“God will answer your prayers better than you think. Of course, one will not always get exactly what he has asked for....We all have sorrows and disappointments, but one must never forget that, if commended to God, they will issue in good....His own solution is far better than any we could conceive.” ― Fanny J. Crosby
When I had my first child, Samuel, it was a mutual decision between my husband and I that I would be a stay-at-home mother and that together we would make the sacrifices that it took to make that happen. He worked hard to provide for the family and I worked hard to live frugally in order for our children to have their mother at home with them to tend to their needs. Although, stressful and sometimes lonely, as the majority of my day was spoken in baby talk, I was content.
When the kids and I moved back to WA at the beginning of the "end" of my marriage I was still able to stay at home with them, although it was more of a struggle. But when I stood before the judge at our divorce hearings I heard the words of the judge telling me I needed a job...yesterday. However, in her "kindness" she would give me 30 days to find work if I wanted the custody arrangements to stay the way they were. I left there in a daze. I hadn't worked in eight years and thinking back at my previous jobs, I couldn't imagine how any of them would fit into my life of raising five children on my own.
I got busy applying for school at Tacoma Community College and decided to pursue Paralegal Studies. I had no idea what to do for work in the mean time. I took on a few summer babysitting jobs for friends. Through one of these friends I found out about a home health care company that was hiring. I applied, got the job, and worked for that company for nearly two years. Holding a job and going to college part time was difficult in the fact that I truly felt I was missing out on raising my own kids. They were here and there with family members (of whom I am eternally grateful) oftentimes until long after bedtime. When school began for my kids, I was able to waive tuition by helping teach Kindergartners two of the three days a week that they went to school. I found great fulfillment in this not only from the students I taught but for the fact that I got to see my own children throughout the day.
To make a long story short; I quit attending college because I realized I would not find happiness in that line of work, the year after my volunteering at the kids' school I was hired on as the full time Kindergarten teacher, I had the summer off to enjoy with my children and am now again loving every minute teaching my students which includes my youngest and most headstrong child, Cecelia.
I know I have mentioned many of these points in other posts but the point of this entry goes back to the Fanny Crosby quote in the beginning of this story. Many times throughout my life, my grandmother, Nana, would urge us to write notes to Jesus, Mary or St. Joseph, whose images in statues have graced her kitchen for as long as I can remember. She would tell us, "If you need a prayer answered, write a note and leave it under one of their statues." I don't even remember having done so, but she recently showed me one she found, as she was clearing out old notes, that I had written several years ago. Here it is:
It reads:
St. Joseph, Please grant me, by your intercession, a job with the Franklin Pierce School Distric(t).
A job that will give me enough hours to support my family but that I will still be able to be with the kids
when they are out of school. God's will be done, Gina.
I don't work for the Franklin Pierce School District, and am happy that I do not. Geographically, however, St. Mary's is in the district. I can't speak enough of the power of prayer. St. Joseph, thank you!
