Big Changes for Us

A lot of decisions have been made this past little while for us over here.  I hate decision making, can you believe it?!?!

Change #1:
Jon applied for and got a continuing contract position with his favourite high school, which means that it's his position unless he wants a change!  Another bonus?  One of his best buddies also got a continuing contract position there, too!

Change #2:
Jon has always said that he wanted to complete his Masters of Education one day, and so we decided this past fall that he would apply and see if he could get in for this coming September.  Our theory was that the sooner he did it, the sooner we could reap some financial benefit from it.  We found out last month that he was accepted into SFU!  It's a two-year program, and so for the next two years he will be busy, and thus I will be a little more busy.

Change #3:
Jon has always been completely supportive over if I want to work, and how much I want to work.  I've always worked while on my maternity leaves, and have always returned to work after my maternity leaves.  This time, however, I did not work while on maternity leave, nor will I be returning back to work.  I knew pretty quickly after Olivia was born that I did not want to return to work for the two days a week that I had previously been working.  It wasn't an option to work for one day a week, so Jon and I decided that we will see how it goes with me not working at all.  I've been tracking our spending on a spreadsheet for the last 6.5 years, and I think we will be able to afford for me not to work until Olivia is in Kindergarten, so hopefully nothing too out of the ordinary comes up!  If I miss working too much (because we all know that I LOVE to work!) or if our finances aren't going as expected, then we'll have to figure something out.

Change #4:
In light of the above three changes, Jon and I have decided that we will not be trying for another child.  Jon has always known that he does not want any more kids, but I've had a 'head/heart' struggle.  My head tells me that having more kids is completely irrational: we have the perfect gender balance in our house, our kids are already all sharing bedrooms, our vehicle isn't as usable for a fifth child, and our finances could not handle it.  However, my heart tells me that I'm not quite ready to give up cuddling my own babies.  Nothing permanent is going to be done for a few years, just in case my heart doesn't catch up to my head, but I've already started selling our baby gear and will start with the baby clothes too.  If things change, then I can always re-buy.

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It's really quite amazing when Jon and I look back at our married lives how God was completely behind the timing in everything that has happened.  He knew exactly when things should happen, even if we didn't and struggled because of that.  Everything from the timing of us having kids to Jon's schooling to buying our house to each of Jon's teaching placements.  It's crazy!  It makes decision making less stressful because I know that ultimately, it's not us that make the decisions anyways.  It's what has made change #4 above "easier", in a sense.  The timing with the first three changes is pushing me to trust and believe that this is what God wants for us.  Now, my heart just needs to get on board with that idea :)