What Summer USUALLY Means

As the end of May and the end of the school year quickly approach, I have been thinking about summer and what it usually means for our family.

Well, your husband is a teacher, so that means you get like 2 months of vacation!

Yeah, and since you do daycare for teachers' kids, you get 2 months off too!

We have heard these comments countless times, but they are only partly true:
*My husband is indeed a teacher
*I do watch teachers' kids for my in-home daycare

The other half of both statements is completely and utterly false!
*Lawrence teaches summer school.  His last day of regular school is Thursday, May 30.  He has Summer School training on Friday, May 31.  Summer school starts on Monday, June 3.  So NO break for my  man!
*Since Lawrence teaches summer school during June, I also watch kiddos during that month.  Again, no time off for me either (not that a mom ever has a day off)!

Our summer vacation comes down to the month of July, BUT two of those weeks we gladly "give up" to spend at Ponca Bible Camp in Arkansas.  We volunteer to work with the kids, many of them from our area, to introduce them to Jesus and help them see how awesome a personal relationship with Him can be.  And in the process, we get to go on some pretty amazing hikes, swim in the beautiful Buffalo River, play a lot of games, and basically have a ton of fun.  Yes, we also help wash quite a few dishes, deal with camper drama, make sure the staff are all on the same page, and handle any other unforseen issues that may arise when working with about 80 kids and 20-30 adults with only 15-20 showers available for everyone to share!  We are honored to be able to be a part of the ministry God is doing at Ponca Bible Camp, but those two weeks aren't really a vacation.

Now that we've got the whole 2 months of summer vacation myth all cleared up, let's move on to other things that summer means for our family:
*swimming at the pool (last summer we had a membership to the Community Center, but this year our neighborhood has a pool so we get to swim there)
*bike rides and hikes at various parks (Lawrence especially likes to visit State Parks and has a goal of going to every single one in MO)
*organizing and deep cleaning in our house as we never seem to have the time or energy to do that during the school year

Those all sound good to me!  But there's one other thing that summer typically means for our family that isn't all that great:
*no paycheck for ME -- since I watch teachers' kids and take off the month of July, I don't get paid during the month of July.  That's a huge chunk of change that won't be going into our bank account, which usually means things get tight, really tight, during the summer months at our house.  Not the best timing, seeing as how we want to go and do fun things as a family when we finally have the time together to do so!
*Furthermore, this year both of the teachers whose kids I babysit aren't teaching summer school, so that means no paycheck for the month of June either!
*Two months without money coming in is a long time!  Typically, I am freaking out about this time of May, worried about how we are going to make ends meet throughout the summer.  I know that God will take care of us.  He ALWAYS provides, but sometimes it's hard to trust as I wait for Him to do so, as He has this knack for coming through "at the last minute" (at least in my eyes, but in reality it's the perfect timing all along).

This year is different though.  It's NOT the usual summer for the Young family!  In a good way!  I am not worried at all about how we are going to pay our bills or afford some extra activities as we make special memories as a family.  While I wish it was all because of my massive faith in God and that I have magically learned to rest in Him without any doubt or fear or hesitation in the world, it's not.  Nope, more like God's awesome and generous provision that has ALREADY come through for us!

What do I mean?

My It Works "job" is a full year one, so I don't take June and July off.  While I don't know exactly what my commission paycheck will be for those months, I have a pretty good guess.  In fact, I am hoping they are my busiest/best months yet!

My paycheck for April (we get paid on the 15th of the following month, so I just got my commission deposited onto my special It Works debit card) was over $800.  That's more than I make watching one daycare kiddo each month.  I also made over $500 in wrap cash and $300 in bonus money.  We used the bonus money to sponsor kids for camp, so that money never really made it to our bank account, but that's more than okay!  If I just look at my commission and wrap cash, I made over $1300.  MORE than what I would make for my one full time and one part time daycare kiddos!

And given that at least 3 people have already joined our team or will have joined by the weekend, I know that my paycheck will be even more for the month of May!

That's just crazy!

But, ALL God!  Only because of Him is any of this possible!  I have prayed and prayed for God to meet our needs, and what do you know, He has done so in abundance!  Like I said, He's pretty good at that!

So not only am I NOT worried about our finances for the first summer in years, but I am looking forward to being able to do special things as a family and bless others too!

I know I already posted earlier this morning about how blown away I am with God's blessings in various areas of my life, but I just had to give another shout out to God and the way He is working in my life and heart.  I love how He is taking the desires of my heart -- to be with my kids, to show people how awesome Jesus is, to help people be healthy, and to bless others in whatever ways present themselves -- and enabling me to do ALL of them in ways I never even imagined possible!  I am just in awe of God and the work He is doing.

Instead of fretting over finances this summer, my only "concern" is finding a cute maternity swimsuit to wear to the pool! :)