I'm Employed!

I never thought I'd be so excited to have a job.  For the first time since I quit teaching (nearly six years ago) to stay home with Isaac, I am actually employed.  I have been hired by the YMCA (where I spend lots of time anyway) to lead a fitness class for kids who are above a healthy weight.  The training for the fitness class was so much fun and I'm really looking forward to leading the activities with the kids.

My friend, Celine, recommended me the job after she was hired for a YMCA program called MEND which is designed to teach nutrition and fitness to overweight kids and their families.  Celine will be teaching the nutrition time with the whole families.  Then she keeps the parents for a second hour of discussion while I take the kids for an hour to play all the fun games in the program.  It is a ten-week program and every lesson is planned and mapped for me.  It's awesome!

So, for an hour at a time, I get to teach kids to be active in a way that's nonthreatening and fun.  And I do this two days a week.  My work week consists of two hours of play plus one hour total of set up and clean up.  Yup, that's three hours a week.  It may not seem like much, but I'm EMPLOYED, and I'm really EXCITED about getting to teach this class.

The grant funding the program covers new equipment for 15 kids.

And so...

I have a closet full of new equipment...

...a MEND T-shirt...

...and an employee badge.

I'm a stay-at-home mom AND a Healthy Lifestyle Coach.  I feel so thankful that God has provided this perfect opportunity to have a little bit of outside work while still being a stay at home mom.  I got paid for my training and when I dropped my tithe check into the offering basket at church, I felt so much thankfulness for God's goodness and so much joy at being able to give back from money that I earned myself.  He has known the whole time that, while I choose to be a stay-at-home mom because I feel it is best for our family, I also have a strong desire to make a lasting impact outside of my own home.  This job may not have been exactly what I would have concocted for myself, but I feel so grateful for the opportunity. 

Hope it's as fun as I think it's going to be!