My kids are hilarious. They created a new game that they call "Holey Moley". As in, they pile all of the blankets and sleeping bags together in the house and pretend they are moles, making holes. I am willing to bet that there aren't too many kids around the world playing Holey Moley right now. It makes me laugh, and I love it. Especially as I consider my life as a mom. It sure isn't what I expected. I was one of those girls who was going to get my degree, maybe a masters, and high tail it to the big city. Marriage? Maybe when I was 35 or 40. Kids? Not very likely. I picked a trombone to play when I was growing up because my parents made me join band. They wouldn't let me play the tuba, so I picked the next biggest instrument. It kind of backfired because I ended up loving it. But I had a history of going my own way. Then wouldn't you know it, freshman year of college I met a boy. Six months later, engaged. At 19. One year later, married. At barely 20. A year after that, our first child. I was almost 22. I still ended up getting my degree, but the big city lights kind of faded after that. After 6 years of being a mommy, God opened some huge doors for me to get a job. Turns out a degree in Microbiology if not used, is kind of worthless after 6 years. But, I ended up with a job as a Sales Coordinator at a fire truck manufacturer. I loved it. My kids loved their daycare, and everything was going great. Finally, here I was, on my way to the career that I had imagined when I was young. Then, we went to Africa. Now, I knew that we were going to learn something there. I could feel it. We had amazing things fall into place for us to be able to go. God opened the doors wide. And I was super excited. We traveled 9,000 miles as the giant Delta crow flies. And do you know what my lesson was? After such a huge, incredible trip, my lesson was, here's a drum roll: Jess, I want you to be a stay at home mom again. WHAT? I traveled half way across the world to learn that You want me to be a stay at home mom? Um, God, you opened ginormous doors for me to get a job, and now you want me to stay at home again? I sort of thought that God would tell us to sell everything and move to Uganda to be missionaries. Not what He had planned. So, after letting 1 1/2 months go by and thinking on what He told me, I quit my job. After only 10 months of being a working mom. I have not missed it yet. Now, I am not foolish enought to think that there might not be a day where I wish I was still at work. (If I had to guess I would say next winter some time, since in MN winter is like 6 months long!) But I have not looked back. I did wonder at why he opened the doors for me to get a job. I wouldn't have been able to go to Uganda if I hadn't been working. And we are a good way towards our adoption fees by my working those months. Amazing how God uses things. I laugh every time I think about what I thought my life would be like and what it actually is. And you know what? It is nothing but good laughs.