My blog title, housewife extraordinaire, ought to serve as a pretty good indicator for how I value my role as housewife and mother as well as how hard I try. It's my life's work, without exception or qualification. I treasure it.
The job description has changed quite a bit as my family has grown and what my family needs and wants from me has changed too. I am blessed that this process of growth, though not without it's bumps has been fairly painless. We are still homeschooling beginning year 11 but we pretty much have this thing figured out so there is no wringing of hands, or buying of books we will never use. It's just a fluid part of our life.
As my job description changed along with my health, God provided me exactly what I needed, before I even knew fully how I needed them. "The plans I have for you." He gave me a business opportunity and graced my life with new purposes as some of the old ones became obsolete. No one in my house needs potty training now, (though they may need practice at aiming) they clean their own rooms, mostly, my oldest takes care of the car maintenance so no more sitting in repair shops. They can handle the lion's share of their laundry, and they prefer I not be in their rooms rummaging through their drawers anyway. They have jobs and friends that take them away leaving me with a strange quiet in my normally roaring, busy house. I even have a chaffeur. Well, an adult child with a license whom I trust and he doesn't charge...much.
God saw my life changing long before I did; a family growing up, having MS, the feeling of being a little lost and thinking what do I do now? He knew my life's work was going to need me in different ways and He knew how desperately I would suffer in not being able to give, and be and do the way I always had. and so...
He gave me a new ministry to work in my spare time as the needs of my primary ministry change, needing me a little less all the time. Talking to families, bringing them together, teaching parents why they should spend face-to-face time with their kids and then showing them how. He gave me work building up women and couples, even young men in this business, teaching them to dream, work hard and succeed.
My family and I are working through these changes in our life. For example they have made it very clear that I am still needed to procure the food, and prepare it. "Shop and cook mom, please!" But they were ready to take on new roles in our family, even before I was ready to let them. My little guy, almost 9 yrs old, has a different kind of mommy than the older ones did. I may not be scrubbing base boards every other week or learning to grind my own wheat but we still do all the good stuff - burning leaves with a magnifying glass, making slime, reading together, art and inventions all the time and we still play everyday.
Being a wife and mother are the greatest blessings in my life. They define me as a woman, I will always and forever be those things. God has shown me over the years how to use all my gifts and strengths to be extraordinary at my calling. And now, God has called me to another blessing, one that has defined me as a wife and mother, this ministry of play, which now defines my career. He calls me as always not to be mediocre at my work, but extraordinary. God doesn't have low standards. Do not be afraid of trying to be successful, do not be afraid of being extraordinary. God didn't create you to be nothing special. He created you to be amazing.
I promote to Team Leader this month, of the most amazing group of women and men - moms, grandmoms, grandpops, young women, young men, and couples. I am so honored to be doing this work with these extraordinary people. I know as we continue to grow as a Team we will constantly strive for balance in our life, but we are living lives of Passion and Purpose - so sometimes it gets busy. My prayer is that we will always look to our priorities for guidance - Faith, Family, and Fun (too many subcategories titles to worry about here!) but those are the basic elements to the life we all dream about Love of God, Love of Family, Love of Life.
Life changes and grows. If you want an extraordinary life you have to be ready to answer the call, and ready to do the work. You have to look for the answers or at least notice them when they are dropped on your head. I don't know if my answer is your answer, it may not be. But if it is, I would be thrilled to work with you. You know where I am :)
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