WAHW...Thirty-One Style!!

To tell you the "cause" of our infertility, I first have to explain how I have come to be a happy WAHW (Work at Home Wife). I graduated from North Carolina State University in 2004 at 22 years old and ready to conquer the world! I "knew" to be successful in life I would have to find a high-power corporate job and work my way to the top!

So I got my first job at a home medical company working in their corporate office. It was an OK job and I met some very good friends, Jamie & Na'im. I'm so thankful that years later, after all 3 of us have left that job, we have remained great friends! A year and a half later, I got a huge step up job working for our County Manager and Board of Commissioners. This job should have been the end of my story. I worked under the Clerk to the Board, Cheryl, and she was the best boss and became as close to me as family! After working there for 2 years, I got offered a position with the State working at the Courthouse in a new program that was being implemented. It was a lot more money and since I was getting married and buying a house, I felt this was the right move to make. Boy, was I WRONG!!!

So I said a tearful goodbye to Cheryl and went to work at the courthouse. It wasn't so bad at first. I worked with 2 other women--one of which was my relative. Over time, these 2 women became very close friends--which ended up not boding too well for me. For the next two years, I dealt with hostility, harrassment, sabotage and one of the worst work environments I could have possibly imagined. It got so bad that now I no longer consider my own relative a family member--and neither do my husband or parents. I ended up having constant chest pains that felt like a heart attack, high blood pressure (148/110) & horrible anxiety. Oh, and I forgot to mention...INFERTILITY!! But we'll go into the details of that later.

The one good thing about going to the courthouse was that is where God led me to Thirty-One!! My friend Sarah brought a catalog filled with beautiful treasures and asked me if I wanted to take a look at it. I'm a purse/tote/organizing bags fanatic so of course I wanted to check it out. At the time, hubby and I were working very hard to get out of debt (still are!) and so I knew I wouldn't be able to get everything I wanted in the catalog--which was EVERYTHING!! I flipped to the back of the catalog and my life was changed. I saw the beautiful items worth over $300 but I would get it for only $99!! I figured what could it hurt. I knew I could do the 2 or 3 parties it would take to earn my money back and then I would be done. I had tried a different direct sales business in the past and was just not good at it at all--and that's putting it nicely. John likes to say that I couldn't sell honey to a bee! He's so sweet!! But I talked to him about it and even though we were both skeptic that I would make anything out of it, he agreed it was worth a shot. Like he said, even if I just made $50 a month, that would be enough to pay a bill or two!

So I contacted a consultant that was featured in that season's catalog that lived near me--about 45 minutes away. Little did I know this woman, Jen,  is a powerhouse in the company--achieving the highest title of Senior Executive Director in just a little over 2 years! I knew I was in good hands. So on May 1, 2010, I signed up under Jen and got 2 parties booked. Well, just wanting to make enough to pay my kit price back happened in my first party! Those 2 parties multiplied and I started having friends and random people wanting to sign up to do what I was doing--Partying for a Living!! I promoted to Senior Consultant the same month I signed up and then promoted to Director in September, 2010--just 4 months after signing up!!  I had finally found my happy job. It wasn't the typical 8-5, M-F, get up go to the office kind of job. It wasn't the corporate powerhouse I thought I was SUPPOSED to have. It was better!! By the end of the year, I had made an additional almost $12,000 in 7 months!

However, the courthouse job just kept getting worse and worse. I cried every morning having to get ready and drive to work and then cried every night knowing that I had to go back to the courthouse the next day. Saturdays became my only good day of the week. Sunday around 4-6 p.m. I would think about having to go to work the next day and face "them" and the tears would just start flowing. I was absolutely miserable--and this was on top of being miserable because we aren't getting pregnant.

The last straw was when I finally had to go to see my doctor because my heart was beating through my chest and my chest pains were so severe that I couldn't take a deep breath. Dr. Scott's nurse opened up a new box of tissues for me at that appointment and by the end of it, I had cried through the ENTIRE BOX of tissues. He told me right then and there that if something didn't change, I was going to end up very sick, or worse, dead. That truly scared me. He said he wanted to take me out on medical leave, but I was so afraid of the retribution if I had gone out on medical leave that I begged him not to. Dr. Scott told me that he would give me a few weeks to "figure something out" but if it didn't get better, he wouldn't give me the option of going on medical leave. He said that as my physician and knowing that my health was being affected, he would HAVE to step in. This was January 31, 2011.

On February 2, 2011, I got information from a friend of mine at the courthouse that the State was offering a severance package to those that would volunteer to leave. It was called a Voluntary Reduction in Force and it was only being offered to the Judicial Branch. That included me!! I sent in my application to see what I would be offered. John and I agreed that if we could at least get 2 months pay out of the deal, we could make it work. And me being happy and healthy again would be so worth it. I got my estimate back 2 days later and I saw my sign--I got 2 months pay EXACTLY...just what we said we needed. As an added bonus, I found out that I would get my health insurance paid for a full year. I was so excited and overcome with God's grace. I knew this was my sign to finally GET OUT!  A week later I was able to pack up and walk out with my head held high. Even through one last sabotage from "them"--I just didn't care! I was going to be out of there and I was so happy!!

So now, I am officially a WAHW and loving it! I am also happier and healthier than I have been in 2 years. My blood pressure is almost back to normal, chest pains are a thing of the past, and my anxiety is nothing more than just a distant memory. It wouldn't have been possible without God bringing Thirty-One in my life. I know that. I trust that. I believe that. And it just keeps getting better! I found out today that I am about to have a 2nd director under me which will promote me to Senior Director by April!! That means I will have promoted to the 4th level in the company in less than a year! This promotion will really boost my paycheck and allow me to remain a WAHW without having to get a part time job. It's also going to help us afford various drugs and procedures to have a baby!! I couldn't understand for a long time why God was making me stay in this awful job at the courthouse when I was so miserable. But I can now see the amazing plan He had by bringing Thirty-One into my life and blessing this business so that when the opportunity came, I would be able to leave and still be taken care of. I just hope that the next step of the plan is to make us parents. Especially now that I will have the opportunity to stay at home with my child(ren)!