I am a stay at home mom. I've been a stay at home mom for six years. It is, hands down, the most fulfilling career I've ever had. In my life before kids I:
nannied,
baby-sat,
was an office assistant,
a real estate assistant,
a department store clerk,
a swim instructor,
a special education staff assistant,
and a behavioral education staff assistant.
Since 2011, our family of (then five and now) six has been living on a single (teachers') income. It's not easy, but Josh and I agree that this is exactly where I need to be and we wouldn't trade my being home for any material possessions in the world.
I am passionate about being a stay-at-home mom & homemaker. I encourage every woman with children to stay home if it's on their hearts. Sure, there are sacrifices that must be made, but you won't regret it. I never have.
That said, there are days where it's lonely here. At home.
Even though there is always at least one kid with me, the work I do is often invisible.
Bills paid, dishes rinsed, laundry folded...
But the next day or week or month, everything I do must be done again.
It's often thankless.
Worse than the thankless work, I often wonder if what I'm doing even has any real value.
I will harp on my kids (and harp and harp) and it may be months before I can see the seed I planted begin to sprout. Some seeds may take decades to sprout. Others never will.
All I can do is hope.
Hope that I can love hard enough and encourage loud enough,
for them to know that they can do anything.
But to also let them know that they don't have to do everything.
There can be balance.
It can be freeing to know the things you don't like or aren't good at.
That can often be as important as knowing what you do like, what you are good at.
I am good at:
organizing
planning
making our house a home
and loving our children
I am not good at:
keeping my cool all the time
being flexible
consistently waking up before my kids
letting things go
Thankfully I am good at turning to Josh for help where I have weakness, and I am bad at leaving my children. It puts me in the perfect position to be a stay-at-home mom. It's what God made me for.
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