I wouldn't normally want to talk about our finances on the blog, but when God pulls through, I've got to give credit where credit is due.
I'll give a little recap: Two years ago, I was laid off from my teaching job and 8 months pregnant. Since I was our only source of income while Ru was in graduate school, this was scary news. I remember panicking the day we were told, thinking there was no way we could live and support ourselves since the only thing I am trained to do was clearly out of the picture. (Almost every school district in the region was laying teachers off and making serious cuts.) But after panicking that day, I felt a supernatural sense of peace . . . knowing that our God would be faithful to us and somehow, we'd make it through this trial. While several colleagues around me spent every break time talking about it, worrying, and crying ... I felt calm. It was weird. I should have been very scared.
Soon after the school year ended, I got a call from a colleague saying that if I was willing to invest in a possibility, I should come with her to San Diego and attend a week-long training to become an Instructor of the Reading and Language Arts curriculum many California schools use. I saw this as an opportunity God was giving me and with faith, paid the precious $400 to attend the training. (Funny how $400 may not seem like a lot to some, but this was coming out of my very last paycheck, so it was very precious!) Unfortunately, with having to cut millions from school budgets, there weren't any districts buying new curriculum. So my manuals sat at the bottom of my closet collecting dust month after month, and I started losing hope I'd ever give the training. Yet each time I wanted to rid my closet of unused stuff, I couldn't bring myself to throw these materials away... I just felt sure, though I couldn't see when, that God had opened that door for me and would provide an opportunity someday.
Well, God did provide a few jobs last year. The main job was a 50% teaching gig. Now, usually when I'm working 100%, I save a chunk from each paycheck throughout the year to be able to pay for the summer months I don't work. This last year, though, it just wasn't possible. We finally had to break down and get a school loan. So again, this summer as I watched my last paycheck dwindle away and unexpected bills (like burying a son and totaling a car, to name a few) suddenly appear, I wondered how we were going to make it through another scary time. And in that same week, I got a phone call that proved God was yet again our Faithful Provider. After 2 years of waiting, that training opportunity finally came through!!
Today, after a month or so of preparation, I'll be heading out to the desert to give a week-long (40 hour) training to the 5th grade teachers in a school district there. And do you want to know the best part? The pay is exactly what we need until I get my first teaching paycheck in October. And? And! This week is Rudy's only week off between internships and school, so he will be able to watch Kyle the whole week and even come out to join me for some very hot, pool time at the hotel! ;)
God is so good. Though I'm nervous, I know this is manna from heaven, and I am going to take it! So far, God has answered my prayer - for exactly what we need, no more no less, with as little work as possible (so I can stay home with Kyle).
*fingers crossed, prayers please, for a successful training so they'll actually ask me to do this again!! :)
I'll give a little recap: Two years ago, I was laid off from my teaching job and 8 months pregnant. Since I was our only source of income while Ru was in graduate school, this was scary news. I remember panicking the day we were told, thinking there was no way we could live and support ourselves since the only thing I am trained to do was clearly out of the picture. (Almost every school district in the region was laying teachers off and making serious cuts.) But after panicking that day, I felt a supernatural sense of peace . . . knowing that our God would be faithful to us and somehow, we'd make it through this trial. While several colleagues around me spent every break time talking about it, worrying, and crying ... I felt calm. It was weird. I should have been very scared.
Soon after the school year ended, I got a call from a colleague saying that if I was willing to invest in a possibility, I should come with her to San Diego and attend a week-long training to become an Instructor of the Reading and Language Arts curriculum many California schools use. I saw this as an opportunity God was giving me and with faith, paid the precious $400 to attend the training. (Funny how $400 may not seem like a lot to some, but this was coming out of my very last paycheck, so it was very precious!) Unfortunately, with having to cut millions from school budgets, there weren't any districts buying new curriculum. So my manuals sat at the bottom of my closet collecting dust month after month, and I started losing hope I'd ever give the training. Yet each time I wanted to rid my closet of unused stuff, I couldn't bring myself to throw these materials away... I just felt sure, though I couldn't see when, that God had opened that door for me and would provide an opportunity someday.
Well, God did provide a few jobs last year. The main job was a 50% teaching gig. Now, usually when I'm working 100%, I save a chunk from each paycheck throughout the year to be able to pay for the summer months I don't work. This last year, though, it just wasn't possible. We finally had to break down and get a school loan. So again, this summer as I watched my last paycheck dwindle away and unexpected bills (like burying a son and totaling a car, to name a few) suddenly appear, I wondered how we were going to make it through another scary time. And in that same week, I got a phone call that proved God was yet again our Faithful Provider. After 2 years of waiting, that training opportunity finally came through!!
Today, after a month or so of preparation, I'll be heading out to the desert to give a week-long (40 hour) training to the 5th grade teachers in a school district there. And do you want to know the best part? The pay is exactly what we need until I get my first teaching paycheck in October. And? And! This week is Rudy's only week off between internships and school, so he will be able to watch Kyle the whole week and even come out to join me for some very hot, pool time at the hotel! ;)
God is so good. Though I'm nervous, I know this is manna from heaven, and I am going to take it! So far, God has answered my prayer - for exactly what we need, no more no less, with as little work as possible (so I can stay home with Kyle).
*fingers crossed, prayers please, for a successful training so they'll actually ask me to do this again!! :)
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