Becoming a stay-at-home wife and mother

In case you haven't been hanging around here at Corner of Joy over the last few months, we are expecting our first child in early June! It is a very exciting time and we are busy getting ready (did I ever mention that I am a bit of an over-compulsive planner?). 

Now as we close in on the final stretch here, some big changes are happening in other areas of our lives. One big thing that will be happening is that I will be finished working at the end of next week.

When I married my husband a few years ago I had a lot of student loan debt. In fact, I have about 4 times the debt my husband had when we got married. We have since whittled our debt down A LOT, but that doesn't change the fact that some of my poor past decision have really put us into a difficult position these first few years of marriage.

Although I believe that women and men are best served in traditional roles, I have felt strongly for the past few years that it is my job to carry as much of the debt burden as I could. Although my husband would have gladly bore the brunt of the load, I really felt like I needed to work to undo the past mistakes I had made. So I worked full-time for the first year and a half of our marriage for a trade insurance company.

My shnazzy work portrait

It was not always fun, and I struggled to keep up with both the housework while working all day (luckily my husband was always quick to lend a hand). After all, I truly believe that a woman's first job is to be keeper of her home, which makes working outside the home that much more of a burden. After suffering some health issues in 2011 and 2012, I decided to cut my work to a part-time schedule, which I have been working for the last year and a half. Our agreement has always been that ALL of my paychecks go directly to paying off our debt.

A big wake-up call when I ended up in the hospital for over a week due to spontaneous spinal fluid leaks

Well, life is changing now!

Despite that college degree which cost me WAY too much money, I am finally going to be able to realize my dream, and that is to become a stay-at-home wife and mother. At the end of next week I will no longer be employed outside the home. 

YAY!

You know, this journey of discovering my true desires in life has shown me that a lot of my former dreams and ambitions were heavily influenced by what others thought I should want.

As in, how many people made sure I knew as a child that I could do and become ANYTHING I wanted when I grew up, and then subtly reminded me I didn't "just" have to be a wife and mom someday.

And how many people clapped and cheered for me when I became the first in my family to graduate from college, despite all the student loan debt and the lack of a financial plan for my future? And how many LESS people will cheer me on now that I have made the decision to "let my degree go to waste" and become a wife and mother?

I will tell you this: I have never been as content as I am right now in my life, realizing my true calling and ignoring all the people who told/tell me that it is not enough. I am so incredibly content to finally be going after what my heart has been nudging me towards for years. I truly feel that I am finally embracing the best plan God has for me.

I have received some support in this decision, most of it from others who have made similar decisions as me. And my sweet husband has made it clear he thinks he is getting the easier job going to work all day while I stay home with our baby (babies?).

One of my favorite ever blog posts is entitled M is for Mama on a blog with the same name. It is all about bucking the view that motherhood is not enough, especially for us college educated women who should be "doing something" with our degrees. I often share it with other women who, like me, struggle against a culture which makes the decision to stay home so much more difficult. 

I cannot wait to spend my days with my baby. I cannot wait to finally take ownership of my position at home and take the burden off of my hard-working husband. I am not naive enough to think that it will all be smooth-sailing. I know that staying at home can have its trials, but honestly I cannot think of any place I would rather be.

With this new stage of life, Corner of Joy will also be shifting focus a little. I truly will be a full-time keeper of my home, and I plan to spend more of my blogging space focusing on that and motherhood.

Have any of your made the transition from work to home? Did you find it a difficult one, or a joyful one (or both)?