A day in the life

I'm a stay-at-home mom. It's a job that I love and it's a job that I feel privileged to have. I had an interesting experience last week when someone come to my "defense" about me being a stay-at-home mom. I was telling someone that I stay home with my kids and this well meaning friend immediately said "but she's really smart and she has all her schooling done!" I think sometimes people have the wrong idea when it comes to being a SAHM - while it is demanding and heartbreaking at times, it is also very rewarding and fun. I feel like I am the ultimate feminist - making the choice to stay home. I don't feel like this is beneath me nor do I feel like I am wasting my education or my intellect. I love my job.

I love that I am the "guardian of the hearth." I have the power to create, to strengthen and to build a home that is based on teachings that mean so much to me. While I don't always have the cleanest home or the most organized closets, I do love that I keep our home-world a little tidier and a bit less chaotic. I love that my home can be a haven for my family (me included) and that our favorite place to be is home.

I think the main thing is that my world has become "small." I say that in quotation marks because it is no small thing to parent a child, but your sphere of influence becomes smaller. You are focused on your home, the square footage that houses your children, your husband and your laundry. I think some people consider this downsizing to mean that my job is less important than a paying job would be - and I've heard many, many women say that they didn't think they could do what I do, that they would "go crazy" if they had to stay home. I think I would go crazy if I had to rely on someone else to raise my kids.

I was going to bore everyone with a run-down of what I actually do every day, but I'm beginning to realize that would take several more loooooong posts. Why? My life is ever-changing. One day I can be menu-planning and crafting and have a great project-based day, while the next day can be nothing more than nursing a snotty baby, reading books and doing another load of laundry. There may be "bon-bon" days in there, too, where I'm catching up on my Grey's Anatomy or reading another Jodi Picoult book (guilty pleasure indeed!), but those days are always sprinkled with some kind of learning moment, some kind of tender mercy or some kind of craziness that always makes me thankful to be a mother.

Not just any mother - but a mother to MY children. With all their faults and weirdness, they have firmly attached themselves to my heart.

Several years ago I read the book "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See. It is set in old China where they used to bind girl's feet. It showed how brutal and awful the process was, but it also showed that they were saving their daughter's lives and giving them opportunities that they wouldn't have if they didn't bind their feet. I am so glad that feet binding went out of favor years ago, but that book left me wondering what I would do to make sure my daughter's lives were better. I decided that I would make my life smaller if it made it so that my daughter's lives were larger.

My girls have pricked my heart and have made it easy to make this small sacrifice. I love it when Annie's friends or classmates come up to me and my name becomes "Annie's mom." I am proud to be Annie and Zoe's mom and I hope I can continue with this little ministry for a long time.