Part - 1
Is staying at home for everyone and why do you want to do it?

"I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord,' plans for your

welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11

I thought that since I had taken some time off I would start the transition from work to home series over again. I am sorry if any of you have already read it, but I did not want to leave anyone out. If you are looking for some inspiration about transitioning from work to home you need to read Larry Burcket's book Woman Leaving the Workplace. This book is where I have found a lot of my info for this series.

I have always loved this verse. It has helped me through many difficult times. When there are days that I do not know how my husband and I will be able to afford for me to stay home I think on this verse and remember God's promise to take care of his children. If you are struggling with the decision to come home, you are not alone. God can and will take care of those who put their trust in him.

I hear of more and more women lately that are wanting to leave work and become a SAHM. Unfortunatly many of them do not see how this can ever be possible. As a nation we have come to believe that to make it in life we need to be a dual income family. Some women have supportive husbands and others do not. It is possible financially to live on one income. I am not going to tell you that this will come easily. As with anything worth having you have to work at it.

Statistics show that the number of women quitting their jobs is on the rise. Mothers are looking at what has happened to our nation's children when their mother's are taken out of the picture and not raising them at home under their loving care.

There are many mothers today, especially in the Christian community, who feel that they are supposed to stay home, yet they feel like they are letting their families down because they work out of the home full time. There are many mothers who have tried to quit, yet have had to return to work because they did things out of order and did not completely prepare themselves and their families for the transition.

I can only give suggestions to help you with your transition in this series. There is no guarantee that this will work just like there are not gurantees that staying at home with your kids will ensure that they grow up to be model citizens. Please do not take your decision lightly. Make sure that you pray before any final decisions are made. Only God knows the plans that he has for us.

Through out this series I would like to touch on the topics of having a supportive spouse, fears, budgeting, homeschooling, income earning ideas, and when to return to work. Stay tuned until next Friday for the actual planning process and what steps to take first.

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If you have dreams of being a full time stay at home mom and feel you will never be able to do it, there is hope. I read the book Woman Leaving the Workplace by Larry Burkett and it changed my life. If you are serious about wanting to learn how you can quit your job and stay home this is a must read. I would recommend getting it from your library to save some money. The inspiration for my Transition to Home series has come directly from this book. It worked for me so I know it can work for you.

On a side note I am hoping to add a series on work from home job ideas. If you need a good resource for this you should try out the web site Work At Home Moms They have a ton of work from home opportunities that have been tested to make sure they are not scams. Lets face it, if you want to stay at home most of us are going to need to help bring in some extra income, myself included. It's nice to know there are blogs out there that you can use as resources for finding these highly sought after jobs.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Do you ever have just a few leftover vegetable at the end of the meal that you don't feel are worth saving, but you hate to toss them? I have found a way to save and reuse these tiny portions that will make another meal later on. I have a container in my freezer that I toss all of these veggies into. When the container is full it is time to make either soup or stew. What an easy way to never have to toss out those leftovers ever again as well as save money on another meal! This works well for fruit too. You can save leftovers and make smoothies.

This summer I have had an over abundance of veggies given to me or grown in my own garden. One way that I love to use some of these is a salad. I know your thinking, "I am so tired of lettuce salads." I am in the same boat. My husband and I love to make this easy summer salad and keep it in the fridge. It is really good as a side to almost any meal, and there is no lettuce.

Cool Tomato Cucumber Salad

4 large, ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped (I have substituted zucchini with success)
1 cup chopped, red onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1/3 cup minced basil or parsley
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar

1.)Mix the veggies together in a bowl and set aside.
2.) Mix the vinegar, oil, garlic, and spices together.
3.) Add the dressing to the veggies and mix well.
4.) Chill for at least one hour.

This recipe is great because you can grow all the veggies that go into it and the dressing is made of staple pantry items. I also love the fact that it is all natural and cheap.

How do you reuse your leftovers?

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