Some of my thoughts lately on being a WAHM. . . .

This was something I wrote to a friend of mine today, and just felt led to share it here too.  (Keep in mind that I am so thankful and very blessed to have my job.  Sharing my feelings here about my struggle in keeping my plates in the air as a working mom shouldn't be taken to mean that I take my job for granted and don't cherish the opportunity I have to be a teacher, especially from home.  Just wanted to clarify that just in case. . . .)

You have been in my thoughts and prayers so much over the last few weeks - I have checked in to see how you were doing. . . and have been blessed to pray for you and lift you up, not even knowing the struggles you have been facing.

 I am in a similar situation and can relate to your feelings since I work from home with three young kids, 12 and under. I cherish the time with them SO MUCH every day (even the late nights and early mornings); I even did my best to homeschool them faithfully the last two years to invest as much of myself into them as possible and try to make up for lost time when I have been "distracted" from giving them my best.

 It is with sadness (and regret on my end) that my husband and I have felt the LORD leading us to put them back into a small charter school for a season starting this Fall. My heart feels like it is being ripped out having to do this to "make more time for my job" since all I have ever wanted to do is be a mom, homemaker, and homeschool my kids FT. It's hard to let go of our dreams, isn't it?

 We do have a peace about putting them into school - - - but I feel the sands of time passing by so quickly and want to hold them even tighter. I have had to take a step back and realize that I am possibly also trying to hold myself to a standard that may not be God's standard for me, at least right now. Someday I pray that I don't have to work, but until then I daily place my desires on the altar and continue to live my life as a sacrifice to please my God, even in this "small" attitude adjustment.

 It's so easy to read about others and how they are mothering/homemaking/homeschooling and feel so inferior. As hard as it has been for me to accept, I cannot be a FT homeschooling mom/homemaker and work a job from home without something having to give right now.

 I have been praying and finding peace in the fact that God does call us into different roles for a season (like Marcia above mentioned). We can't change the fact that we both work. . . but we can approach whatever season we find ourselves in with joy, peace, and contentment. That is so much easier said than done. . . and I can't change my feelings about it without a lot of prayer and trust in God's care for my children/family. I do this through God's strength and the peace in knowing that He loves and cares for me.

 I pray that God will multiply those teachable moments in my children's lives to make up for the times when I am not there - and want to be. He knows my heart and He is able to do above and beyond anything we can ask or think! He even knows how to care for them more than I do! What peace floods my soul when I think of that.

 May you and your family be blessed! (Sending more prayers to you:-)

 Gina

I am up to the challenge!

Read more here:  http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/search/label/Marriage%20Challenge

A Great Quote from Peter Marshall

In 1950, the great Scottish American preacher Peter Marshall stood before the United States Senate and he explained it this way:




The modern challenge to motherhood is the eternal challenge — that of being a godly woman. The very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other kind of women — beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career woman, talented women, divorced women, but so seldom do we hear of a godly woman — or of a godly man either, for that matter.


I believe women come nearer fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realm of morals to be old-fashioned than to be ultramodern. The world has enough women who know how to hold their cocktails, who have lost all their illusions and their faith. The world has enough women who know how to be smart.


It needs women who are willing to be simple. The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. The world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right than socially correct.


Another helpful link in staying focused:

http://homesanctuary.typepad.com/rachelanne/2007/10/the-secret-to-s.html