History - phase three - 30's - Urbana, Ohio

Today is January 1st, 2010. I'm excited about getting to the real reason for my blog, but I have to finish the history part of it so you will see how I came to be where I am. I spent the next 8 years living in Urbana, Ohio with my four children. We had little but always felt so lucky. The first couple of years I stayed home with the children. Not that I didn't get any job I applied for. I couldn't find anyone to watch the children for less than the income I would make so I couldn't take the jobs. I had no formal education, I think I mentioned that. I did ok taking care of the house and the kids those first years. We weren't on any kind of schedule though. Something happened to me during that year in Canada. I had given myself to be good at homemaking and order and I felt that my efforts had been for nothing. I realized that I had been doing everything for my husband and not entirely for Jesus. Jesus I found out during this stretch of time, will never abandon us. It was an extremely difficult time, emotionally, physically, financially but we experienced many miracles and had some really good times. I determined to be a family and to have a family atmosphere, just the five of us. We read the Bible together, prayed together lots, went faithfully to Church and all Church functions that applied to us. I rarely took a break from the children. Maybe once or twice a year for only a few hours at a time. I dedicated my life to them for Jesus. A few years into this time I had a physical breakdown. I was too sick to care for the children so they went to live with friends for a couple of weeks until my mother could come down. She stayed for a while and helped me until I could get on my feet again. I began to get better and provide a little for our income by ironing for people and cleaning houses. It was just a little business but it helped with the few bills we had and with the school fees, etc. It took years for me to recover from the breakdown. My doctor told me to walk everyday to replenish my adreneline. So I took a newspaper route, and added new routes as my strength increased. I often took the kids with me, especially for the afternoon route. I carried newspapers until I tore the ligament in my sternum. After that I continued to iron and clean until I got a secretary job at a small local lawn mower business. At that time I only cleaned on weekends, I had but a few regulars left, plus some part time bookkeeping work I had found. I met my husband at the lawn mower repair job and married seven months later. During the time we were dating I had gotten a job at a small publishing business. Starting pay was better than the secretary job and there was boundless opportunity there for me to utilize talents I never knew but suspected that I had. After I remarried I decided that one job was enough for me and stopped the side jobs. I was married two weeks before my 40th birthday. We continued to live in Urbana for one year until we were able to buy a home near my husbands parents, his Grandmothers house.