Daddy stopped working

My oldest child, my daughter Susanna, is only two years old. There are many things that she doesn’t understand in life yet, like how to use a potty and what the word “no” means when it isn’t leaving her mouth. On the other hand, there are things that she understands surprisingly well.

I came home from work last week and was putting my girl down for a nap and she proceeded to tell me that she saw a horse. I know this was true because our wonderful friend Janine has a horse and invited Rose and the kids to see him and ride him. “That’s great,” I said to my girl. She followed this up with “He eats hay!” I responded with the obligatory “That’s right!” that a parent uses when their child has just stated the obvious. She then stated “I pet him!” and I responded, "Wow!" She laid her head on her pillow, and just as I was about to tell her to have a good nap, her head popped back up and she said very decisively, “I want pony."

As I said, some things she understands very well, like what she wants and what to call a baby horse. She doesn’t, however, understand finances. Or that we don’t have room in our condo for a horse.

Pre-field allows me much more family time. To a two year old, this appears to be me no longer having a job. Anything being done on a computer at home appears to be nothing more than playing games and looking at pictures. I know this is what she thinks because while I try to look over our new insurance information for ABWE she says "I want to see pictures" or "play counting game."

The other thing is that I am at home more often which certainly means I can play with her all the time now. After all, when daddy is working, he leaves the house. No matter how many times I might say "I need to work on this, Honey," it will be met with "Daddy play with play-doh."

So here I am at a coffee shop. I am now on pre-field full time. I am working on adjusting our family to a new fashion of income and insurance. I’m making sure that I am starting to get contacts lined up. I’m working on a presentation for this Wednesday for the AWANA kids at our church. I’m running my mind over the myriad things that I need to learn and trying to remember that God’s word tells me not to worry about a thing because God, in all of his goodness and love, certainly knows how to take care of us.

I know that my work day simply looks different now. It is less "work" and more serving. Serving God. Serving people. Serving my family.

So Susanna...

Daddy stopped working.

He started serving.

Let me show you how you and your brother can serve with me.