Right before Christmas of this year was one of the darkest
times that we have faced as a family. I’ve
not been too quiet about the fact that we live paycheck to paycheck and that
this situation has been a trying and confusing one for us to face. We did EVERYTHING right. College? check. Budget?check. Networking? check. Ambition? check. Hard work? check. Why aren’t we making it?
We’re budget experts.
We have refined the difference between a want and a need down to a
science. Cable tv is a want. Food is a need. Steak and expensive cuts of meat are
wants. Rice, beans and hamburger meat
nourish and are much less expensive.
Science. We’re pro’s.
It's a tightrope act. The numbers are precise and resources were limited but if we stuck to our plan it always seemed to work. Then over the course of several months everything started falling apart.
Kevin’s student loans left the deferment period and the lender came calling. I want my money
now! We stressed and planned and
budgeted. Everything is going to be
alright, I said. I’m relentlessly optimistic
by nature.
Then our beautiful baby boy was born.
I needed a little time to adjust to our new
family member so I took a break from babysitting and teaching piano. The income I contributed was small but it’s
absence hurt. Next came the million different
medical practitioners and laboratories holding out their hands requesting payment for assisting us with the miracle of birth. We stressed and planned about how we would
afford this. But we knew that everything is going to
be alright.
Then Quin got sick.
Really sick.
I cried by his
hospital bed. I held his hand and prayed
that he would be ok. I prayed like I’ve
never prayed before. Let it be ok! Please! Through what I know to be a miracle
straight from a loving and merciful Heavenly Father Quin recovered in record
time and as far as we know has suffered no long term consequences. We rejoiced!
Then came the TKO. The
hospital bill for Quin’s time in the hospital came. The total bill totaled more than a year of
our salary.
For the first time ever in my whole entire life, I was
afraid. Let's be honest. Everything is not alright.
My relentless optimism was extinguished and all I could see was darkness. On and on forever with no end in sight.
I cried as I poured through the job listings online. I take
pride in my education and I have no problem working in a professional
environment. But I DO have a problem
with leaving my children. I want to be a
stay at home Mom.
I LOVE being with them each day. I love watching them learn and grow and discover. I love watching them develop talents and interests. I treasure the time I spend with them and I take my job as their mother very seriously.
My BEST childhood memory was a cold December day. I trudged home through the snow and when I
burst through the front door I was met with the most magical scene. My Mom had decorated for Christmas! Holiday bangles and bobs adorned every surface. Christmas music was playing and drifting
through the air was the heavenly smell of freshly baked cookies!
Several years later, my Mom returned to work. She was still the best mother and a wonderful
supporter but our home was never the same.
I decorated for Christmas every year after her return to work. There just weren’t enough hours in the
day.
I wasn’t even sure I wanted children back then, but I knew
that if I did, I would stay home with them. I treasure every single moment with them because I don't know what their moment will be. I hope there will be MANY happy moments for them to think back on later in life.
But there was no choice.
I was scared of what would happen if we didn't make a big change.
Meanwhile, on my facebook a friend of mine posted daily
about her awesome business. She shared
photos of her with her kids. She shared
how she was able to build it to a point where she became the primary bread
winner for her family.
She challenged people to reach out and seize opportunities
and to make dreams realities.
That’s when it hit me.
I had abandoned and important part of myself. I’ve always been relentlessly optimistic and driven
by deep seated dreams and desires. I’ve
taken many leaps of faith in pursuit of my dreams. But not lately. Life
experiences had backed me into a corner.
I no longer had a head full of dreams.
I began to honestly believe that I would never accomplish some of the things
that I had dreamed.
My life the way it is right now is beautiful. It really is.
I have an ambitious, handsome, talented and wonderful husband. I have three beautiful and unique children
who fill me with so much joy!
When I became a mother I realized that there is no end to
what you would do to make the world a better place for your children. I often fear that the only legacy I will
leave my children are my substantial debts.
This same opportunity kept presenting itself to me. I stubbornly refused, I had a hundred different
reasons why. But when the Lord calls you
to do something he won’t relent! It got
to the point where I could hardly sleep!
So, I started researching It Works. I looked at the products. I looked at the CEO. I looked at the company philosophy. I found an upbeat atmosphere that inspires
people to live happy and healthy lives!
I took the plunge!
I'm an It Works distributor! Not everyone is cheering me on. Not everyone is excited. I'm a people-pleaser and this was a difficult thing for me to step into. To know that people will be irritated or disapprove of what I'm doing was a difficult pill for me to swallow. The thing is, it doesn't matter. People can disapprove. Those people aren't responsible for my bills. I am. Those people won't cry themselves to sleep at night if my kids are in daycare. I will. This is about doing what's right for our family. This is about answering a call from God. This is about changing lives, starting with mine!
It's only been a few days but things are rolling along! I’m finding opportunities to share with people some of the knowledge that
I gathered in college about how to live a healthy life through diet and
exercise. Healthy choices today are
deposits into the bank account you will withdraw from in the future! If I could change ONE life and help ONE person achieve their health and fitness goals today then I would be a happy
lady!
The Lord has seen fit to humble me in a way that I never
wanted to be. But it’s given me a
compassion and empathy for those who are struggling. Now I have the opportunity to share a
business that could transform their life too! If I could lift one person from that same place I was, That hopeless place, That forrest where the sun doesn't shine, then I would know that I'm fulfilling the work that God sent me here to earth to do! I would wear that privilege like a badge of honor.
It feels so good to dream again! The future seems filled with bright
possibilities and adventures once again.
You never know what the future will bring when you dare to dream.
join me on my adventure at
http://healthylifebrightfuture.myitworks.com
