Sunday, April 20, 2008

3 Year Plan

Jen and I are planners. Rarely do we go into a situation without a plan in place. We usually do plenty of research, discuss our options and then move forward with our plans. Although life sometimes throws us a curve and things don't turn out as we expected we feel a lot better with a plan in place.

One positive that the long wait to adopt has afforded us is plenty of time to plan and prepare for when Grace is home. One big thing we have been planning is for Jen to be able to take the next school year off work to stay home with Grace. With potential attachment issues we thought it would be great if Grace could have mommy home with her as long as possible. Jen's contract actually allows her to take up to 2 years off for child rearing. Although at this point we are only planning 1 year off, we will reassess next year and see where we are. Another positive of the long wait is we have been able to build up a little buffer in our bank account so the year without Jen's paycheck won't be a financial worry.

As a teacher Jen actually has a great job for a working mom. We discussed her being a stay at home mom briefly but she really loves her job and really doesn't want to stop working. It just wouldn't make sense. She has summers off, and a week off in December, February and April, plus all holidays. Her school also has a great and fairly inexpensive daycare on-site that we will be able to use once Grace is potty trained.

That probably leaves a year between when Jen goes back to work and she can use the in-school daycare. At this point we are planning to put Grace in a local daycare for about three days a week and possibly have the Grammys take care of her for a day or so a week. We know how much they are looking forward to spending time with Grace.

As for me I am planning to take two weeks off for the trip to China then three additional weeks when we get home. I do get 4 weeks vacation a year so that should leave me some time off this summer. After all, someone has to work to pay for all of those little dresses and shoes that Jen has been buying.

3 comments:

Two Pearls said...

Sounds like a great plan! I took two weeks off for travel and another two when we got home. K was in between jobs and stayed at home with Sophie for another four months before he started working again. And Sophie is now in the same daycare where her big sister EJ went, and she is terribly loved there. That's what is most important.

BTW, I talked to another couple from our travel group this weekend...their twins are from YiFeng. They DID have the opportunity to travel to YiFeng! They didn't think they were going to be allowed to actually visit the SWI, but they wanted to see the area. Our guide had arranged a car, etc, but unfortunately, the dad had come down with a bad stomach bug and ended up cancelling (they weren't going to take the babies for the 2.5 hour drive so mom was staying with them for the day). Anyway, just wanted to let you know that it was an option for them.

Wendy said...

Sounds like everything is in place. Good for the both of you it will make things even easier knowing you are OK while you take time off work.

Have a wonderful day
Wendy

Gail said...

Sounds great! I'm jealous.
I wish I could take a year off!!
Enjoy every minute of it!!