My husband, Matthew, works for an incedible church. We have been so blessed by being at Cedarcrest in many ways. We are so thankful that God has led us to Cedarcrest. Matthew has been there for 4.5yrs full time but he has been going/volunteering/working there for almost 8yrs, since the very first sunday.
Before Matthew went to work at Cedarcrest he was a mechanic for Capital Cadillac. Worked nights in Ballground on cars and did setup for church on saturdays and ran sound/lights on sunday then did tear down. He had 3 jobs and was working 7 days a week, many night until 1 or 2 am then back up the next morning at 6am to do it all over again. He did this for about 4yrs and I was with him for 1+ of this.
After praying for 2 months Matthew accepted the position at Cedarcrest for fulltime. He left Capital Cadillac. Jr was a couple months old when he started. During this time he still worked in Ballground at night on cars and we still did setup saturdays and worked sundays and did teardown. So, he was still working 7 days a week and working nights till 1 or 2am but he just had 2 jobs instead of 3. We did this until colton was a few months old. At this point we moved to meeting at Allatoona high school. that was such a blessing. We still had to teardown and setup but we got to do it all on sunday. At this point, we got our Saturdays back!! Matthew also got Fridays off so our weekend was fri/sat since sunday is a work day for him. He did still work in ballground on nights and his off days so we still didnt see much of him.
When I got pregnant with Tinsley we prayed and decided that Matthew would stop working nights in Ballground when she came along. He did slow down working in Ballground. instead of every week, he worked maybe 2 or 3 weeks at night a month. So, he would come home for dinner and leave before bath/bedtimes. He did this until Tinsley was about 7 months old. At that point he realized that he needed to be home with us at night. He was missing out on a lot and we missed him like crazy. So after 3.5yrs of hardley ever seeing daddy, we had him home with us after work and for bath/bedtime! It was an adjustment bc we were not really used to it but we found our new normal and were so happy with it! So at this point Matthew was working Sunday thru Thurs and had Fri/Sat off and wasnt working at nights. It was fabulous! Now we are starting a whole new kind of normal.
On most of Matthews off days he works with his buddy Steve doing remodling types of stuff. He enjoys it and brings in some extra cash which is nice. He is much more flexible with it so if we need to do something or he wants the day off then he doesnt go work with steve. Then once a month he travles for a couple days, usually Thurs thru Sat evening doing all the setup/sound running/teardown for XFC (like UFC)! He really enjoys this job. And, since its on his weekend time then he doesnt have to miss any work or maybe only 1 day every few months. I have to say personally that I would much rather Matthew do this traveling job then working at nights.
For those of you who know my husband, you know that he always has to be doing something. He does not take much time to rest/relax. He is always doing something. I love this about him. Though it can be hard bc sometimes I just want him to sit still with me. We have been thru many changes over the course of our 5yrs together. And, I know there will be many more throughout our life together but just as we have done over the past few years we will continue to pray through everything. We know Gods plan for us is an incredible one and I pray that we always always always go first to the Lord in prayer and always follow where he leads.
All that being said...Yes, my husbands job now tends to be more flexible then some. But that by no way means that he doesnt work hard or work at all. He loves his job. Whether he is at the office, taking care of stuff at storage/trailers, keeping up with things at AHS, meeting, building things for the stage or childrens area, working on computers, changing light out, making budgets, dealing with the copier/fax machine, dealing with IT stuff, working on the truck, putting the sign out, setting up and tearing down, running the sound/lights/video area, making sure everything is working on sundays and pretty much anything else you could possibly think of...he loves his job and has learned so much! From being a mechanic to now being in the position that he is, he has had to learn to do a lot and he has done it all with no problem. He just jumps in and does it, no questions asked. We have had to make many many sacrifices over the past few years and we would never change a thing. God has us in this place and is teaching us and growing us and for that we are forever greatful for His love and guidance.
I guess I want to end this post by saying...Lets try not to judge people on thier lives. We have no clue what thier life is like or has been like. Try to be loving and encouraging no matter what. And, I pray we all find contentment and happiness in our lives and stop being bitter and hateful towards others. Just because our lives are differant doesnt mean that they are worse or better then the other, just differant. If all our lives were the same it would be a very boring world to live in.
My dad always said to us growing up..."Happiness is a choice, choose happiness"
And, I leave you with a picture I took when I took the kids grocery shopping the other day. Thank you kroger for car carts!
