Whitworth Alumna Left the Job She Loved for Her Kids
By Kelly Bastron

Kristin Moyles Janson, '93, gives her baby a bottle in the early hours of the morning and watches the first light cross the round cheeks of 11-month old Annika. These feedings have become a time she treasures. Only six months earlier, Janson's mornings were rushed, trying to feed her two children, pack them up for daycare, and hurry to her job in Spokane, a 45-minute commute from her small farm in Elk.

"You can always resurrect a career, get another job, but you only get one shot at parenting," she said.

Janson resigned from Career Path Services after unsuccessfully attempting a flexible schedule that would allow her more time with her newborn daughter and 3-year-old son, Søren. Janson's decision to leave her key position as the manager of the youth and education program wasn't an easy one.

She had worked at Career Path Services for eight years after a brief career at the Coeur d'Alene Musical Theatre and then as a broadcast journalist, working her way from an assignment assistant to a reporter at KXLY-TV News. In her eight years, Janson found her niche with Career Path Services, so leaving was excruciating. She walked away from a company she was loyal to, colleagues she called family, and a career working with low-income children about whom she was passionate. She gave up her retirement, benefits, social circle and sphere of influence.

"My decision was somewhere between sheer craziness and a leap of faith. I listened to my instinct even though it doesn't make sense in my head," she said. "The staff was sad. I was sad. But I knew I was doing the right thing."

Janson knew as a Whitworth student that when she had children she would want to be with them, but she did not anticipate the difficulty of leaving a job she loved. She struggled through goodbyes with her colleagues, slowly adjusted to being at home all day, and worried about the future. But with each difficult day, inspiration came from Søren and Annika.

"I look into their eyes, and I think, okay, I can do hard," she said.

Staying at home was like moving to a different city. Since she was no longer commuting to Spokane, the surrounding Elk community became her center for errands and friends.

"Where you get your prescriptions, your groceries, where you drop off dry-cleaning, where you bank, all changes," Janson said. "You have to learn a whole new pattern."

She enjoys her new pace of life. She has time to make her children healthy breakfasts, read books with them, understand bad mornings, and experience their adorable quirks.

But Janson and her husband knew their family needed a second income, despite their careful handling of finances, and in the end, she couldn't imagine not working.

"God gave me abilities, skills and a love for learning that I needed to put to work," she said. "When you are focusing so intently on your own family's needs 24-7, there is a danger of becoming myopic, and that can cause you to miss opportunities to serve the greater community."

Taking the advice from her previous co-workers, she obtained a business license and started Janson Consulting from her home. Her consulting work ranges from revising a fitness center's strength-training manual to conducting a seminar on business writing for the Community Colleges of Spokane. A self-proclaimed planner at heart, Janson has found her biggest struggle in the ambiguity of future jobs.

"The most challenging thing is the not-knowing," she said. "I'm self-employed.I don't know if there will be another job."

She currently uses her Whitworth education degree teaching part time with Deer Park home-school families. Three times a week she provides private tutoring in subjects including French, vocal performance, and British literature, giving the home-schooled children exposure to subjects and experiences they might otherwise miss out on. She also consults with the Deer Park School District, helping match the state graduation requirements with home-school parents' educational strategies. Søren and Annika spend a few hours with a daycare provider four days a week.

"I look forward to seeing my kids every single day and count each moment with them as precious," Janson said. "I think if I was at home with them all day every day I might not appreciate them as much as I do. There's a danger I could take them for granted.So working 20-to-30 hours a week benefits the whole family."

Early mornings, bottles of formula, puzzles, naps, and playing pretend fill her days, and although she misses time for herself and quiet times for reading, writing, or knitting, Janson realizes there will be time for that later.

"I treat my kids as precious guests who will leave the house very quickly," she said.

On Janson's nightstand is a quotation by Victor Hugo printed on a small piece of paper: "Have the courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."

Janson goes to bed every night, looks at the quotation and quiets the concerns about her decision to resign her position, about her new business, and about her family.

"So much could keep me awake at night," she said. "But I think about the ending of that quote and it somehow stills the frenzy and allows me to reflect without worry. If God is awake, and watching, who am I to worry about the future?"