What does it mean to be a stay at home mom?

So I've been struggling with this question, as of late, and recently I've read some articles (one in a magazine and one online) that deals with this aspect of the women's role as a provider. Not so much as a provider, like the man provides the food- drags it home and kills it, but a provider in the home.

Titus 2: 3-5 tells us this:

Tell the older women to behave as those who love the Lord should. They must not gossip about others or be slaves of wine. They must teach what is proper, so the younger women will be loving wives and mothers. Each of the younger women must be sensible and kind, as well as a good homemaker, who puts her own husband first. Then no one can say insulting things about God's message. (Contemporary English Version)

One of the articles I read is here, the other article was in a magazine, but unfortunately is not online. The online article focuses on husband and wife, while the magazine article focuses on differences of boys and girls in learning.

So I told my husband the other night that being a stay at home mom isn't easy, he told me he knew this, but he has faith and confidence that I can do this. So whatever stereotype that was brought into my mind as a child or even as a young adult that stay at home moms don't do anything but sit around and watch juicy soap operas all day has been (thrown) far out the window! Do I enjoy my time in front of my TV?

Oh yeah, and maybe a little to much. The dishes need done, I don't have any clean clothes to wear because I haven't done laundry and I'm sitting here blogging instead of doing all of that. Why? Because it's nap time right now, and judging by the way my little 2 1/2 year old boy was acting right before he went down for nap, it should be a good 2 hours before he wakes up. I enjoy nap time more than he does- obviously. I get to do what I need to do, or want to do, and in yesterday's case, I sneaked in a nap myself!

Is the house a mess? Of course... does my husband expect it to be clean each day he comes home, like on Leave it to Beaver? I'm sure he would be ecstatic, but no, he just expects me to get something done. I love my husband, especially because he believes in me.

I was able to get some teaching time in with my son today, we are working on the letter G (we skipped F, because if you ask him to say Fish... it comes out sounding like "phish"). That's okay. The letter G is awesome, especially now because he has it in his head that anytime he puts a towel over his head he's a ghost, I made him a really cool box guitar (see photo) and of course we spent some quality time on Starfall this morning! I love that website, it's the best. Granted, I have to help him do a lot of the clicking, otherwise he gets click crazy like his mom! But it was so good because he's getting to the point where he's repeating everything on Starfall, and he loves the ABC song and was even trying to sing along with that.... so this website might actually help him learn his ABCs!

I had a friend over yesterday and showed her my whole house, and I told my husband that when he came home last night and he said, "so you showed her the mess, huh?" Yup. The crazy thing was, I didn't care, because her house isn't spotless either. We are both okay with each other's houses not being 'commercial' ready! I wish I had a clean house all the time, but lets be realistic! Is your house a show house, or are you actually living in it? If somebody were to walk into my house they would definitely know what kind of person I am- because I live in my house. I'm not the neat freak type person, never have been- just ask my parents! I told my girlfriend that it wasn't going to get any better. Wrong... it will get better. It just takes time and motivation- she knows that and so do I, the hard part is getting motivated!

My husband and I are currently in the process of moving our computer room down to our 'guest room' - albeit it hasn't been a guest room for some time, more like a storage/junk room! It's been a lot of work so far... and all the big stuff isn't even out! But I've taken 2 loads to Goodwill, and will take another load today, plus a drop off at the local outreach center! I feel good about getting rid of my stuff, and I feel good that I can help someone less fortunate than me.

Whoever is generous to the poor

lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. Proverbs 19:17 ESV