I have only left my house once in the last seven days. No, this isn't because I am depressed, or an introvert, or an agoraphobic (although land with no mountains does kind of freak me out). This is simply because I am a stay-at-home mom who hardly ever gets to stay home anymore. Another large factor would be that I drive a gas guzzling vehicle (which I absolutely love) that only has a quarter of a tank of gas, and I made a teeny error in my checkbook that the bank turned into a catastrophe with overdraft fees. No worries. We have plenty of groceries in the house and I actually enjoy being home. I'm not bored. For instance, it is barely 7:30 a.m. and my husband and three kids survived the morning chaos and are off to work and school. I noticed on the way down to the end of the driveway for bus pick up that our neighbors are back from Florida, and made a mental note to check in with them. I observed a young man drive down our hill in a much more respectable manor this morning than he did yesterday morning. As I was backing up the driveway after sending my kiddos off, I saw one of our neighbors whose children very often catch the bus at our stop if they missed it at their house, go racing up the hill after the bus. There is only one stop after our kids, so hopefully she made it and didn't have to take them all the way to town. My youngest cracked me up this morning and I sent our conversation in a text to my husband so he could enjoy. I sent a text to my aunt to invite her for 'Christmas' dinner tomorrow. (We only get my niece every other weekend, and we missed our Christmas visit) I moved the towering display of boxes containing decorations waiting anxiously to go back in the attic from in front of the washer and dryer since my poor son had to pick his cleanest pair of dirty pants to wear today. Then, as I was eating some homemade banana bread, I heard a cat wailing and realized I had shut her in the little laundry area.
This is the best part of my day. Sometimes I use it to recover from the constant shouting of "Hurry up! Put your shoes on! You're going to miss the bus!" Other times, like today, I can celebrate for surviving the morning without raising my voice and not having to chase the bus myself. My day can be whatever I make it. Today I am begrudgingly choosing laundry for obvious reasons, but hey, it's what I get paid for. Well, it's what I was hired for anyway. A mother's payment comes in different forms.
I don't very often feel like a Proverbs 31 woman because I like to sleep in, my house is a mess, and I'm fairly certain my kids wouldn't call me blessed. I don't always speak with wisdom and I am pretty sure I will never plant a vineyard. However, this verse does apply to me:
~Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but
a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised~
Proverbs 31:30