seeing my daughter learn and grow.  We do have our moments where we need time apart from each other, and that is when Tom steps in and takes over or at least gives me a little break from being mom for a while, but the positive things I see far outweigh the challenges that I face. 

the ehrlichs