Leaving

I will leave in 90 minutes. From here, I will pick up my husband from work and then off we will go to Pennsylvania to pick up my first and second born children. They have been gone for three weeks with their grandparents. What a hard three weeks it has been. You may be wondering what I have been doing with my days while they've been gone. A bathroom has been completely gutted, tiled, painted, and replumbed, 75 quarts of applesauce have been canned, a house has been organized, a 8 month old baby has been played with a lot, and a husband and wife have had lots of one on one conversations. It has been a blessed week of production but I am reminded again of how exceedingly blessed I am by my children. As Caleb and I were working on the bathroom, he said "can you imagine how our house would look if we didn't have kids?" (obviously not implying that he wished we didn't) That statement got me thinking. This structure that we live in is always rotting, something will always need fixing, and something will always need cleaning. It is SO passing! My children are not. They are eternal. Their little souls are forever and priceless.

When I got laid off, I started my stay-at-home-mom venture full time for the first time. I knew that was what God wanted me to do, I knew it was important but I didn't really really know how important. We got rid of our second car, we erased our entertainment $ envelope from our budget, and become more happy about hand-me-downs. But I don't want to be all self righteous about our decision to raise our family like this and totally trust God with the number of children He gives us. There have been many times that I wished I had that thing or more $ for entertainment or maybe a bigger car as I pack all three car seats in the back. Thank goodness there is grace for those moments. And gentle reminders of His blessings for obedience.

As my family grows, the number of rude comments, ugly stares, and unspoken disapprovals will increase. But the reward is worth it.