When I turned 34, my birthday wish was to become a mom. Last Friday, that wish came true. God blessed us with a beautiful daughter.
While I was nursing her in the wee hours of my 35th birthday, I spent some time praying for her and my husband. We are trying to figure out how to strategize his career-- namely where he should pursue his graduate degree in philosophy and how to pay for his studies, especially with a new addition in the family.
Yesterday, he came home to say that he had his quarterly review at work that day. His supervisors not only put in a recommendation for a raise, but a higher raise than normally given at the quarterly review. They also set up a meeting with the plant manager to discuss possible ways to offer a scholarship for his studies. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but the news was a wonderful answer to prayer.
I happened to be reading about the life of Joseph that morning, and it struck me that while he had a "lucky break" in interpreting the dreams of the cupbearer and baker, any "strategizing" on his part was really nothing next to God's unfolding sovereign plan for his life and the salvation of his family and an entire nation.
We may not know how to get where we think we want to go, but God will direct us each step of the way.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Sunday, September 26, 2010
cold, hard numbers
Nothing quite like doing finances to give oneself a dose of reality-- kind of like a slap (or two) in the face.
That's what I did last week. After sorting through receipts and bills for the past few months, I came face to face with the cold, hard numbers that we were spending more than we were making.
Granted, it included large expenses such as traveling overseas to my grandfather's funeral and my husband's college tuition. But with this being just the beginning of his academic pursuits and with a baby on the way, my mind began to spin, wondering how long it would be before we exhaust our savings going down this road.
This morning, our pastor preached on the story of Abraham offering Isaac to the Lord (Genesis 22). I don't know how many times I've read this story, but this time I was faced with a cold, hard number of a different kind. Abraham had one son-- that one represented the culmination of everything God had promised him and everything God had given him in life. God also has one Son-- and He gave up that Son for a world that still can't comprehend His sacrifice.
It doesn't make sense for my husband to be pursuing another degree on a lower salary while we're preparing to have a baby... but it didn't make sense for Abraham to offer Isaac as an offering to God either. We know God led my husband back to school, and we know that this child is a gift from Him. I don't know how we'll pay for it all, but I can still learn to be supportive (and thrifty) now.
And someday, I'll look back and see how God took care of those cold, hard numbers one day at a time.
_____________________
"The dearest I have known, whate'er that may be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne and worship only Thee."
-- William Cooper
That's what I did last week. After sorting through receipts and bills for the past few months, I came face to face with the cold, hard numbers that we were spending more than we were making.
Granted, it included large expenses such as traveling overseas to my grandfather's funeral and my husband's college tuition. But with this being just the beginning of his academic pursuits and with a baby on the way, my mind began to spin, wondering how long it would be before we exhaust our savings going down this road.
This morning, our pastor preached on the story of Abraham offering Isaac to the Lord (Genesis 22). I don't know how many times I've read this story, but this time I was faced with a cold, hard number of a different kind. Abraham had one son-- that one represented the culmination of everything God had promised him and everything God had given him in life. God also has one Son-- and He gave up that Son for a world that still can't comprehend His sacrifice.
It doesn't make sense for my husband to be pursuing another degree on a lower salary while we're preparing to have a baby... but it didn't make sense for Abraham to offer Isaac as an offering to God either. We know God led my husband back to school, and we know that this child is a gift from Him. I don't know how we'll pay for it all, but I can still learn to be supportive (and thrifty) now.
And someday, I'll look back and see how God took care of those cold, hard numbers one day at a time.
_____________________
"The dearest I have known, whate'er that may be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne and worship only Thee."
-- William Cooper
Friday, June 25, 2010
moving on...
Today was my husband's last day of work. This summer, we'll be hosting a conference for international students, so he had to take a long leave of absence. Before he left, his supervisor gave him his cell phone number and told him to call when he was ready to work again.
Yesterday, we received an acceptance letter from a local university. My husband would like to start graduate studies in philosophy, but because he doesn't have that in his bachelor's or master's, he needs to take a few undergrad courses first.
As for me, well, today marks eight weeks. Yes, we're going to be parents!!
Yesterday, we received an acceptance letter from a local university. My husband would like to start graduate studies in philosophy, but because he doesn't have that in his bachelor's or master's, he needs to take a few undergrad courses first.
As for me, well, today marks eight weeks. Yes, we're going to be parents!!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
"do something fun..."
Post-employment advice #1 (from Papa): "Do something fun."
What Papa had in mind when he gave me this bit of advice was that we go out for a meal or take a trip somewhere fun. So Friday afternoon, we packed an overnight bag and drove out to the "sticks" of Oklahoma, where my husband dropped me off at the home of one of his former colleagues (one of the directors in the company), while he took our exchange student to motorcycle safety school.
It wasn't the typical weekend trip, because we ended spending much of it apart from each other. While my husband sat through lectures on horrible bike accidents and practiced doing figure eights in a church parking lot, I got a taste of life with eight kids. We spent hours in the kitchen, talking about their perspective on the week (and how they braced for possible lay-off), swapping stories about our families, making homemade ice cream, playing games, and cutting hair (they were brave to hand me the scissors).
It was therapeutic to live life with someone else, to hear how they survived unemployment in the past, and to recognize that one of life's most precious resources is not money but the people who weather the storms with you, who not only cry with you but help you to trust and to laugh no matter what the circumstance.
And laugh we did-- even after they begged my husband to perform some of his songs for the fifth time. As I watched him play "one last time" with just as much gusto as the first, I couldn't help smiling-- and thanking God for blessing me with a man who knows how to trust... and laugh... and love.
What Papa had in mind when he gave me this bit of advice was that we go out for a meal or take a trip somewhere fun. So Friday afternoon, we packed an overnight bag and drove out to the "sticks" of Oklahoma, where my husband dropped me off at the home of one of his former colleagues (one of the directors in the company), while he took our exchange student to motorcycle safety school.
It wasn't the typical weekend trip, because we ended spending much of it apart from each other. While my husband sat through lectures on horrible bike accidents and practiced doing figure eights in a church parking lot, I got a taste of life with eight kids. We spent hours in the kitchen, talking about their perspective on the week (and how they braced for possible lay-off), swapping stories about our families, making homemade ice cream, playing games, and cutting hair (they were brave to hand me the scissors).
It was therapeutic to live life with someone else, to hear how they survived unemployment in the past, and to recognize that one of life's most precious resources is not money but the people who weather the storms with you, who not only cry with you but help you to trust and to laugh no matter what the circumstance.
And laugh we did-- even after they begged my husband to perform some of his songs for the fifth time. As I watched him play "one last time" with just as much gusto as the first, I couldn't help smiling-- and thanking God for blessing me with a man who knows how to trust... and laugh... and love.
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