The Sweet Taste of Freedom

From work, that is. Well, not entirely. I still have to work, but now I work for me. Van Drimmelen & Associates is a thing of the past, and I nearly have my own business set up. Things there progressively got worse. Sick leave policy changed every single time I had to take a sick day (of course, to make it more difficult). What was the final straw? Suddenly I was only eligible to be compensated for a sick day, up to the average number of hours I worked during the pay period, rather than being able to take 8 hours. With doctors appointments and such, my average could get pretty low. At the time of this particular change, my average was "7.2" hours, so that's what they compensated me for. Yet what was on my pay stub? 8 hours of sick time used. Really? You're going to pay me for 7.2 and charge me for 8?

Well we finally decided the time had come. After much prayer, argument, discussion and more prayer, we realized it was the right thing. Terrifying, of course, with a baby on the way and my job providing the bulk of our income. Josh is on the verge of being laid off because the Distribution Center is merging with Deseret book. But we knew it was possible for me to make enough money with my freelance writing, even if things are tighter. It's better to learn to live on the new budget now, a few months before baby's arrival, anyway.

Well things are tighter, but so much better. I enjoy being home. The work is much harder than it ever was at my job, but I don't mind that at all. Money doesn't seem so bad either, and I'm at the very least breaking even with what I earned before. The best part? I actually earn that much and even more in 2-3 hours less per day. My bad habit right now is stopping at that point. If I worked a full 8 hour day I could earn much more. The best part is that I will be able to be home with the baby.

It's all still a scary thought, and I know that our finances might be much less stable for awhile, especially until Josh is out of school. But we are making it work, and are both so much happier now! (Bye bye depression for me!) On top of it all, baby Emmett is moving around so much now that I think he must really be an octopus. We can't wait to get his nursery all set up and are starting to get very excited for his arrival. Life is changing very rapidly. It's an adventure, but we feel very blessed!