career change

It's been coming for awhile.... even before we were married, Andrew and I agreed that at some point in our lives, I would have a big-deal career change. Today, that change is official. The email is in, and my exit interview is being scheduled.

That's right. I have officially resigned my role as a corporate training & talent development professional to become a full-time mommy.

And, if you want the truth, I'm 90% excited and 10% bummed.

I'm thrilled to spend time with the two most precious children on the planet, and I'm especially exited to be the one who teaches them important things like:
- what it means to be a family
- how to be a lady and a gentleman
- how to spell their names
- how to love and share and be generous
- to be disciplined and not be ruled by emotion
- to respect and obey authority
- to think and be creative
- to look out for random pairs of socks that might have somehow gotten in the toilet...before pooping on them (yeah. sick.)

You know. Life lessons.

The importance of this role became increasingly clear while we were in Uganda, visiting Suma's babies home. She had wonderful aunties, and all of the children were well taken care of. They had someone to feed them, bathe them, play with them, hug them... but they didn't have mommies. And, whether they were 2 days or 3 years old, they could feel it. They could feel that there is a difference between a caregiver and a mommy. I could see it in their eyes when a mommy walked into the room, I could see it as they ran to one of us with their arms outstretched begging for a hug, I could see it in the tears that they shed when they knew that we were there to love and take home a different child. Babies need mommies.

So I'm excited for my role and the challenges and opportunities to come. Even if it means fishing out a pair of socks in the toilet with nothing but a grocery bag on my hand. Because I am their mommy, I get to enjoy things like:
- snuggling them close when they wake up in the mornings and from their naps in the afternoon
- watching the delight on their faces when they learn how to do things all by themselves, like swinging or flushing the toilet or putting on their socks
- hearing them tell me stories about their Uganda moms and life before the children's home
- talking with strangers at the park, grocery store, bank when they ask about adoption

The 10% of my heart that is bummed is over things that don't matter though, mostly, they are things that DO matter but that will come again or present themselves in other forms - which is encouraging to me. I don't know how or when or where they will be found, but here's what I do know:

Matthew 5:14-15
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

The Lord made His children Lights to shine for Him, and He has put us on our stands to give light to others - whether that's while wearing high heels in the corporate world or while wearing flip flops in the sand box. THAT is the thing that matters; thank you, Jesus!