My Two Cents

Hey girls, I am posting my advise to Angie on here so that everyone can see it and add opnions or tell Angie that Julie is stupid and don't follow Julie's advice. =) Angie, those are big decisions. I'm not sure there is a right one necessarily. So I will simply tell you my thoughts. You mentioned that you are considering starting a family sometime in the not-too-far away future and that you really LOVE what you are doing now and think it will be valuable for experience to prepare you for a future doing what you love. The money with the managerial job would be awesome and might give you a chance to boost some savings. But here is my thinking... Are you planning to stay at home after you have children? If yes, you will have to have mastered living on a lower, one-income budget by that time anyways. Does your current job that you LOVE have the potential for allowing you to still work, maybe part-time, or more flexible hours for after you have children? If yes, then that might be extremely valuable to be able to still bring in a little bit of income because I'm assuming the managerial job will be full-time and will not really work for staying home with kids as much as possible. If you plan to wait quite a while before having children and just want to build up some savings and managerial experience, then the new job opportunity might be a good move. But my thoughts are that if it is your plan to have your own bakery or your own business and to stay home, etc. you will have to go through slimmer financial times anyways during the start-up phases, etc. and it might not be a bad idea to to just get really good at living a low-budget lifestyle in the meantime if you really enjoy your work and feel like it could lead to your ultimate business aspirations in the long-run. There's my two cents. Although I don't think you really have a BAD choice here because they both sound like good options. I'll be praying God guides and directs you as you make this decision. =)

Also, I'm sorry to hear you've been having some health problems with your thyroid. We'll be praying for health for you too and that the doctors can figure out exactly what is happening with your cycle, etc. Love ya!

PS. About the dog... if you DO plan to have children before your dog might die, I personally would recommend choosing a breed that does not shed as extensively as golden retrievers. Speaking from experience because Wyatt sheds, you will get very tired of vacuuming twice a day and picking hair balls out of your kids mouths during the crawling and toddling stages... Also, their clothes get disgusting because they're always crawling in dog hair. Again, that's just my "non-animal lover" opinion. =)