We started off the new year knowing that there would be a LOT of challenges and unknowns. We discovered that I was pregnant on December 19th of 2009, and as I may have mentioned before, I was totally freaked out. I, in my worried little way, didn't think we were prepared to have a baby. I thought we would have a plan, be more financially stable, have a bigger home, have two cars and two jobs. You know, like "everyone else". We had talked about when we wanted to have kids and we decided to be open to that any time after our one year anniversary. (We ended up celebrating one year of marriage with a 4 week old baby!) So, discovering that I was pregnant after only 3 months of marriage was a shock to my planning, prepared mentality. I thought that we would be seen as irresponsible, that people would silently say, "shame on them for having a baby when they can barely take care of themselves." This was a large part of why I wanted to wait a few weeks to tell friends and family. To be honest, I was ashamed, though I now see how Oliver is NOTHING but a joy and has brought showers of blessings to us.
Anyway, I digress. Joaquim's job search was only just beginning as he received his green card within a few days of our seeing those two pink lines on a little strip telling us that there was a tiny life inside of me. He didn't end up getting a job until June, so we had six months of some real penny pinching. Every month we would carefully plan our budget, and when we got down to all of our bills and necessities and then looked at our income, we consistently saw that we'd go in the negative. Quite simply, we were consistently making less than we NEEDED to spend. Miracle number 1 is that we never went into ANY debt or had to use money from our meager savings during those months. Sure, we were frugal, but month after month we spent a few hundred dollars more than we made, and yet always had enough in our checking account. It can't be explained except by God's miraculous provision. We have proof in spreadsheets if you want to see!
God also provided little jobs for Joaquim for the first 6 months of the year. He preached twice at a small church just west of Rockford, and that was a cool story of little connections. They paid very little, but it was something. In April, through another connection, he got a little job translating a cell phone operating system and manual. Anyone out there who is using a Dell windows phone, Joaquim edited the Portuguese version! That paid more than we were expecting, which was a fun surprise and ended up covering our first doctor payment, which was something that Joaquim was really pleased to be able to do.
Then there was the question of maternity clothes. Pregnant women need a whole new wardrobe! Not cheap. Well, it was cheap for me because I bought maybe 5 items of clothing throughout my whole pregnancy and spent MAYBE $100 total. WONDERFUL friends and family just kept giving me cute clothes, left and right. That burden was totally lifted from our shoulders. One day, I was getting to the point where I needed to go out and get some clothes but I remembered the story of George Mueller, who never asked anyone for anything, just prayed for God to touch someone's heart to provide it. (My job is to ask people to make gifts to a non-profit, so I don't subscribe to this practice all the time! It just touched my heart for my personal life at that moment...) I prayed that God would provide me with some clothes, and the next day a friend emailed me saying that she and her husband felt they should buy me some maternity clothes. Wow! 2 others passed on some maternity jeans, and my mom gave me lots and lots of cute outfits for mothers day. Throughout my whole pregnancy, my best friend Janell pampered and spoiled me horribly, taking me out to eat a lot (boy, could I eat!) and giving me a gift certificate for a massage, giving me a big basket of morning sickness cures - ginger ale, saltines, etc. - and of course was my biggest clothing provider. She now spoils Oliver just as well. We love her!
Ok, I got a little stuck on clothes there. That was just too fun! Moving on...Joaquim's job has been SUCH a blessing. Not only does he bring in a paycheck, which is great, but he also now has insurance for his whole family, which was costing us a ton through my job...up to 25% of my paycheck. That's a fun story. He wrote on a satisfaction survey that he really would like to be hired full time as a permanent employee so that he could have benefits. HR felt bad for him, basically, and offered him the job. Nothing like asking directly, right? That was in mid-November, and I had until November 20th to go off of my insurance at work. PERFECT timing. When I told my HR that I wanted to drop off, she said "oh good, because I didn't have the heart to tell you that your rates were about to nearly double!" Wow. God's timing is perfect and He doesn't ever give us more than we can handle! Joaquim works in a warehouse, so he equips his ipod with lots of podcasts, audiobooks, and sermon series, and has been soaking up so much good teaching on God's word. I can see him growing in leaps and bounds! He hasn't yet had the opportunity to do any formal training or go to seminary, but He is taking every opportunity at church to take free classes and download every teaching he can get his hands on, listening to each one multiple times and gleaning more and more each time.
Now, a sad but redeemed story: our car situation. We knew starting out in 2010 that we needed a second car. But we didn't have the money for a down payment or monthly payments or to just pay cash for a good used car. That basically left us with no options. We borrowed my parents minivan for a few weeks when Joaquim first started working a temporary painting job, and we were hot on the search for a very used, but ok car that we could drive for a year or two. You can probably find the whole story in older posts, but...it was bad. We spent a couple thousand on a total piece of junk and we have not been able to resurrect it since. We exhausted all our chances and connections, and there were many, and just couldn't get it fixed up. Now it sits in our parking lot with a dead battery, whoops. Well...God wasn't done with that situation (and perhaps still isnt'!) and on NEW YEARS EVE, He provided. My mom called and said that my grandpa mentioned that we could have their minivan since they were trying to sell it and didn't realize we really could use it. So, BAM, we suddenly own a minivan in good condition, no strings attached, just had to pay for the title transfer. Wow. Blessed our socks off. Anyone want our "junker"? We're going to try and sell it for a REASONABLE price considering the repairs needed and if we're not successful we'll just give it away to get it off our hands. It's kind of a sore spot...
By far, the biggest blessing of the year BY FAR was our precious baby boy. He is healthy, happy, energetic, and such a stinker who totally keeps us on our toes. He is an endless source of joy, constantly making us smile and laugh, and seems to pull us back to reality with his toothless grins. We love him more than we could have ever imagined. And I see now that being in a difficult situation when we first found out we were expecting him was the opportunity of a lifetime to see God's provision and miracles. We probably would have had a very easy and stress free year without our precious Oliver. Looking back, I say that would have been pretty boring and just no fun at all.
That brings us to 2011. We have no idea what is to come! Big things...and God is GOOD and hasn't failed us yet!
It is so cool to see over a year how God has blessed you guys, your marriage, your family. I need to start writing these things down too! It's such an encouragement to see how God provides for us so many times and in so many ways. It's been great getting to know you and Joaquim through choir and soccer and now small group :). Joaquim is an encouragement to me as well as the other guys in the group and we look forward to getting to know you guys more in 2011!
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