I loved this post written by a very wise woman. I originally found it on a link from Biblical Womanhood. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. The size of our family has really been an issue between my husband and I. He says we are finished with 2 and I want to leave it up to God to decide when we are done.


Making Home: Some Subtle Effects of the Birth Control Culture
homemaking Pictures, Images and Photos
There are many things that I have given up to stay home with my children...

-Getting my hair cut and colored on a regular basis
-Buying whatever I want at the grocery store
-Not getting to dress up and talk to adults
-A new car
-A bigger house
-Cable
-Caller ID
-Trash service
-OnStar
-Actually getting to sit down and eat a full meal without interuption
-New "toys"
-The list could go on and on...

In my Sunday school class yesterday the man who was leading mentioned that he was having trouble witnessing to his brother because he was unwilling to give up his partying, drinking, and having fun to lead a so called boring Christian life. I pray that someday he sees what he is really missing.
This discussion got me to thinking. We as mothers are doing the same thing. We are unwilling to give up some of our luxuries and toys and instead we work 40+ hours a week to keep them instead of cutting back so that we can be at home with our children. I hope that this blog will help others see what they could have in return for a little minor discomfort.

What I have gained as a stay at home mom...

-Getting to see my children every single morning and know that I will have the whole day to love and teach them
-A wife that is not overly stressed from work and taking care of the home. I am able to give my husband the attention he needs.
-Home cooked meals
-Time to myself
-Time to teach my children and spend time with them in the Bible
-Again this list could go on much longer then the first.

I believe that wanting to stay at home and actually taking action to do so sometimes just needs to be put in perspective.
I realize that there are some women who truly can not leave work due to debt, being a single parent, etc. Please pray about your unique situation. God will provide an answer in His own time.

This last week I decided to can some pear butter. My mother has 3 pear trees and we had an overabundance of them. I have never canned before and was a bit nervous. The end result was really yummy. Unfortunately I did not take pictures as I was in the process, but I will get some pictures of the finished product and get them up as soon as possible.




I started by adding about 1" of water to a large pot.






Next I cut and pealed the pears. Today I took the kids outside with me to cut up a second batch of pears. Jack had a great time sampling each one that went into the pot of water.



Lots of pears in a pot ready to be boiled and made into juice and pear butter.


My counters covered in canning jars.


The finished product



Yummy!

OK on to the pear juice. This actually ended up being a byproduct of the pear butter adventure. I had no plans of making it in the beginning. When I was cooking the pears I added about 1" of water to the bottom of the pot. When the pears were finished cooking there was a large amount of liquid left over. My husband decided to try it while it was still warm. We hate to toss anything that we may still be able to use. It was really good. My husband put it in the fridge for out 3 year old to drink instead of buying expensive juice. We prefer to only buy organic, unfiltered juice when we can. This juice was the same thing we usually spend $2-3 on and it was FREE!

My daughter loved it. Another good thing that came from it was that it acted as a natural laxative. My sweet little Madison has had constipation issues since she was 1 week old. This free, all natural juice worked wonders. I love it when we find something that works and we don't have to give her unnatural medication.





I just had to add these. They were so cute.


In my last post (over a month ago!) I told everyone that I would have the next post up in the transition from work to home series up by the end of the day. Well, I failed. I was not sure that I was going to continue with blogging. I thought that no one was reading and it was not worth the time and effort to research and add new posts.

I think I was wrong. Over the past month I have still had visitors almost daily. Some have been repeat visitors. I am still not sure where everyone is coming from. I began to feel that the Lord was telling me that I needed to continue what I started. I have woman ask me constantly for advice on homemaking, healthy cooking, and finances. I guess this was God's way of giving me a HUGE hint that His plans are more important then mine.

I plan to try and get back on the ball and do what I started out to do. I plan to share what I have experienced in my transition from work to home. I will also be posting our menus, frugal recipes, and anything else that I feel might be of help to stay at home moms.

I really appreciate any comments that my readers leave. They help me to know what they like to read and what I can do to impove. I read every single one. I love to hear from you!
NewerStories OlderStories Home