The hand that rocks the cradle...

I just quickly skimmed this blog post that my friend, Jen, shared on her blog (link).  It's long, but it's good - check it out when you have time.  I connected with this post, as this girl explains the difficulty of explaining to others her desire to be a wife and a mother and not try to pursue a college path.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for college.  But I was that girl.  I had no clue what I wanted to do graduating from high school, and all I really wanted  was to "be a plain old mom, like my mom" (as I once put it in a 3rd grade paper on what I wanted to be when I grew up).  God had other plans, though, it seemed, and while I waited the unveiling of His plan regarding children, I thought it best to occupy my time and develop other talents...which led me to grad school, etc.  Despite the heartache of our infertility, I enjoyed that time of my life and felt like I was accomplishing things and putting myself and talents to good use.  When our adoption was finally complete with Levi, I had to put that aside.  Anyway...

 This all seems to go right along with a conversation I had over email with a professor of mine from grad school.  We worked together on a research project and he is mentor of mine who I really respect.  We had been catching up on each other's lives, among other discussions, and I told him I am happily staying at home with my two little ones but am still trying to figure out how God wants me to use my strengths and abilities as a writer and counselor.  He emailed back encouraging me to continue pursuing the path that I am on and shared this quote:

"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that shapes the world."
(side note: the quote is actually by William Ross Wallace and he said "rules" instead of "shapes", but I prefer the way my professor put it.)


Sometimes, especially if you were ever "career-minded", you (I) can get to thinking that our talents are being wasted, misused, dulled, etc., by the decision to stay at home with our children. For our family, I am able to stay at home because God has provided for us through Nate's work so that we can financially make it without a paycheck from me. My talents are not being wasted.  God continues to teach me the importance of what I do each day as I help to shape our children into who God wants them to be, by His grace alone, while He also shapes me through them.  I have never been challenged so much in faith or had an experience that has challenged and helped me grow personally and spiritually as raising my children.  My children are a precious gift and there is no more important or perfect job out there for me than right here at home.