Last week I had a morning appointment. I woke Kevin up and fed him and snuck in a few snuggles. Then I woke Micah up, changed his clothes, and walked out the door with his breakfast in hand. Thankfully this is not our typical morning.
I hear moms saddened by the fact that they drop their children off at daycare every day and pick them up for a few short hours before bedtime. Hours that are so full they seem more like minutes. On facebook I've seen more moms complain about the start of school and how rushed life becomes than ever before.
And I'm thankful. Not for their situation but because I get to stay home. God has blessed our lives and we have made my being here a priority. (I know all situations are different and everyone can't do that. I'm just so immensely thankful that I can!)
It's so refreshing to be able to spend time with my boys each morning. We can snuggle and laugh and hug and have funny conversations about the strangest things. We intentionally try to keep a very unhurried schedule with them. I read the other day that "love" is spelled "t-i-m-e." I want them to have plenty of my time! Everyone needs their love tank refilled each day and I can spend time with my boys doing that each morning.
Justin and I want to raise our own children. I cringe to think of handing my baby over to someone else for 8+ hours a day. Guess who he would be attached to? I'm glad I get to spend the time influencing and teaching and discipling our children. I never wanted someone else to see them crawl first, hear them read first, or experience any of things that I would only hear about.
Even though I go full-speed almost all day I get to spend that time doing things that are important for my family. I don't have to work at a job and then come home and try to see my family and care for my home and nurture my marriage. That sounds like a mental overload; I would constantly feel guilty.
Some people believe that staying home is stifling to a woman's intellectual growth. I would definitely challenge that assumption. I have more time to pursue my own interests than I would if I worked a job. (A job where someone else would tell me what to do and how to do it.) If I weren't home I wouldn't be able to carve out small corners of time to work on piano or writing. It's very intentional as it is or it wouldn't happen. Homemaking (and mothering) is such a diverse career. So many options can be explored based on each individual's interests.
Life can be very flexible to meet the needs of my husband. He can run home for lunch whenever he can get away and we are here. We can take him lunch if we need to. We can invite a teen girl to spend a day a week with us for the summer and invest in her life. A paycheck cannot make up for these things.
I'm so thankful for God's blessing in allowing me to be home. Home for my husband. Home with my babies. Home to grow. There is nothing I want badly enough to compensate for the loss of all these blessings.
And I don't mean that it's easy. I mean it's worth it.
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