Flying without a Net

Today Paul is officially fully self-employed! In June he gave his employer notice that he would be leaving, and yesterday was his last day at his job. He has been employed full-time at the job he just left and has has his own business for over 3 years now, and it was just too much. He could not grow his own business the way he really wanted to, give his employers the time and effort they deserved, be fully involved in our family life, serve at church, and sleep enough every night. (Don't worry, he didn't sacrifice his family or short-change his employer. He usually skimped on developing his own business and sleep.) Now he will have over forty more hours a week to do what needs to be done!

The girls and I will be glad to have him home more. (I've been encouraging him to go ahead and quit for a few months now!) We've decided to let the first few weeks be primarily family time, and when school starts for him to spend some focused time developing his business. (I think the girls might have a more difficult time getting into the school routine if Daddy were home.) By the time his business is to the point where he won't need to spend as much time away from home, the girls should be in a good enough routine to keep going even when Daddy is around.

We're really trusting God to provide for us in our transition time. We think that our business will do so much better with Paul more involved, and he is also an investor in another venture, which we hope will prove quite lucrative. But none of this is certain. However, we trust that God will supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (See Phil. 4:19) The word "supply" comes from the Greek word pleroo which literally means "fill up." Our God is so good. He won't just give us the least He can. He will fill us up! Of course this filling up applies to needs not wants. He will give us a place to live, even though it may not be my Southern Living dream house! He will give us enough food to eat, even though it may mean we cook mainly at home instead of regularly eating out.

So, as we enter into this new season of our lives, we do so with excitement, faith, and trust in God's perfect provision! We believe He has led us here. And we look forward to all He has in store for us!

Tough Choices

I'm finally feeling better from my sinus infection! I guess a cortisone shot and a Z-pack will do that. Even with those it has taken several days to feel better, and I'm still tired!

This week is a busy one. Dance recital is Saturday. All 4 girls are dancing. Faith is dancing in three numbers (her tap, her ballet, and helping the kindergarteners), Hope is in two (her tap and her ballet), and Joy and Grace are in the preschool number. Rehearsal is Saturday morning and the recital is in the evening.

If that's not enough our church is holding a big ladies' conference with nationally-known speakers on Friday evening and Saturday until mid-afternoon. I'm helping out, so I need to be there as much as possible. So I want to be two places at once! And since I haven't figured out how to duplicate myself, I have to make some tough choices.

My mom is coming down, so I think she and Paul will be able to handle dress rehearsal without me. I'm sad to miss it, and have struggled some with where I need to be the most. Some of my struggle is with letting go. I sometimes think I'm the only one who can do things for the girls. Or at least I'm the only one who can do it right. Ouch! It hurts to admit that. It's not very pretty. But it's something that I'm asking God to change. And this weekend I get the chance to practice. I'll leave the girls in the capable hands of Paul and my mom and trust them to take care of everything while I serve the ladies at our conference. Because, really, wherever I am, God is in control of it all. And He can do it better than I can!