Pregnancy Week 28- Third Trimester Brings New Questions

This is my first post on this site. I decided to create this blog because I wanted to share my own mommy experience from pregnancy through the first year of trying to make it as a stay-at-home mom. I personally feel it is so important to stay home with your kids, but I also know that to make it work financially in today's world is not going to be easy. I thought that if you could read my journey, from pregnancy worries to finally leaving my job, to making it work on a daily basis, you might be encouraged to try it in your own life. I'm so excited to see how it all comes together, and it will be cool to look back at how far we've come.

So tomorrow marks the beginning of my third trimester. The home stretch is here! During the whole second trimester I had energy, I could eat normally, and I loved watching my belly grow each day. I didn't have many worries because everything still seemed so far off. But in the last week I've noticed myself switch into planning mode. My inner worrier must sense that the end is actually in sight. I've started to look more closely at our finances. I've started to think about how I will schedule my days when I am at home. I'm wondering how we will get all the baby stuff in time without spending too much. And of course the financial goals I have for us continue to be bombarded with unexpected expenses, causing our savings to grow much slower than expected. At this stage of the game I'm left wondering: Will we have enough to get started? Will I need to work 2 days a week like we thought after the first three months? How on earth are we going to stick with the budget I've laid out without going crazy? 

So needless to say, my worries have kicked into gear with 12 weeks to go until baby. This early bout of stress has reminded me that I can't try to control everything and have everything planned down to the last detail. Life is going to keep happening in unexpected ways, and only God knows what is still to come. He has called me to listen to Him and draw near to Him for guidance. When I pretend like I have control, the only outcome is stress, despair and fatigue. I found these verses that I think will help to keep my mind focused in these next weeks: Matthew 7:31-33, Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 14:30.

Since I think it will be cool to look back later at where we started, I wanted to finish this post by sharing where I think we are at right now with our goal for me to stay home. If I make it to my due date, I will be ending work around April 15th. After about 2 weeks of paid time off that I've saved up, we will be on our own. We hope to use some savings money for the first 3 months so I don't have to work at all. After that point, if things on our projected income and budget remain the same, I would need to have a work from home job no more than two days a week. My goal is to find a work from home position so I can still spend time with my family while supplementing our income. So those are our goals as of January 19...it will be interesting to watch life unfold over the next few months and watch how God shows us His true plans for us. 

Welcome to the Journey!