My goal last year was to retire Kaci so she didn’t have to go back to work.
I wanted to give her the choice to go back to work when she wanted to – not because she felt she had to because of financial restraints.
This time last year things were going great.
Fresh with the excitement and joy of becoming a Father – I had my biggest ever month in business.
And I backed it up with two more great months.
I felt like I was well on my way to retiring Kaci.
But the following 9 months… I experienced a steep decline in revenue.
Despite my best efforts to provide, there have been many months when the money just hasn’t come in.
I’ve grown comfortable living with the uncertainty of unpredictable income. But the uncertainty has been a challenge for Kaci to get her head around.
This is understandable. She’s always worked and earned her own money. And she’s enjoyed having the security of earning her own income.
Being a full-time Mum has been a paradigm shift.
It requires letting go of control and operating with a level of faith and trust.
Despite the financial pressure we were experiencing, I encouraged Kaci to resign from her job in February.
Most people would think we’re crazy.
But we both knew this was the best decision for our family.
There have been many challenging moments since then when the money hasn’t been coming in – and it’s led Kaci to drop into fear and say things like,
“I’ll just go look for another job”
But I’ve always told her ‘no’ – we don’t make decisions based on fear.
Her role as a mother is far more important than what she can bring to our household financially.
Kaci is the most incredible mother.
Her gift is being a Mum.
Her biggest goal in life was to become a Mum – and I’m so grateful I’ve been able to help her live out her vision.
We all have sacrifices we must make.
And we made the decision to sacrifice more income for more quality time as a family.
Society programs us to believe we must sacrifice time with our young ones to go and be a slave to the dollar
And for some families, they feel like that’s their only option. They don’t feel like they have a choice.
But you always have a choice.
Because our income has dropped, our lifestyle expenses have dropped. We don’t have the means to spend as we once did.
We don’t live a fancy lifestyle (and never have) – but we do live an incredible lifestyle.
Working from home doing something I’m obsessed about while Kaci raises our son under the same roof. Morning walks together as a family. Lunch together everyday. Afternoon platters together. Dinner together. Spontaneous outings together.
You can’t put a price on this stuff.
Would I trade this for both of us earning a steady income from a job we don’t really want while putting Clifford in childcare?
Absolutely not.
One of the downfalls of being a lower income is now we don’t have the means to enjoy the fancy holidays we once did – but living a life you don’t need a holiday from is the real flex.
Even though our financial bank account has looked a little sad at times, our spiritual bank account is full and overflowing.