So tomorrow my "maternity leave" officially comes to an end. I say "maternity leave" because since I work PRN I don't have benefits which means I don't get a technical amount of leave time and I also don't get a pay check. Bummer. But the Lord provides and I was able to spend 14 weeks with our sweet Micah before heading back to work.
I would love to be a stay at home mommy, but life in NYC is way to expensive for that. And as Gabe gently reminded me, "you went to school for a long time and it's good to keep your skills up." That is true. I do really enjoy being an occupational therapist, I love meeting new people and helping them "live their life to the fullest" (thanks for that handy marketing campaign from the national OT organization), I enjoy my coworkers, and like getting out of the house, but still I'm having a hard time with the thought of leaving Micah. I'm praying to only work about 16 hours a week so I can still have some quality time with the little man and keep our household running.
When we first moved here we begin thinking and praying about child care for our sweet baby. I had the ladies in my Bible study at church begin praying about it as well. Little did I know that I was having my friend Amanda pray about watching my baby. I love the way the Lord works! When I asked the ladies to pray I asked them to pray for a specific location and a flexible schedule (I work at 2 different hospitals and the schedules vary from week to week). I knew Amanda lived in the area but I didn't know exactly where. I couldn't get her out of my mind. The Lord kept saying "ask Amanda to watch Micah." I kept thinking to myself "I don't want to impose on her, have her feel obligated, etc etc." I tried to ignore the situation that I needed to find someone to watch Micah but when he was 4 weeks old I asked her to pray about it and her answer completely surprised me (I don't know why, we serve an Awesome God who is in the business of working out details.) She said "I've been thinking about it and would be interested" (or something to that extent, she was going to pray about it and talk to her husband about it.) So they prayed and we prayed and the Lord answered our prayers and she agreed!
Micah and I went to visit one day and to talk details and as I was driving to her house I couldn't believe that I basically drove past it every day I went to work and didn't even realize it! See, God is in the details! So we talked, she's super flexible, has 4 great kids who are all sweet and musical (maybe Micah will pick up some skills), has a clean house, a loving personality, and loves babies! I love how the Lord works! She also told me that she had considered getting a job outside the home but wanted to be able to spend summers and breaks with her kids. I love how the Lord answers prayer - both of our prayers! I pray that we will be a blessing to her and her family's life just as they are to ours!
Back to leaving Micah. I am completely at peace with leaving him with Amanda. She will take wonderful care of him! She's had 4 kids of her own, I'm hoping to learn some things from her, its just that Micah and I have spent basically the past year always together - granted 9 months of that togetherness he was quite close but fairly easy to take care of. I'm going to miss my little buddy boo, he's so cute and makes me smile! He probably won't notice I'm gone but I'll be counting down the hours until 4pm.
Tomorrow I gain the title "working mom." We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to be organized enough to pull it all off and by God's grace we will make it! I have Micah's clothes laid out, mine picked out, I need to make my lunch and shower tonight in order to save time in the morning. 5:30 is going to come really early - especially now that I'm spoiled by Micah sleeping through the night. So say a prayer and for all you working mom's out there, I'm impressed by your energy and organization as you make it look so easy!
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