Monday, November 10, 2014

I have no idea where my kids are.

Well, I have some idea where they are but I don't have my eyes on them at the moment.  This is a motherly sigh of relief you can only feel out in the country on acres and acres of land.  I am so thankful to have it once again.

You see, I have always thought of myself as sort of a modern day Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Anyone who knows me, knows this.  And while I do not yearn for the Western prairies the way she did, I do yearn for a simpler life filled with wide open spaces.  Both in my heart and on my homestead.  I tried being the wanderer she was and when I was single, it was fun.  When I was married with two tiny babies, I couldn't hack it.  I only wanted to be near my family and the rolling foothills of Dixie.  I'm ok with being in one place.  I resigned to it much the same way I'm sure Laura resigned to living in Missouri.

Anyway, for years, I was a stay at home mom and mended, tended, cooked, baked, crafted all the things we needed to have a cozy life.  We lived in one old, small house or another.  Charming with character would be the realtor words but cramped, dated, not from this century would be the words most everyone else would use.  Then I began working full time again and frankly, the tiny house with two kids, who seemed to grow exponentially overnight, was just too much for me.  I hated it.  I didn't have time to clean or organize.  Nor craft or bake.  I just wanted a normal house with central heat and AC. Oh, and a dishwasher.  And a regular working washer and dryer.  So we moved into "the city" to a townhome that had all the luxuries I had missed for some years.

It took a while but I started to feel something was missing.  I couldn't remember the last time I had used my creative side.  I was even giving my kids store bought birthday cakes!  This is actually something that most people do on the regular and it made my life so easy but in the years before I had always made, from scratch, whatever elaborate concoctions they wanted. It was a thing of joy and I didn't even care about it anymore.  I had gotten so far away from who I had always wanted to be.  And, lo and behold, the Lord stepped in.  Funny how He does that, right?

The job I had been so dedicated to ended rather suddenly.  I had made a huge commitment to them and God made it so I did not have to leave, the job ended because the organization closed.  I suddenly had the time I had been needing. Then, an auto immune disorder decided to make itself known in a big way.  So now this modern, huge, 2 story house was too much for me.  And as it would turn out, our lease was ending.  The hubs had a friend with a small house on some land and the price was too good to pass up.  We decided to homeschool the kids, move to this one level house in the middle of nowhere, and get back to how we love to live.  Simply.

The change we have seen in ourselves and our kids over the last few weeks has been amazing.  The kids and I are able to get so much done each day.  I have been able to craft and organize everything into a lovely home again.  One where each thing has a place and a purpose.  We are much more relaxed.  And most of all, my kids are joyful again.  Being well rested, not overloaded with homework, not working 8 hours a day at school, having unfettered outside time (where I'm not freaking out about traffic or crazy neighbors) has made them kids again...it is a blessing to me.

3 comments:

  1. I've gotta say, my friend, I wish I was as chill about all the duties of being a homemaker! You make it sound like much more fun that it seems to be for me. Oh, and I love your comment guidelines! Fabulous!

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    1. I just focus on the parts I love to do. I grit my teeth through the rest. Haha! It was much harder when the kids were little though. I think the best thing I have done is our schedule. I have given myself permission to STOP when time is up and not freak out. God has been slowly, and sometimes heartily, sanding those rough edges off me.

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    2. And thanks! A friend posted those rules on Facebook a little while ago and I thought they were perfect!

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Like George Washington Carver said:

1. Be clean both inside and outside.
2. Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
3. Lose, if need be, without squealing.
4. Win without bragging.
5. Always be considerate of women, children and old people.
6. Be too brave to lie.
7. Be too generous to cheat.
8. Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

 

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