Twenty on the Fourth. It Sounds Like Coded Bingo.

We'll be married 20 years tomorrow. Twenty years ago today, I had no idea where we'd be at this point. One doesn't think about 20 years into their future at the moment when big life changes are taking place. I didn't know where we'd be living, or how many kids we'd have, and nobody had any clue that we'd be blessed with Micah. But I did know that we'd be together, because anything else was just incomprehensible.

On the brink of our 20th wedding anniversary, I'm preparing for a new adventure. Tomorrow, I re-enter the work force. Twenty years ago, I never saw this, either. I left work behind when I was 8 months pregnant with Becky, and never looked back. I've loved being a stay at home mom. But I'm always open to The Next New Thing, and it seems that working is what's expected at this point. Again.

I'll be honest, I worried about the job thing a bit. Ultimately, I wanted to be a stay at home mom AND work, but really, what job would that be? And in the current economy, it would be hard enough to get any kind of job. But God is always there, ordering my every step. I hadn't been looking for jobs before August, so I'm not sure what was out there earlier, but I know that in the 2 week time frame that I was looking, there were many jobs that piqued my interest. And 3 hired me. (Although one rescinded the offer within 24 hours, but that's a story for another day. And it turned out to be a very good thing.) And in the time since I was hired? There has been absolutely nothing that I would either be qualified for nor even interested in, job-wise. God is pretty amazing.

So tomorrow, on our 20th anniversary, I get to go work in an office. I'm a little excited about this. Partly because it's been 17 years since I've worked in an office and there's a bit of comfort in "the old days," and partly because I'm just anxious for The Next Step. I've been waiting to start this job for a few weeks, which is awesome in and of itself. They were able to delay my start date so that I could be home with my kids the last few weeks of summer, and again so that I could be home for Micah's ear tubes last week. But I'm also excited to be working in an office again because it's only for 4 days. After I'm fully trained in the fine art of transcription, I'm bringing my work home to complete after my "mom" hours are fulfilled. Flexibility is the awesomest.

And because I have no criminal record and passed an exam with flying colors, I have also been hired as a substitute aide at the boys' school. While this takes me from home, I have the choice to say no if I have a sick kiddo or other mom duties that need my attention first. And there is never, ever the chance that I'll have to work when the kids aren't in school, even for unexpected snow days. God is SO good.

Tomorrow is our 20th anniversary, and I get to start the next chapter of my life. I wonder where we'll be in another 20 years?