Celebrate

Today, I am celebrating MY independence. Yes, remembering what made this country great, our beginnings. But also remembering what Christ did for me, and reveling in the ways I get to experience that freedom on a daily basis.

Mostly, today, I am thankful for the freedom I have to raise my kids, at home. This is such a gift to me...my sweet husband working so many hours so that I can do the best work there is. Nurturing new lives, training hearts, and in the process realizing how He wants to change me through it all.

I have a few links to share with you. These are powerful to me today; I hope they minister to you, too. (And maybe all you SAHMs reading this will get a few minutes to click on them since it's a Saturday...)

A Mother's Work...a new perspective. "Tonight, I’ll finally linger at the last light switch. I’ll have worked today but no one will have paid me a cent. Real work rises above the necessity of mere money. Tonight, I'll have more than money. I’ll have a bouquet of words, mumbled words from around the table from mouths too full. Words He too will say at the end of time to the faithful servants. Like the words He said in the beginning, when He began His work, when He finished each task..."

Not a Stay-at-Home-Mom? "~Hold a sleeping babe in your arms, mouth agape and warm breath drifting, and stand before a map of this world. Which would you rather have? Paris, New York, Tokyo, London------or this flesh lying against yours, this one made in the image and likeness of the very Divine? This world is going to burn up, cinders for the universe….but your child is a soul without end, forever and ever existence. The world has pitifully, laughably little to offer in comparison to this holy opportunity to raise up a child."

Relationship with God in the Midst of Crazy Family Life "Sometimes it is too loud in here. Sometimes I don’t know if I am going or coming here. Sometimes I’d like to leave here. But here, within these four walls, is where we live, and laugh, and love…in the presence of Him Who knows no boundaries...."

Kids are like Ice Cream. "Sometimes being a stay at home mom is like eating ice cream that has a little frost bite on it. You really love the ice cream so you keep eating it, but those little pieces find their way onto your spoon every now and again. It doesn't make you stop eating it, since you love it so, but it does put a sour taste in your mouth every now and again...."