No, It's Donielle With An O: October 2009

Jimmy and I have been married for 9 1/2 years. When we got married he was working at an alluminum plant and I was working at a local bank. Four months after our wedding, on the day of Tina and Jamie's wedding to be exact, we found out we were going to have a baby. We were both really excited! As the pregnancy months went on we started looking at our different options for childcare. The thought of leaving my baby in the hands of someone else tore my heart to pieces. For as long as I could remember I've had the desire to stay home and raise my children. Even before I was married I had this desire. However, we weren't sure at the time if we could afford for me to stay home. So as the pregnancy drew nearer to the end, we started looking harder for a daycare provider. It wasn't until I came home from the hospital with our little girl that we decided to give it a shot. I think it took seeing her, holding her, and bringing her home to make us decide that she made it worth trying. So, with hubby and baby in tow, we went to my work and gave my boss my resignation letter. I felt good about this! The desires of my heart were being fulfilled! Within the next couple of days Jimmy came home from work with devastating news. His plant was shutting down.

I knew in my heart that it was God's will for me to quit my job and stay home. I knew it because if it wasn't, He would have reversed the days. Instead of me quitting and then Jimmy losing his job, we would have found out about his job first. I don't know anyone that would quit a job to stay home to raise a family if you just found out your husband was losing his job. But I knew it had to be God to do it in the order it was done. We had peace of mind. Jimmy, being the hard working man that he is, worked side jobs until he got a new job at the paper mill. It didn't take long. And before that next year was up we were buying our first house and planning for baby girl number two! It was hard, especially for Jimmy. There were times that he was working one fulltime job and two part-time jobs to keep us afloat, and he did it for us, our family. He has worked hard for years to allow me to stay home with our (now 3) girls. When Hannah was 6 months old I started babysitting and did that for years. Homeschooling my girls was a desire, just recently in the last few years, put on my heart and when I eventually quit babysitting I started homeschooling. We are now in our second year of homeschooling.

On Thursday we, along with countless others, heard again devastating news. His plant will be shutting down. Again. Deja vous. Round two. With good reason, I was very upset initially. But I had my little pity party and have since moved on. I don't know what exactly this means for us and the girls. I don't know what our future holds. Jimmy has to start all over, again. But he will, and he will work as hard as he can for our family. Will he find a job close to home? I don't know. Will I eventually have to go back to work? I don't know. But I feel strongly that this will work out better for us in the long run. I have an amazing, loving, healthy family, great friends, and I'm holding on to God's promises. I know that greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done...!

There are a lot of people that will be affected by this shutdown, and I am praying for them. I can't imagine those who both the husband and wife work there, or those that may be in the process of building homes. How about those who may not have family to lean on for support? The trickle effect will be tremendous for our small area. Please be in prayer for all of the families affected.

I will start off by saying that I have the complete opposite of a "green thumb". In fact, I would say that I have a "black thumb", everything I try to grow.....dies. Even my children have made comments when I have purchased plants saying, "Let's see how long it takes for this one to die." Now that's bad! I am pretty proud of myself though. I have a plant that I bought last Mother's Day and it is still alive! Now I won't mention how many times I almost lost it, or how bad it might look right now. The fact is, it's still alive! I'm also pretty proud of the pumpkin plant we have growing in the backyard. Yes, we planted it way too late. And no, it probably won't produce pumpkins because of how late it is. But just look at these awesome pumpkin flowers!

Now on to soccer. Leah's very first day of soccer was this past Sunday. Imagine watching a handful of four year olds kicking the ball around trying to get it in a goal, any goal, even if the goal is on another field on the opposite end! Cute! She said she enjoyed it and can't wait for her next game. Here she is taking a quick water break. Note the big mark on her face? Yeah, she ran into the molding of the bathroom door running away from one of her sisters. It was one of those cries that takes a long time to actually come out. You know, mouth opened but no noise coming out and then....blahhhhhhhhh! Yep, that's gonna leave a mark.