My Job

Today I was again reminded of my job: stay at home wife and mom. Some days I just do what I have to do to get through the day. Other days I have a few minutes to analyze my purpose in my family. Call me old fashion, but I truly believe that it is my job as a mom and wife to make sure the home is a safe, secure place in this world. In Titus we are told "³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." To me, that means I need to be responsible for our home being well kept, my family fed healthy foods, a servant to my husband, and a good role model for my children. It seems these days that we are calling it ''sexist'' to say a woman should be responsible for maintaining the home, or should be a servant to her husband. However, I would argue that if you love your husband, serving him is a way of showing your love for him. A friend of mine posted on Facebook on Valentine's Day something to the effect of "if today is the only day that your significant other shows you how much you are loved, you might want to rethink your relationship." I feel it is my job to make sure his lunch is ready for work, there's a decent meal available when he comes home, he is greeted with a hug a kiss, and the home he comes to after work is not a chaotic mess. If you know me at all, you know that last one is a struggle for me. Now, I also believe that it is not OK for the husband to disrespect the space the woman has worked hard to maintain. I have tried to explain to my husband that leaving laundry on the floor instead of the hamper or not putting something away after it's been used is essentially sabotaging my efforts to have a clean, comfortable home for him. It's like me going to his office at the end of the day and taking out papers he had filed that day or erasing words from a document he worked on. After a while of repeatedly undoing what I've worked hard to do, it makes it really hard to want to keep trying.
Titus says it is my job to teach what is good. We all know that children learn by observation. You can ''teach'' a child all you want, but he/she will mimic what he/she sees. This is deeply convicting to me. I want to be the person I would like my kids to be some day. It is also important to surround them with others who have the same values and live by them. I need to be self-controlled, pure and kind... so these are the things I will pray for tonight.

My intro

I am a mom of 4 in a small farming town. So small, in fact, that a week after I found out I was pregnant with twins, I was getting congratulatory cards from people I didn't even really know. You can also tell someone is a "transfer in" if they aren't related to someone with 1 of 4 last names that seem to populate this town. We have zero traffic lights and our hardware store is the closest thing we have to a grocery store because it also sells beer and snacks. However, we do have a church on every corner!
Being in a small town has its upsides and its downsides. As a kid, I couldn't get away with anything because whatever I did always somehow got back to my parents. I vowed to move out as soon as I was old enough. So I did. Then, when I was married and pregnant for my first child, we moved back so that my kids can't get away with anything. Now, my husband and I are blessed with a 3 year old, 2 year old, and twins that just turned 6 months. The community has helped us so much in the last 6+ months, bringing meals, watching the kids, helping around the house, etc.
This is the type of generous, loving community I want my children to experience growing up. They will probably want to move to a large city when they are teenagers, but eventually return when they're old enough to know better.
Until life gets a little less chaotic around here, I will probably not post on this blog unless a) everyone is sleeping or b) the twins are nursing while I manage to type. Eventually I plan to post daily; things I'm learning as a mom, wife, sister and product of this small farming community.