Annette from A Net In Time Schooling : A SAHM Story

Guest post from Annette of A Net In Time

Did you know that I never actually planned to get married and have children?

Yeah, I have friends who were shocked for a couple years after I got married that I actually did find a guy to settle down with. Go figure eh? So needless to say I can't say that I always wanted to be a SAHM.

I worked for several years with special needs folks… in group homes and in one to one situations. I reached a point in my spiritual life that I needed and wanted to talk to single people about my faith and not knowing where else to go and went on a singles site. There I met my hubby. 🙂

Still didn't plan on dating him or anything and we talked for quite a while before via email before getting together for a walk in the park. My dog wasn't much keen on his dog, but they worked it out and overtime we got married. Me at 36 married!

I worked for the first while. I was content with it just be hubby and me, and overtime he convinced me that adding to our family might be a good idea. I wasn't real keen on kids, I DID NOT want a kid like me at all. Anyways, we ended up having to deal with miscarriages and what not. But finally we had a son! WOOT WOOT!!!!

We knew from the moment he came home that I'd be staying home with him and that we would be schooling him at home as well.

Hubby is a pastor and often works from home so our family is together a lot. Sometimes a bit too much as the lad and I can be NOISY (and hubby an introvert craving silence) so hubby will take his work elsewhere…. like to the corner coffee shop or something. 🙂

BUT I can't just school my child and feel like I”m not contributing to the financial well being of our household, and I need critters to care for. I've always been like this and growing up the farm I had chickens, rabbits, goats, calves and what not. So as an adult I raise rabbits and guinea pigs and help my boy raising his mice. 🙂

The bunnies and guinea pigs actually pay more than the part time job I had when we first married so it works out well in that regard as well. 🙂

I do a fair amount of reviews as well, so when I combine my income from my critters and my review doing, I am able to pay for most of the needs of my boy, some of our vacation time, and books for me and hubby to read. 🙂

I like to garden so it's neat to be able to provide for the family in that regard as well. 🙂 Cooking and canning are things I like to do. The weeds from the garden stretch the bunny grocery budget as well. 🙂

We are in debt, but it's manageable. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions to not get into unmanageable debt. Even with our debt we are managing to save for a rainy day. It's going slow but does that really matter?

We choose to take in international students a couple of times a year. This is great from an “expand your world” perspective, but it also helps with bringing down our debt a bit. 🙂 We have a lot of fun doing this as well.

What would I do different in our lives?

Hmm… not much actually. 🙂 We are blessed as a family of three. We do well. Why would I want to change our life experiences up to this point? Wouldn't that change who we are as people??? At least that's what I ponder. 🙂

Hmm… other stay at home mom's??? What advice would I give?

Enjoy each other. Don't worry about the “I want to haves” and just enjoy each other and the journey you are on together. Make choices that benefit the whole family and let the rest just slide away. 🙂

You can find Annette over at A Net in Time Schooling and find out more about her rabbitry business at At Home Pets.