Work-At-Home Mom {A Guest Post}

The guest post today is brought to you by my younger sister, Shari. She is a work-at-home mom of 2 beautiful kids, ages 2 years and a newborn. Her husband, John, has been a great support for her during this time of transition to being a work-at-home mom and works hard himself at the office, on the road, and from home. Here is Shari's story as to how she became a work-at-home mom.

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Background and Transitions

After college I struggled to find a job in my field. I’ve always loved writing but didn’t know how God wanted me to use it. I applied to several places before finally landing a great job at a local Christian Ministry as a phone representative in 2009. While it wasn’t in my field, I knew I had opportunities to move to other areas within the ministry which would better fit my qualifications. In September 2010 my husband and I were overjoyed to find out that we were expecting our first child! We soon talked about how we would handle our finances in case I chose not to go back to work. Little did I know what God had in store.

For a few months, I had been helping the transcription and correspondence (T&C) team occasionally when people were on vacation. I loved it because I was able to use my writing skills. Later that year, one of the ladies on the T&C team quit, and they asked me to move from the phone team to their team full time. Not only was I going to be able to write, but they offered me an at-home position!

Since January 2011 I have been a work-at-home mom. This has not always been an easy task. There are sacrifices I’ve made in order to continue working after having kids. However, being able to raise my children while still contributing to my family’s finances is a blessing beyond compare. I want to share a few of the sacrifices I make each day when I choose to work at home, as well as the blessings.

Sacrifices

1) I can’t spend as much time with my children as I would like. This is hard for my 2 year old to understand. Mommy is at home, but she has work to do and can’t always play.

2) Time with my husband. With having to take care of the children during the day, I usually wait until after the kids are in bed before I finish my work. This obviously cuts into the time that I should be spending with my husband.

3) A bit of my income. In order to have some time during the day when I can solely concentrate on work, I have hired a babysitter to watch my children a couple of times a week.

While these sacrifices are occasionally difficult to deal with, there are also many blessings about being able to work from home.

Blessings

1) The most obvious and greatest blessing is that I get to raise my children myself. While I do hire a babysitter, her hours are minimal and I don’t have to put my children in daycare for 8 or more hours a day. I still get to watch them grow and learn even if I’m not the one playing with them at that time.

2) I get to keep most of my income. Again, while I do pay a babysitter, the majority of my income stays with me because I’m not paying a daycare provider an exorbitant amount of money to care for my children. This makes continuing to work part time worth the while.

3) I can somewhat set my own hours. While there are a few tasks that require very specific, time-sensitive deadlines, most of my tasks allow me to work whenever I have time. This means that I can usually play with the kids while they are awake and work while they are sleeping.

Final Thoughts

Being a work-at-home mom can be very frustrating and overwhelming, but the blessings far outweigh the sacrifices. I know that working at home isn’t for everyone. But if you are presented with the opportunity, I would encourage you to spend some time seriously thinking and praying about it. God will guide you and help you if you seek Him.

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Thank you, Shari, for sharing your story! Leave Shari some love in the comments!