I've been learning to keep house, that's where!
I know, I know... I've been married and had a house for a year and a half. I've made bread and sewn aprons and arranged our little duplex to my heart's content. But through all that time (with the brief exception of a few weeks last Christmas season) I've been outside the home in some way: college classes, babysitting, student teaching. All sorts of busyness that made homemaking more of a hobby than a day-in-day-out reality.
I wasn't even sure I'd be home now. Shaune and I had talked about me getting a job after Africa. Nothing serious, just substitute teaching or a part-time secretarial position or something of the like. It was really during our trip that we sat down together to discuss with all seriousness and really pray about what was best for our family situation. This was the result: I'm at home for this season, children or not. I have work enough to do here.
These two weeks at home "for real" have been eye-opening. On holidays before, it was like a game, but this time I know I'd better buckle down into a routine pretty quickly or I'll find myself wasting time. This is hard work! And repetitive -- the same things need done every day. Dishes, laundry, make the bed, wipe the counters, cook. It's mindless... and I LOVE it. With my hands busy, my mind is clear to think about the things that really matter. I'm growing in gratitude every time I put away our clothes and realize that the friends I met in Liberia would find our clothing so extravagant. I am so thankful every time I approach the fridge to cook a meal and find it fully stocked with healthy foods. I have so much to be grateful for.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still wasting a lot of time (there's this one video game I'm SO CLOSE to beating...). But every day, I do a little more work, a little less play, sing a little more joyfully, pray a little more truthfully. I'm getting closer to my dream life day by blessed day.
3 comments:
I am just now catching up on your last few posts and have so much I want to say - THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing so about your mission trip! I was thinking of you all the time I knew you would be gone, and it has been so encouraging, yet humbling to read about your experiences there. I'd love to hear more, whenever you get an opportunity to write another post about it!
I'm glad you are enjoying staying at home! I find housework gets monotonous at times, but the rythym and routine help me take things slowly and enjoy my day piece by piece, instead of being jumble-brained. :) Good luck with the video game! :D
beautiful! And people think its "easy" to be at home, to have "nothing" to do all day. Ha!
I don't have any children yet either, but I love being a SAHW, and helping to make a place where my husband can recharge his batteries and find peace from work and the world. :)
fumblingtowardgrace, I didn't know you were a SAHW, too! I'm so glad to know that someone else understands.
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