Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Needing Some Guidance



These are some pictures of Sawyer swimming with his cousins: Cohen, Hudson, and Adelyn. He loves the water.
I included these pictures because they are cute, but also because they make me kind of sad right now. Finances are beyond bad. We can't make it each month with Craig working full time at the DI. It's only a temporary job to help him get the training that he needs, and we do have a plan. He is going to take CNA classes starting September 9. They last for 3 weeks. A CNA doesn't get paid a lot, but anyone that knows Craig knows that he will love it. There are some challenges to it, but I think it will be a really good fit for him. The DI is paying for his classes and I am very grateful. But for the next several months I'm not sure how we are going to pay our bills. I am working for my dad very part time. He pays me well, but even with that we are drowning. We have canceled almost everything we can. Yes I still have internet, I can't bring myself to cancel that even though I am not sure how we are going to pay for it. Anyway this is not suppose to be a woes me blog about my bills. The reason I wanted to write it is to discuss whether I am being fair to my family by not going out and getting a full time job. I feel it is better for me to be with my children trying to raise them the best I can. They are all still so young and day care is not cheap. The way it breaks down is this: If I get a job I will lose food stamps(which pays for all of my food around $700 a month to feed my family) and possibly lose my health insurance (which pays for all of Craig's meds which run around $1600 a month) not to mention just general need for health insurance. I would then also need to pay for day care or try to work opposite shifts from Craig, which would be hard for him to have to care for the children all that time by himself. He does amazing with the kids, but his stress level is very low and dealing with the kids alone for too long or too often would just be too much for him. So that brings me back to square one. Financially I can't afford to get a job and yet can't afford to not. It is so frustrating. My children need me, but I feel like they need me to be everything and I just can't be everything. Theres not enough of me to be everything. We are looking in to moving, but it is going to be a struggle. Moving is not cheap. You have to be able to pay deposit and rent upfront.
Anyway, I just wonder am I missing some thing, is there a solution here that I am missing. Should I be focusing harder on trying to get a job or are my reasons legitimate. I feel like they are but a recent discussion has me wondering if I am just making excuses. I don't want to make excuses to do nothing and just expect others to help me, and yet I kind of feel like maybe I am. I think they are legitimate reasons, but maybe the thought of not being a full time mom just has me running scared. I feel like I would be abandoning them when they need me the most, they are still so young.
Do my reasons seem legitimate to you? Do you see any solutions for me that I might be missing? I need some family and friend input here.

1 comment:

Twyst said...

Your predicament is out of my league of support really. I can say trust in the Lord and he'll aid you and Craig as you need to for the next few months. I can say pray about it and decide which is best. But honestly I don't know. You are not going to die of hunger in this family, you may have to sacrifice more (even the internet) for a little while.

Optimism usually wins out in these situations I think. Such as if you are looking for solutions and talking to people unashamed (as you have in this blog) opportunities are bound to open. Optimistic people always seem to land on their feet, so I would just advise you to stay optimistic and talk to more people.