an irreplaceable calling

Well, I'm officially no longer an employee of Covenant College.  I had a really good last week of work, although it was busier than I expected it to be.  In April, I spent more time going through papers and deleting files and e-mails, but this past week, I had big projects to be working on, like new student housing and finishing a training manual for my replacement.  April was more of a nostalgic and emotional week (I think I cried at some point every day), but last week was so busy that I didn't have time to feel sad until Friday.

But, yeah, it was a good week.  I feel great about the work I finished and where I left things for my replacement (who I think is going to be awesome, by the way).  And I feel very much at peace about my decision to quit and stay home with my kids.  It's like the morning of June 14, 2008.  There haven't been too many times in my life when I knew for sure that God was speaking to me, but on that day, I knew without a single doubt that the one thing that God wanted me to do that day was to marry Greg Ford.  It was an awesome feeling, knowing that the biggest moment of my life was by far the easiest decision I had ever made.

I felt that same peace on Friday.  I loved the fellowship, community and spiritual growth I experienced at Covenant, but I really do not have any problems walking away, since I am thrilled to stay home with the kids.  At my farewell reception on Friday morning, the college chaplain said something to me that made my eyes well up with tears and still gets to me as I've thought about it all weekend.  He said that in his lifetime, he's had many different jobs, positions and callings.  But in all of them, he has always been replaced.  Sure, people were sad to see him go from his pastoral role in Pennsylvania, but they found someone to replace him just a few months later.  But, he said, there is one calling in his life where he can never be replaced -- being a dad to his children.  If anything ever happened to him, no one else could ever fill that void in their lives.  He told me he thought it was very admirable that I would now be devoting the majority of my time to my most important calling, where I could never be replaced.

I've taken two maternity leaves while an employee at Covenant, so I humbly realized that as important as I thought I was, the College was actually still able to survive in my absence. :)  And while I believe that I was called to serve as the Associate Dean at Covenant for all these years, I'm even more confident that I'm called to be Ash and Kennedy's mommy.  And I am so, so, so thankful that I'll be able to be home with them every day, loving them and developing them and serving them and pointing them to Christ.  It is the one calling in my life that only I can fulfill, and I am more than happy to do so!