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When I first married my husband he held a sales job with a well known drink company . He traveled through the city taking care of customers , counting machines and making orders for his customers. Everyday he was out by 5:30 AM and home by 5:30 PM give or take the traffic. Certain months when people drank more , his time home was varied and then depending on the traffic where we lived,( you could actually be on one street for over two hours stranded) he usually averaged getting home by 6 PM . Needless to say I saw him every night and usually every morning as I locked the door behind him when he left for work and we didn’t have any small children at home so there was no worries about what time he got home . In 2011 we bought a home , had a baby and then moved again and he went to work at a new drink company . This time his area didn’t consist of one city but it was multiple cities and counties. He left around 8AM and was usually home by 3-4PM give or take. That was a transitional job .We knew that he would not be on that job very long. We prayed for increase day and night . It was not that we just wanted more money we wanted to travel more and experience some things that we had not experience. It was not long after that prayer that he quickly moved to another position doing a job that he actually went to school for . We really left our entire life in the hands of God when he decided to take this new position. When he received the news about his job he had one week to resign from the former job and get on a plane and travel for two weeks of training in Michigan . I was left with 3 very small babies at home, alone . His new job took him into new territories , he travels weekly throughout three states. And it brought the increase that we prayed for to our household. In two weeks our life changed as his salaried doubled but with the larger number came a larger responsibility . When the babies were smaller we were able to travel with him as well but once they were school aged we were left to remain home while he traveled.
As if traveling for with that job wasn’t enough , he was also a member of the Air Force National guard which means that he not only leaves us days at a time to work a civilian job , he also takes 1 weekend out to the month to train with the Tennessee Guard. And guess what , he’s still not tired in between jobs and on most weekends he spends those times doing construction work. Painting houses, building decks and putting in flooring . Where am I when all of this is happening ? At home with the children . All day everyday . Even on the weekends.
I have talked to friends who have expressed how they desired for their family to have more and to experience a full life. They all have come back with the same general consensus , it definitely takes a sacrifice. Today as I was rolling the babies thru Walmart trying to shop for thanksgiving food and pick up other items nearly at the point of tears from pure exhaustion . As I listened to one child cry and realizing one was too big to be inside the buggy right then at that moment acknowledging that I probably should concede and just go home . There was no way I was going to get any food into this buggy with these babies inside or even with me for that matter , I took a deep breath and said …this is the sacrifice. You see this is the time of the year that we set aside to give thanks for all that we have but sometimes we are so busy complaining about what we are currently experiencing that we forget to be thankful for what we have.
I rounded the corner with two items under my buggy I sighed and took a deep breath and remember those 18 months after we sold our first house and bought our second , I remembered how much money we sacrificed to have a home . Food that we neglected to purchase because lights and water were more important. Memories of paying off our vehicles and building a new home . Memories of wanting to travel, just on weekend excursions and not having the finances to go. Memories of trying to put regular gas in a land rover. We have come a long way . Today I am thankful for the work ethic of my husband to allow me the opportunity to do what I want to do , stay home and raise my babies. It has definitely been a sacrifice .So this Thanksgiving as we sit to eat with family and friends let’s be thankful for the sacrifices that were made to enjoy the day…basically
Tesha
Very good post. We sacrifice together! Love you! Keep writing!
Thank you for reading James Melvin
This is such a beautiful letter of Thanksgiving and growth. I really enjoyed reading this. I’m glad you and yours are proud of him and having the life you love.
omg Tesha what an amazing experience! And yes, let’s be thankful for all the sacrifices that we made to enjoy life. Love it! Thank you for sharing.
Chad
http://www.mosaicslab.com
Reading your post makes me feel happy. I applaud your husband’s work ethic, and your work ethic too! Staying at home with 3 children is a lot of work too!
What a great relationship you two have. This is inspiring! Thank you for sharing this story.
You are lucky to have a husband who provides so much for you, by working so hard. Many women are not that lucky, and they have to work as well, having their children in nurseries all day.
Ahhh such an important reminder. And for you to see that moment in a difficult moment even more powerful!
A thought provoking post. I’m sure that you, your family and friends all enjoyed your Thanksgiving meal together.
Ahh what an amazing husband! I think we all forget to show them how much we appruthem sometimes so I love that you are taking time to do that 🙂
Thanks for sharing your story and I see both you and your husband has made sacrifice for the family. Glad that you are thankful for what you have and being contented. That is the most important of all. Hope to hear more stories from you.
sounds like you have a really amazing husband! thanks for sharing your story!
Some very powerful food for thought. Being grateful for the sacrifices we’ve made for what we have – instead of being grateful for what we have – or maybe in addition to being grateful for what we have. This is great stuff to think more on. Thank you for telling your story and making us think! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving with your family!
Wow, you really have a wonderful experience and I am glad that you are still thankful even though you made a lot of sacrifices.
What a great reminder. This is something I need to remember every single day! Thank-you so much for posting this! Just what I needed to hear today.
You sound like a fabulous mom! You are strong and you got this! Sacrifices usually have to be made, but you are doing a fabulous job along the way. This was a fabulous read!
I think that those who appreciate the most are those who have sacrificed. I love your blog post and hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.
As long as you are not sacrificing yourself. I am all for making a sacrifice for a compromise to help your family.
That can’t have been easy for you nor your husband. But, we do what we do for a better future and at the end of the day, you guys have each other. This is so lovely.
Such a wonderful story of all the sacrifices you guys had to go through in order to get where you’re today.
Love this Tesha!
Thank you for reading Jennifer