*** before you read this, please know that these are my personal thoughts and feelings on the subject of Motherhood. i don't mean to preach or tell ppl what's right and wrong, i simply mean nothing more than to journal keep about something i am passionate about. take my words with a grain of salt and know they are nothing more than just me :) everyone has something different going for them and these are only my and my good hubby's thoughts. (i forget ppl actually read my blog)***
HOME vs WORK?
To start off, I want to make clear that I don't deny what's right for one person may not be what's right for another. But that's the point, right!? Doing what we feel is right in this lfie! Being a single mom or having financial burdens can be the decision maker between being a Stay-at-Home mom or a working mom, but huh. All the time I feel like I am the 'odd ball out' because I DO want to be a Stay-at-Home mom.! So bad! Even though it has become the less popular route, am I okay with that?! You bet I am! :) I have only met one other who wants that too..just ONE! I stick out like a soar thumb whenever the conversation of being a working mom is brought up, and around married couples our age it's a popular topic of conversation, but the feelings in my heart and the unspoken words in my mind always leave me feeling like I am following Gods plan for Catharine McAllister. Gratefully, the man I married feels the exact same way.
Last Saturday Kirk and I went mountain biking with some really great friends. I have to say I was EXSTATIC that I met another girl in St George that puts value on Motherhood in the same ways I do! THE FIRST GIRL in what feels like forever! It was a sweet spirit that filled our conversation that morning. I felt like it was a little piece of Heavenly Support :) My closest friends don't feel the way I do. Many girls I admire qualities in leave me flying solo, and sometimes shocked. Some fabulous women I know have left me feeling like I'm paving a brand new trail. Something inside me dies when they tell me they have no aspirations of staying home with their children. Gosh, it just makes me feel sad...
No, my opinion on motherhood has never changed. Do I believe that Heavenly Father has foreordained women to Motherhood? Absolutley, just as I believe He foreordained men to the Priesthood. Do I belive that Motherhood is too valuable to be replaced? With all my heart... it doesn't matter if it's work, babysitters or anything, nothing is comparable. "It is for you a great work to be done that cannot be left to others" Pres Hinckley.
To me, Motherhood is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. Certaintly I feel stronger, more confident and ready to take on the world when I am done up- but from the moment you finish getting cutified, lose yourself in creating yourself and your family a beatuiful day! My mom has changed the darkest hours into the most beauitful days! What would I do in those depressing minutes if her light wasn't there to scare the darkenss away? Wow...I would have become lost in the world a long time ago. That's something a babysitter or daycare lady can't do!! It is something I imagine becomes part of a mom through the process of having and loving a child. Nobody loves like a mother does.
Just teaching 3 and 4 year olds, and having had worked on Pediatrics has shown me motherhood in glorified ways. It seems like having your own children increases your capacity to love. I know I don't have kids, but I have found that my quality of expressions has grown by being around them. I have been shown and discovered ways to love, love more, and love funny things. I think Motherhood is desgined that way. I also think it can fine-tune and build your spirituality. It can show you ways to develope and spotlight your delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. Those are qualities women bask in.... not necessarily men.
My sister in-law nailed it perfectly when she said "It would be easier for me to go to work any day than stay home. I catch myself wanting that at any minute, but it's the easy way out. A good day at work is far easier than a good day at home." Perhaps that's why women choose to work out of the home. Stress, pressure, cleaning up the same messes day in and day out, ruined this-broken that, "no, no, no", listening to screaming and crying, no privacy, no peace ... I can't imagine. But don't give up. Before you know it, it will be gone and missed. "I believe our problems, almost every one, arise out of the homes of the people. If there is to be reformation, if there is to be a change, if there is to be a return to old and sacred values, it must begin in the home. It is here that truth is learned, that integrity is cultivated, that self-discipline is instilled, and that love is nurtured. - Gordon B. Hinckley. A full time mother is needed so badly. Strength, progression and conquering the world is learned by being a mom :) "Motherhood is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Mothering is part of your inner beauty" Pres Faust.
"If the day comes when we are the only women on earth who find nobility and divinity in motherhood, so be it. For mother is the word that will define a righteous woman made perfect in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, a woman who has qualified for eternal increase in posterity, wisdom, joy, and influence." -Sheri Dew
I love you mom, thanks for teaching me how to become the person I am! The gospel is alive in my life because it was alive in your home when I was growing up. I've learned so many outspoken things through your beautiful testimony. I always look forward to hearing your cheerful voice and your uplifting words. There's things only you can say. I love you! I hope I can become the woman you are! You're an example to me mom! xoxoxo
Just recently Kirk and I were at the park with our crazy doggy doo, Mo! It was a nice evening and it was starting to get dark. An older man came to hang out with us, whom we've seen like 5o times but can only remember his dogs name, Betty, and not his hahahaha. Pretty pathetic! But he was telling us about his ranch in Idaho. He said it was where his and wife and himself raised their children, they had cows-chickens-horses-sheep and Betty. They grew crops too! He was telling us all these wonder things he loved about his ranch...it painted a perfect picture in our heads. And, as you know, Kirk and I have a dream of owning land where we can have a ranch too :) We want that soooooooo bad. So! We asked him "If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?" It seemed like a good question to ask! We were hoping for good pointers on stuff like... "Well, when you buy chicks, expect 2 or 3 of them to die so always buy a few more than you want"... or other advice like... "Horses are just like dogs. They need to be played with and given attention daily for hours if you want them to be good animals..." bla bla. 
