Shortly after Jason and I were married - we came up with our "plan" for the next several years. We were hoping for Jason to finish his undergrad while I worked full-time and then move to Charlotte, NC for him to get his masters. Once finished with school, we would start having our family.
Its funny looking back on how different the "plan" unfolded! Within two years of Jason enrolling in school, we had our first son, Tyler. This changed things up a bit! I had never planned on being a working mom. But we juggled a few things and readjusted. My gracious mother babysat Tyler while I went back to work part-time and Jason cut down his hours at school.
Five months later, after all the adjusting, we were pregnant AGAIN!!! Our precious daughter arrived bringing a screeching halt to school for Jason and work for me. Once again we surrendered our plan to the Lord and made some adjustments.
One year later, we decided to make the move to Charlotte and began to search for jobs for Jason - school taking a back seat for awhile. Six months later, Jason received a wonderful opportunity to work at Calvary Church.
Once settled with his new job, he decided to jump back into school. We had a new plan - a revised plan! We scaled back on our expenses, sold our mini-van, and hunkered down to pay for school. We were content with Tyler and Amy and started to plan what life would be like once they started school.
I'm sure its obvious at this point what happened next. We found out we were pregnant...AGAIN!!! We were surprised and a little flustered at first. But quickly recognized the blessing this sweet little guy would be to our family. Adjustments again, but thankfully Jason graduated this past May - only about nine years after we first came up with our "plan"!!!
With three children filling our home, we thought it the perfect opportunity to homeschool and jumped aboard that adventure. Last year was a bit rocky, as this budding novice took a "anything goes" approach to curriculum. But feeling a bit more confident, we committed to a second year of homeschooling.
The confidence began to waver as the first week of school started. Not in the curriculum, or the students....more so the ability of the teacher to teach in the midst of ANOTHER pregnancy!!!! Surprise for us...we are expecting baby number FOUR!!! :-)
At this point in our life, we have learned that truly God directs our paths and has our future already etched out. Thankfully, surrender is something we have learned in the past and comes a bit easier with each adjustment. We are completely blessed and thrilled to have this new life join our family. The children are offering up gender requests with each bedtime prayer. Jackson is blissfully unaware that he will be dethroned as the "baby" of the family and officially enter "middle child" stage! And mommy...is praying that sometime during the next few weeks the miracle drug will be released that completely ELIMINATES morning sickness!!! :-)
Sweet repeat...God knows our hearts and knows what is best for this family. We are thankful for this blessing and challenge and completely surrender our family to Him!
In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
At the end of the day, if all of their chores are tucked nicely into the pocket they receive a "Mommy" dollar. Then Daddy sits down and asks them about their day and whether or not they had any discipline issues. If their answer is satisfactory....they get a "Daddy" dollar. (Jay feels like he got the raw end of the stick! :-)
