Full-Time Jobs

My Dear Children: I Don’t Like You

/ Anchoring Hope for Mental Health / Leave a comment

Cue the confetti and the trumpets, “Mom of the Year” goes to…anybody BUT Bailey Koch.

Oh. My. Parenting. Seriously, guys. This week has been bad. We are talking “keep the boys from smashing each others’ heads into the tile,” “lock mom in the bedroom for your own safety,” “slam doors and break door trim” kind of bad.

So after today, I’ve seriously had it. I’m one who wears my heart on my sleeve, so hiding my feelings is not happening. My kids know mommy is officially losing it. Seriously thought about walking out of the house and going for a drive alone; and I would have had I not remembered the fact that our youngest has a serious case of “If you leave, you are never coming back” syndrome. I get it. He’s been through a lot with daddy’s accident, heart attack, and so on and so forth. So I didn’t leave. I locked myself in the bedroom. Or was that last night? OHHHH right. It was both.

But with that being said, this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week has left me with a big realization…

My dear children: I don’t like you.

You can officially give that mom of the year award away to anybody but me now. But it’s true. It’s summer, and I swear my children have turned into whiny, hearing impaired aliens. And it all comes down to one word, one word I can’t stand and absolutely despise…entitlement. I’m pretty sure both of my children have the word written across their foreheads at this very moment.

Get food out of the freezer and a few items fall out? Don’t worry. It works best if you stand there and scream and jump for mom to come pick it up since your “hands are full” of your nice cold treat.

Hungry at 5:00 and mom isn’t making supper fast enough? No worries. Just open up a can of spaghettios, warm them up in the microwave, and enjoy your time ruining your appetite for the nice meal your mother is about to begin preparing. Oh but be sure you leave all trash out, your bowl sitting in the living room for three days, and splatter that yummy sauce all over the microwave. Awesome.

Too tired to lift the toilet seat? Don’t worry. I genuinely love cleaning up pee all over the bathroom. Oh, and I adore sitting in it. Thank you!

Can’t find that precious stuffed animal? Oh it was me. Totally me. I hid it in an underground cave of wonders because I generally suck. That is all.

But entitlement is not only extremely annoying, it’s also dangerous. I refuse, REFUSE, to raise children who believe the world owes them anything. You work hard. You stand up for what you believe in. You get knocked down and you get back up. That’s what I want them to know. But right now, I’m pretty sure I’m failing miserably. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that a bad day does not mean a bad life. But this entitlement issue is bad.

So it’s true, my boys. I don’t like you right now. I love you. Oh my goodness do I love you. You have no idea how much, but that’s why you have to know why I don’t like you. We all have some work to do. Because when I don’t like you, I generally don’t like the person I become either. I turn into a screaming maniac. And if you ever videotape one of my outbursts, I will send your most embarrassing pictures to every girlfriend you will ever have for social media sharing.

Entitlement equals disrespect, and those are the issues we are having. While I love you, my children, I don’t like you right now. And if this behavior doesn’t stop, nobody else is going to like you either. Keeping a job? Forget it. You’ll believe you only have to show up when you feel like it and can leave whenever you want. Having a meaningful and loving relationship with a woman? No way. You’ll believe any woman is only there to pick up after you and allow you to walk all over her. Succeed in school? Nope. You’ll find a way to blame all of your mistakes on someone else.

So guess what, my children? You live under my roof, and this behavior stops now. I love you too much to not like you.

Love,

Mom

www.jeremyandbailey.com

https://www.facebook.com/jeremyandbaileykoch/

When God Says “No” and I wanted “Yes”

/ Anchoring Hope for Mental Health / Leave a comment

Well, my pride is hurt. My feelings are hurt. I’m all out just bummed right now. I’m kind of on a pity party. I know I’ll get over it but I don’t really want to yet. I just want to be mad right now. Thankfully, I know how to not take this out on my husband and kids (mistakes made in the past have helped me move past that aspect of my pity party), but I still just need to be mad.

You see, here’s the deal. Let’s go back in time to August of 2013…

I knew I needed to leave my job and secure paycheck as a public education teacher; I knew it because God made it obvious. I was terrified to go to Jeremy and tell him that this is what I felt I needed to do for our family. To my surprise, Jeremy had no hesitations. None. Sure, honey. We are small business owners who often rely on your paycheck during the winter when we can’t always pay me, but quit your job. I understand and support you completely. I believe in you and what we are trying to do together for our family.

That’s awesome. My husband is amazing. So when am I going to start believing in me the way he believes in me?

So I did it. I quit my job. I left with stellar recommendations from my administrators and co-teachers. I was working on my doctoral degree and holding fast to a 4.0 GPA. Everyone I knew said to me, “Oh you’ll find a job immediately. Anyone would be lucky to have you.” You can likely tell that I didn’t only leave with these qualifications and amazing references, I also left with a giant I’m awesome attitude.

Well, God has a way of humbling us when we try to take on the glory ourselves rather than giving it to Him. I’ve learned my lesson…and am still learning it.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of good has come from me leaving my job. Like…a lot. God has provided for us when we needed it, and I know He will continue to. We have even had family members who believe in us so deeply that they give and give of themselves. Do you have any idea how hard it is to accept financial gifts from family? Holy cow…there’s a lesson I didn’t ever think I’d have to learn. But now I know how God works; He is teaching me how He wants me to be for my future generations. I am working my butt off right now to set up our family financially for the future. And will I give as best I can to my kids, grandkids, parents, etc. when I am able? You bet your butt I will…because I know what it feels like to need it.

Our retirement is draining because we have been living off of that, but one day it will fill up again. We are learning to live without truly knowing how God is going to provide. I do love our life, but sometimes hearing “No” from God when I wanted “Yes” is hard.

So here is what has happened since I left my job. I had applied for over 70 positions without even getting a call-back. When I finally did get an interview, the entire thing was in Spanish. Yep…the entire interview. While I do have a degree in Spanish, teaching the alphabet to 7th graders for 7 years has its way of limiting higher-level conversational skills. I felt so stupid. I immediately started reading my old Spanish textbooks to brush up…but I wasn’t shocked when they never called me again. Lol…actually we got a good laugh out of it and I stopped applying for any Spanish teaching positions where I would have to converse face-to-face. Reading…great. Writing…good. Speaking…well, crap.

But I did get to be home with our youngest son during his last year before starting Kindergarten and be there 100% for my husband as we learned how to more effectively manage his depression. I got to finish up our book and get it published. “Never Alone: A Husband and Wife’s Journey with Depression and Faith” became a reality in March and is our life story. I know that is the main reason I was supposed to leave my job, because we focused on that and our story has helped many understand the reality of mental illness. I know that I will have more time now to help our book reach more people who may be struggling with truly understanding what it is like to either live with severe depression and suicidal thoughts (or another unseen illness) or to be the primary support person for someone suffering. I cannot even begin to explain the joy we feel when we realize that God has used us, yet again, to help somebody accept help with mental illness. It is so humbling and has truly helped us understand that God is in control and we are not. We wrote because God told us to. We shared because God put it on our hearts. And we receiving healing, understanding, and support as a result of sharing. God is so good.

I also got to focus on my doctoral degree being unemployed. As I type, I literally have three assignments left before I am in complete dissertation mode. And yes, I’m still holding onto my 4.0 GPA. Don’t be impressed, it’s freaking hard. I am up most nights until midnight or later just praying for the strength and knowledge to complete my assignments correctly. I sit at my desk and try to concentrate while also trying to balance my life as a small business owner, writer, wife, and mom of two young boys. I spend around 45 hours a week on homework alone. Now that I realize it’s not me, it’s God, it has become easier. I won’t lie. God made me passionate about special education, about students, and about writing. He gave me talents and I am putting them to use for this degree. I do believe He will make the work worth it because I believe I have the power to do good for future educators and students, but I’m ready now. Apparently He’s not.

I do get to start at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in August as an adjunct instructor. While I thought the possibility of full-time employment was there right now, it’s not. And I just found out today. So I’m bummed. But even writing has helped me practice what I preach. God is in control and I am not. While my plan is wrecked, I have to focus on the good. God has opened a door; I’m still getting to teach. It’s just not full-time. I’m still being given an amazing opportunity to begin my new career. Someday, it will be more. But right now, God says no. He has something more planned for me in the present moment that I don’t yet know about.

So I’ll begin my new career slowly, enthusiastically, and gratefully. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us. Because if it’s anything like what He did for us since I left that comfortable life, bring it on. We may have little money, but we have more love and understanding than we ever have; and you can’t put a price on that.