I Quit!

That's what I told my former employers there at Qwest! They gave me the option of being fired or quitting, and I chose the latter. My boss said he would still pay me my vacation if I quit, so that's what I did. (I got that in writing, too, of course!) He was really nice about the whole thing, actually. There are a lot of nice people there, many of whom are my friends. I will miss them, but not my job :p. I have a much more challenging and much more fulfilling job now, as a full-time wife and mom. I am SO grateful for that.

A funny side note: as I was driving to work this morning, I was feeling, as you all know, kind of anxious about the whole deal. I felt sure I would be fired, and I was sad about being away from my little baby all day. So I turned to a Christian radio station to help soothe my spirits. There was a speaker on just then, talking about 1 Kings. As part of his lesson, he said (basically),"A mother's place is with her children." I found God's comic timing pretty perfect.

As it turns out, He wasn't placing that comment in my road paradoxically, for which I am grateful. I would have learned to be happy about it, if what He had meant was "Usually a mom should be with her kids, but I want you to work", but I am SO thankful in my case, He approved of and made possible my righteous desire to be home with my little boy. Another thing the speaker mentioned is how very much influence a mother has over her children. His example was King Ahab's mother in the Old Testament. He mentioned Omri, Ahab's father, was a very wicked man, "and did worse than all that were before him" (1 Kings 16:25), but that "Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. (emphasis added, v. 30, same chapter)" The speaker mentioned another wicked king, Jeroboam (whose father was also wicked), and pointed out the verse 1 Kings 15:2, which names Jeroboam's mother. "Why would the mother be named?" he asked. "Many times the father is named, but it is unusual for the mother to be." Then he said something that made a deep impact upon me. He said (in essence), "It is because even with a wicked father, the mother (Jeroboam's or Ahab's) could have turned her son toward God. The king, the boy's father, left early in the morning and always had a full schedule, so the mother had ample opportunity to shape the young man's life for good."

I felt that that was an inspired analysis. It was one of those moments in studying the scriptures that I feel will affect the rest of my life. I was left pondering, "What am I doing to shape my son's life for good? What kind of influence am I having on him? Am I doing my best to counteract the evil he may face?" I conclude with I just cannot say how thankful now I am to be able to do my best in exerting a righteous influence on my little son. And that I don't have to go to a job I despise! :) Here's a pic of me "doing my new job."