The Talk

A few weeks ago I wrote about my dream of being a stay-at-home-mom someday. I wrote that the only problem was that I was scared to approach Luke about the issue.

Well last night I couldn't stand it any longer. I HAD to get his input. For some reason, I was extremely nervous about telling him! But I sucked it up, and we had "the talk" at about 10:00 last night. I was very honest with Luke. I told him that I don't want to teach. And I really haven't come out and told anyone except my mom that I have decided that teaching is not for me. And I'm embarrassed and ashamed that I don't like it, and don't feel naturally good at it. But God has given me such a desire to serve at home. I told Luke all of this. And you know guys....he just kind of nodded and didn't say much, which made me nervous!

I then told him that my absolute dream would be to be a stay at home mom. But I also said that when we have kids I wouldn't mind working part-time or from home either. His mom, for example, is a medical transcriptionist, and works from home. Also, I am interested in closed captioning or broadcast captioning. Those are both jobs that I could do from home. I'm trying to look for an area where I could work at home that wouldn't cost too much as far as schooling goes! I'm going to do lots of research and crunch lots of numbers today to try to find out where I want to go with this.

Anyway, I closed by asking Luke whether he'd want me to make more money as a teacher, but have more school loans and not be there for our kids as much. Or if he'd want me to make a little bit less money, have less school loans, and be there for our kids more. And he looked me in the eye, and said "Whatever you want. It's your life, and if you don't want to teach, then I don't want you to teach." He basically said he would be happy with whatever I chose. It made me feel so good to know that he supports me no matter what. (But at the same time I was hoping he could give more input to help make my decision!) But I think he really respects the fact that I want to put our home and our children first. I think all men have an innate need to provide for the family, and women have an innate need to nurture. And I think that's why we're both so happy with this plan!

Okay, so where does that leave us? Well I have to make some decisions quickly. I will definitely be substitute teaching this coming fall. Also, I will probably either be going to a local college for broadcast captioning (I could do that online!) or training at home to become a medical transcriptionist. And as soon as I'm certified in one of those things, I will pursue a job in that area instead of subbing. Mostly because I could make more money as a transcriptionist or broadcast captioner than sub. teaching.

If I go the med. transcriptionist route, I can do what my mother-in-law did and order all the study materials and teach myself at home. It is a self-paced program, but I believe you have a maximum of 18 months to complete the program. And if I go the broadcast captioning route, I would have to go back to school for an associates degree, which would take 2 years. Since Luke and I have decided to start "trying" in 3 years, I better hurry and decide and get signed up for classes!

And finally, on a side note, I have some advice for anyone that's interested! Luke and I are so lucky that the opportunity to own apartments just fell into our laps. Can I just say that it's a great investment! The rent money pretty much covers our mortgage payment and insurance every month (as long as both apartments are filled). Because of the money we make from that, it takes a little bit of the financial burden off of me so that I'll be able to do a part-time job or take some time off when our kids are very young. It's a big responsibility, and it's definitely important to have a lot of money saved up in case of emergencies. But if you do it responsibly, it is SUCH a great investment in your future! When Luke and I are retired and our rental house is paid off, we will own a house which we could sell at any time (we will be living somewhere else by then, hopefully!) and we will still be getting the rent money every month as long as we don't sell it. I would highly recommend buying a rental property if you are able. Especially if you are able to live in one of the units. If you have any questions about the process of buying, owning, or taking care of a rental, please feel free to write me a comment or send an email my way! Not sure why I felt compelled to write that, but I just felt like sharing :-)

Okay, now I must get to work! This week is project:landscaping at the Wallace household, and I'm kicking off the project today. So have a fabulous Monday!