Saturday, December 20, 2014

A Kick in the Pants

So as of this month I started writing the Sunday School toddler curriculum for my church. I have only completed one month of it but I really enjoy it. I submitted my first batch on Monday. This is important so remember this :)
My favorite toddler :)
Fast forward to Wednesday when I received a phone call from the temp. agency I have been using since September 2012 to find a job. They had a job they thought I might be interested in, it sounded good to me so I said they could throw my resume over to the company. With a temp. agency you don't know who the company is until you are scheduled for an interview. Now if you read my "Year in Review" post you know I have been a stay at home mom since June. When I didn't receive the last job I went for in late October, I thought God's plan was for me to stay at home so I stopped looking and started my Jamberry business. I was content and at peace with what I thought was the plan. So receiving this phone call in the first place was a surprise.


They called me a couple hours later to say the job was at Dick's Sporting Goods Corporate (DSG) but the company I would be interviewing with is a vendor of their's who embeds their employees at the corporate building. Me and all my athletic passions just loved that I was going to get to go to DSG corporate for the interview.

So first interview goes well. An hour and a half after the company from late October calls, another position opened up and they asked for me. So in the course of 24 hours I went from being content being home with my daughter to having two really good companies interested in me. I can't make this stuff up. I was given one interview at 10am and the second at 2:30pm. The agency contacted me later on to say that the DSG vendor conveyed to them that the job was mine to lose. As long as I didn't blow the second interview I would be receiving an offer. That was great to hear but then they said I needed to be prepared to make a decision by the end business Friday.


That whole night I was talking to family and friends to weigh the pro's and con's of each job. Most of the conversations were me saying how speechless I was about the situation. One of our family friends said this, "I live by the motto 'God's never in a hurry because He's always on time.'" Well remember how I said I wrote toddler curriculum on Monday? Here was the last lesson I wrote, "With God the timing He chooses is perfect. God is never late or early. God is always on time." Copy and pasted from my word document. I wrote it Monday before I knew what Wednesday through Friday would hold.  Now don't stop reading, there is more!



So as you can imagine the next morning I was really nervous. Depending on the days events I could have a job in less than 24 hours, a life changing job. I went to DSG Corp. and sat down in their amazing lobby (Yes even their lobby is fabulous). One of the many vendors with meetings came a few minutes later and sat down with me. I was reading a Sports Illustrated magazine and probably looked jittery. He started talking to me and it took my mind off of the huge interview. He asked about why I was there and I gave him a brief synopsis of the situation. He says with a smile, "Everything will work out. But I think you should work here. It is great  and you will love it." '

The interview went better than I could have planned. It just felt perfect. The two people who met with me made me feel like I had finally found "my people." The job description combines all of my talents and includes my passion for sports even though it is just the retail products they are working around. It is as close to a dream job as a 20-something can get. With that said, it seemed pretty clear to me that the second interview of the day wasn't necessary. I filled out the necessary paper work and accepted the job offer 20 minutes later.



Now who was going to take care of our little princess? There is a daycare 30 seconds down the road from us but they weren't sure of their availability so that was out. I told that to the woman from my MOPS group who watched Lily during both interviews and she offered to watch her full time! I feel so much more comfortable with that and she has 3 children around Lily's age so that's a bonus. Within 2 minutes of having a potential crisis God had an answer. Now I am a complete control freak but this whole situation I can't even logically explain. I have been a Christian since I was in elementary school but this is the first time I can say without a doubt God did this! He gave me this opportunity, dropped it in my lap and made it all work out. He spoke through my friend Thursday night, He sent me a vendor at DSG to calm my jitters and provided childcare for our daughter in the best possible situation. This whole thing definitely gave me the kick in the pants I needed to trust God, no matter what. I might want to control everything but God does it better. If you have any doubts that God knows what He is doing remember this story, it's a good one.


Now to reward you for reading this novel..... Lily can walk! Not consistent but we will take it! And it is just  too adorable.


 

Thursday, December 11, 2014

2014 in Review

To review a year in a blog post is such a weird concept. How could I possibly encompass 365 days in a post that doesn't take (days) weeks to read?

I think I will make it short and sweet this year because in about 10 minutes Lily is going to get tired of Veggie Tales and will want to play :)

2014 was filled with soccer as per usual, Mike restarting his Masters degree, and Meg becoming a stay-at-home-mom. Lily did what all infants/toddlers do which is be cute and do whatever she wants. She is our little princess and we are so blessed to have her in our lives. This year she began to talk, became a speed crawler and could probably pass as a competitive eater for the under 2 division. She loves her food and isn't too picky as long as you let her feed herself. Although tantrums and stubbornness are starting to rear their ugly heads, there is no question Lily is our child. Her favorite toy is a ball, no surprise there, and she loves her plethora of teddy bears.

This little video just cracks me up! Anyway, Mike has been working on his masters since the fall of 2011 so we are excited to have him finish up in May. Balancing a full time job, coaching 2 or 3 club teams depending on the year and assisting at the college hasn't been easy but Mike has pushed through and is pumped to have his degree. 


Meg went back to work in retail from Nov. 2013 until June 2014 and then determined the minimal hours wasn't worth the hassle. Now she works in direct sales, can challenge herself as much as she wants and still gets to stay home with Lily. The perfect setup! She also continues to coach one club team and her regional Olympic Development Program (ODP) team. 



This year we traveled much less than years prior because Mike no longer works in admissions which had a very demanding travel schedule. We have also found that like most first time parents, having a child changes everything. This is probably the first year I haven't gone to most of Mike's soccer games to support his team because let's face it, Lily can only handle so much soccer. Poor girl is at the field too much as it is. Though here is the kicker (pun totally intended) Lily can't walk yet but can intentionally kick a ball and pull a ball back with the sole of her foot. Mike is already making sure she doesn't favor one foot over the other. #coachingproblems

Lily setting up her cones.


Alright and to round out the year here a couple of pictures from Lily's first birthday party. We celebrated it over 3 weeks because why not!




2014 What a year! May God continue to bless our family in ways we could never imagine in 2015. We know we don't see friends and family as much as we would like so feel free to check back here to see what's going on. Click subscribe and enter your email address in the upper right side bar if you are lazy like Meg and just like posts to automatically come to your inbox.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!

Love,
Mike, Meg & Lily Bair 

Thursday, December 4, 2014

My New Adventure

What a crazy month it was! November 2014 wasn't filled with a lot of soccer but it was nonstop from the 1st to the 30th. On the 8th of November I took a risk and signed on as a independent consultant with a direct sales company called Jamberry Nails. They are new but growing rapidly! After a month I can say, so far, it has been one of the best business decisions I have made!


I really struggle being home with Lily some days because I feel like I am not contributing financially or doing my part besides being the best mom ever :) I love little girl with all my heart (so don't think otherwise!) but for someone who is Type A I really miss the interaction and relationships of being in an office too. 
Who couldn't love this little princess?

Jamberry has given me so many friends in less than 4 weeks and I love the community that comes with the Jamily I am now a part of. 

Mike likes to remind me of how much I hate sales and yet look what I ended up signing on to do. I like to remind him that I don't sell! I share my love of the product and it sells itself. I am an avid nail biter so I always have something on my nails. Now instead of repainting them every 5 or so days I keep Jams on for 2 weeks! I don't have the time or patience to let polish dry anyways...and neither does Lily :)

Day 1                                        Day 7
 I seriously hate confrontation and being pushy so I really dreaded my first vendor event last weekend at my sister-in-law's parent's church. The first couple of hours I just stood there smiling and saying '"hi" which I am really good at! Then I started giving free nail art samples at my booth and that is all it took for the sales to come rolling in. 

Now I am not going to make a full income off of this... at least not for a long while... but Christmas won't be so hard on our budget this year and we are planning to use this to help get rid of our debt (Yay Dave Ramsey!). I even decided (was forced by my husband) to book a bridal event for the first weekend of January. Man am I super nervous about that! Over 1200 brides PLUS whoever they bring along...the fiance, mom, bridal party. 


I was skeptical to sign up because it was quite the investment for the booth but Mike and his Dad assure me that it will pay off. I am a little bit of a perfectionist and I hate to fail so I am praying this either works out phenomenally or fails miserably so I know if it is something I can really succeed at.

If you are interested in checking Jamberry out either contact me for a free sample or just follow this link.  http://megbair.jamberrynails.net/.