Motherhood & At the Well..part 2

In 2 years, I had 2 children.

After all the problems we had trying to get pregnant, baby #2 came in an instant! Doc referred to my womb as a jar of olives....after you get the first one out, the others come quickly....:o)

By the time baby #2 came along, I'd been a stay at home mom for almost a year.

While pregnant with baby #1, I was a working woman and I had all these dreams of my child being the head cheerleader, or the super jock. Maybe she would be great in academics or he would be a great debater. I would make an awesome soccer mom and their friends would love hanging out at our house.

When my DD was born, I set those things in motion. After 6 weeks, I put her in daycare and headed off to work.

(Let me insert here that I am in NO WAY condemning those moms who have to work, or choose to work..I am simply sharing our story and our convictions.)

I worked for another year and was well on my way to making a dream come true....or so I thought.

After rushing around one morning trying to get myself and DD out the door, I rushed into daycare only to have my little one year old hold out her little chubby arms to her daycare worker, squealing at the top of her lungs, "Mama!!" She was more excited to see her daycare worker than me, and that really hurt.

I left daycare and when I got to work, immediately turned in my notice.

It was at that moment that I knew I needed...wanted... to stay home with my children.

It was only a couple of months later that I found out I was pregnant with DS and yet became a child myself...a child of the King.

Over the months that followed, God did a work in my heart and showed me that the greatest calling on my life was to be at home with my children. He removed the scales from my eyes, sometimes in great quantities, sometimes a little at a time. He accomplished so much in my heart. He put a desire in me to make my home a haven, a safe place for my family.

He raised up a desire in me to be the best mom I could, spending time with my children..playing with them, loving them, nurturing them.

I didn't realize that coloring could be so much fun!..or how much fun I had a make believe tea parties and make believe construction sites.

I couldn't understand Moms, who.. when I told them I was loved being at home with my children..would respond with, "I don't know how you do it! I couldn't stand being with my kids all day!!"

This never failed to shock me. The thought of being angered at getting to be with my children was something I simply couldn't understand.

When we decided to homeschool, the reaction to other moms was even more intense. "You mean they are ALWAYS with you??!!"

Well, I just couldn't imagine anywhere I'd rather have them!!! For me, I couldn't understand how you could live out Deuteronomy 6:6-9 which says...

"And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." NLT

...if you aren't with your children to teach them those things!!

I have tried to create a home that my children could be relaxed in and knew that they were safe and loved. Now that they're teenagers and both living very busy schedules, I try to make home a place they can't wait to get back to...a place where they know that everything will be okay and someone will be there with open arms and an encouraging word.

Motherhood for me is one of the greatest callings God has placed on my life. I hope that I have accomplished and am still working towards that goal of raising children who feel that I have been a blessing to their lives.

In all honesty...I truly pray that DD sees the awesome calling that being a stay at home mom is and that her desire for her life is to be at home with her children.

Likewise, I pray that DS will find a wife who will want to stay at home and be available for their children as well.

I make no apologies for training my children in this way..our convictions are strong when it comes to DH providing for the family and the wife making home a warm, safe-haven to be.